Welcome to our 5th grade class! We love receiving comments. Please, if you wish to comment, leave a URL or e-mail address so we can respond back to you.
We have been working on quite a few units in school. Now it is time to demonstrate what you have learned. Choose one area of study and blog about what you have learned about that topic. You may choose from 1. Cells, 2. Industrial Revolution, 3. Pioneers, 4. Problem Solving Methods, or 5. Mysteries.
Explain the topic. What is it? What did you learn that you didn't know before? How would you teach this topic to a student who doesn't know anything about it?
Be sure to use appropriate fifth grade vocabulary, stay focused and organized, and edit carefully.
This assignment is due on Monday, March 31st. If you submit your blog assignment early, we will edit for you. Be sure to check for comments in order to get full credit.
Article posted March 29, 2008 at 02:36 AM GMT0 •
comment (1) • Reads 737
by Andrew
Well, I am really enjoying the unit in social studies about pioneers called Wagon’s West. I could actually be a pioneer! Well, at least I feel like a pioneer. I am really lucky to have creative teachers who set up this unit. I happen to be taking advantage of the time we are using for Wagon’s West. I want to learn as much as possible with this unit. That is why I try to do plenty of extra credit.
I used to not really know how hard it was for pioneers. Now I understand totally. It was really hard and fierce on the trail. Sometimes they starved, or they were thirsty or got sick or got attacked by Indians. If I was teaching this topic to a new student, I would tell them all about how pioneers suffered so they sort of get the feel of how pioneers made history. I think this is the most fun history subject I ever did!
Article posted March 29, 2008 at 02:36 AM GMT0 •
comment (1) • Reads 737
Article posted March 30, 2008 at 08:59 PM GMT0 •
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by Cameron
Division is a type of problem solver just like addition or subtraction. When my teacher was teaching me and my classmates about division I learned a few things. One thing I learned is a remember tool and it's called DMSBR. Which stands for Daddy which is Divide, Mommy which is multiply, Sister which is Subtract, Brother which is Bring Down and Relative which is restart. These are all the steps in order you need to use to solve a division problem. I would teach a student how to do divide by, first giving them an easy problem. Then if they got it right I would keep on giving them harder questons until they got it. I would also teach them DMSBR. Which is a great remembering tool.
Article posted March 30, 2008 at 08:59 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 29, 2008 at 06:00 AM GMT0 •
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by Joshua
During the past weeks we have been learning about how pioneers lived. During this activity I have learned many things about what had happened to them. We got to see how easily they died or got sick. It was also very easy to get attacked by the Indians. Before we had started this activity I never knew how hard they had to struggle to survive. If I was to teach a kid who had known nothing about it I would read different paragraphs to him and then play a simple game that teaches him/her to live a hard life.
Article posted March 29, 2008 at 06:00 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 31, 2008 at 01:14 AM GMT0 •
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by Thomas
We have learned a lot in 5th grade. Many of the units we studied were interesting. One of the most interesting units was the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution is when people learned how to mass produce goods. The U.S.A got the idea from England. Samuel Slater stole the idea and brought it to the U.S.A. Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin and Interchangeable Parts. The Cotton Gin is a machine that turns dirty cotton into clean cotton. Interchangeable parts are parts of machines that can go into other any machine.
If I had to teach somebody about the Industrial Revolution I would say “How many shirts do you have?” They probably would say “A lot.” Then I would say “In the 1800’s each person had 3 maybe 4 shirts if they were lucky.” “The reason that people only had 3 shirts was because they could not spin wool fast or clean cotton because they did not have the Cotton Gin or Mechanical Loom.” “Now we have things that can spin wool and clean cotton one million times faster.” This is the way I would start telling them about the Industrial Revolution.
Article posted March 31, 2008 at 01:14 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 30, 2008 at 12:18 AM GMT0 •
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by Rohan
In school we have started learning about cells. Cells are the basic structure of all living things.
While we were studying cells we learned the cell theory. There are three main concepts to the cell theory. The first one is all living things are made up of cells. Concept number two is that cells are the basic units of structure and function in living cells. The last concept is that new living cells are made from older living cells. The cell theory was a new topic I learned.
There are similarities and differences between plant and animal cells, which are the two types of cells we are studying. Both plant and animal cells have a nucleus, a nuclear membrane, a cell membrane, cytoplasm, chromosomes, mitochondria (s), and vacuoles. However there are parts of a cell that are found only in plant cells. They are the cell wall, and the chloroplasts. The parts of cells are something that I just learned as we studied it this year.
The first concept I would teach a person who has no understanding of cells would be how a human can be compared to a building when it comes to cells. I would explain how looking at a building from a distance will show one shape and when you go closer you can see each brick. This is similar to a human body because when you see a human body from far away you see one figure but when you see it very closely (probably under a microscope since cells are covert) you can see that the human body is made up of many trillions cells which are like the bricks of a building which make the building. Next I would explain the three main concepts of the cell theory so they can understand the three main facts of cells. Lastly, I would explain the main parts of cells and explain what each part does. Cells are a crucial structure of life.
Article posted March 30, 2008 at 12:18 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 27, 2008 at 10:53 PM GMT0 •
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by Jasmine
I have learned a lot about pioneers this year. Like how they faced many hardships and obstacles on their journey west. It was a rough trip to go out west and was very complex. So my teachers helped us understand the concept more by putting us through a simulation. First we were put into groups referred to as wagon trains. Then we started our journey out west. We had to make tough decisions and face terrible fates, such as having to toss a coin from 25 feet into a box. If we didn't get it in within 3 tries our wagon would have been crushed by a tree and we would lose all our supplies. This only happens to certain people. We each have our own identity and if our identity was involved in the fate we would have to do something like flip or toss a coin to decide it. I would probably teach this to a student in a fun filled manner just like my teachers did except first I would put on a short skit to help them grasp the idea. In my skit I would have rocks blocking trails, lack of food and conflicts between the wagons in a wagon train. This is how I would teach a student about pioneers.
Article posted March 27, 2008 at 10:53 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 31, 2008 at 02:51 AM GMT0 •
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by Karen
In class I learned about pioneers. Pioneers are people who find new places. At first I thought that a definition of an pioneer was about those people who traveled a long time ago, I didn’t expect that a pioneer can be a person in the present. Also I the places that pioneers traveled. The starting point was Independence Missouri and the end point was Oregon City. In class I have experienced how pioneers felt when they faced their hardships. One of the hardships was when one of your family members died, or even your wagon train member. I felt misery and pity especially for the young ones, because they didn’t get to live there lives well, died in a young age, and died unmercifully.
I would teach this topic who doesn’t know anything about pioneers by, arranging a game, and reading books about pioneers life and facts. If I teach a student like this then they can understand how pioneers felt, know the history and have fun, instead of reading of a textbook all the time. That is the end of my knowledge of Pioneers
Article posted March 31, 2008 at 02:51 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 30, 2008 at 08:20 PM GMT0 •
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by Kyra
Pioneers were the people that decided to settle out west during a very important period of time during the early 1700’s known as the Westward Expansion. When America was first founded, most of the people had already settled in the 13 colonies because that’s where most people first landed when they came over from Europe. Soon, people felt that they didn’t have enough farmland and so, people called pioneers decided to settle out west of the Adirondacks to get cheap farmland.
I learned that Westward Expansion was both good and horrible to the people of this country. It was good because everyone got more farmland so they could make a living by growing crops to eat and survive and sell the surplus to markets or export them to other countries. I also learned that in order for the pioneers to gain land, they had to kick the Native Americans out of their land first. The Native Americans had to leave their homes and live on arid land that the pioneers called Native American Territory.
Pioneers were the people that decided to spread out west of the Adirondack Mountains in the early 1700’s. There they met Native Americans and they decided to kick them off their land and onto land that was unwanted and unsuitable for farming. They fought with the Native Americans and people lost many of their kin and food. The roads that they took were called trails and one of the most notorious trails was the Oregon Trail. Along their trail, they brought supplies including spinning wheels, butter churns, chest of silverware and lamps. Each wagon train also brought many animals to pull the wagon along the way. They were to bring at least 4-8 oxen, horses, dairy cows, cattle, chickens, mules, pigs and maybe a dog or cat. Another thing that was important to the wagon train was jobs. Most of them were farmers but some others were doctors, shopkeepers, blacksmiths, missionaries and lawyers. Along the trail, the pioneers had to face hostile Native Americans, bad weather and lack of food and water. People were to walk unless they were very ill because they kept all their supplies in the wagon so there wasn’t enough room for all the people to ride in it so, the people had to walk unless they were sick. There were also some pioneers who didn’t survive the trip because they died.
Article posted March 30, 2008 at 08:20 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 30, 2008 at 08:04 PM GMT0 •
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by Benjamin
One of the subjects my class is learning about is the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britian. During the Industrial Revolution people could make products by machine, and before that people had to make products by hand. The Industrial Revolution was the change in how products were made.
People who worked in factories in Great Britain were not allowed to pass along the information about the machines. The government wanted to make sure it did not get to another country. In 1789,a man called Samuel Slater memorized all the plans for the British spinning machine and went to America. That is how the Industrial Revolution came to America.
The Industrial Revolutin in th United States was a dramatic change in history. In Boston, people sat around a spinning machine and watched it weave cloth for hours, they thought it was the most amazing thing they ever saw. The Industrial Revolution created a new class of life, the middle class, which means to work for a living. This is because the Industrial Revolution created new jobs and and new levels.
Today we are still having a Technology Revolution.
Article posted March 30, 2008 at 08:04 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 30, 2008 at 05:26 PM GMT0 •
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by Caitlin
The topic that I chose is Cells. I chose cells because I’m interested in what makes up my body and also because I think it’s amazing how many cells are really in your body. I learned that there are more than 75 million cells that are in you and I also learned that there are so many parts of a cell that each have a different purpose.
I would start off by telling my student the amazing number of cells that are in your body. Then I would make a chart of a cell and then the student would come up to the chart and label all the parts. We would go over all the parts and learn what each one does. For instance the cell membrane is the part that holds the cell together and lets the substances pass in and out.
Article posted March 30, 2008 at 05:26 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 29, 2008 at 09:46 PM GMT0 •
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by Nicholas
My topic is early American pioneers. The early American pioneers moved from the east coast to the west trying to find better lives. The biggest reason to move west was to obtain the free land that was offered.
What I learned about the early American pioneers that I did not know before, was that there were no road maps in the west for the pioneers to follow. It was a very scary trip. The pioneers had to make many difficult decisions on the way. They had to decide which trail to take. Whether to take a safe trail along a river, so that they would always have clean water, or to take a trail along the plains. How would they find food? I also learned that the Oregon Trail took five to six months to travel with a wagon train.
To try to teach other children about the early pioneers, I would find pictures on the computer of wagons trains going west with their families, livestock and supplies. I would also find pictures of the early trails made the explorers like Lewis and Clark. I would put captions next to each picture explaining the details.
In 1803 Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis and Clark to explore the Missouri River and find a safe route to the Pacific.
Article posted March 29, 2008 at 09:46 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 25, 2008 at 11:18 PM GMT0 •
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by Melinda
Do you know who pioneers are?
Don't feel bad if you don't know who they are. Pioneers are people that find new land. For example Daniel Boone was a trail blazer he blazed trails which is simaliar to what pioneers did.
If you are a person that is unsure about this subject I would explain this to you by saying each thing very clearly and elabrate.
Somethings that I didn't know about pioneers is that they got sick very often and most of them died along the way to Portland, Oregon or their destination beacause they didn't have medicine.
Another thing that I didn't know is that Pioneers often ran out of water and had to find their own. Which in that case was really hard and it took up time.
Did you also know that pionners had to make their own food? Well if you you didn't here is how they did it, first they made a fire,next they put a pot over the fire, then they put there food in the pot and let it cook. Thats how Pioneers made there food and they warmed there drinks the same way but instead of a pot they used a tea kettle.
So there you have it a little bit of information about pioneers! If you have any questions please comment and I will get right back to you if you leave your URL of your blog!
Article posted March 25, 2008 at 11:18 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 31, 2008 at 12:54 AM GMT0 •
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by Catherine
The Industrial Revolution was a very important time in our country’s history. It was a time when man started inventing machines that would be used forever. These men created a change. They took an old and difficult process of creating goods and invented machines that made these processes much quicker and simpler.
I learned that a man named Samuel Slater invented a machine that helped make yarn. This machine is called the yarn spinning machine. Slater was the man who started the Industrial Revolution in 1798. Slater didn’t exactly invent this marvelous machine. It was first made in England. In this time period, people weren’t allowed to leave the country because England didn’t want to share this machine with any other country. Slater, knowing he would become rich, went to America illegally and made the machine. Back in England, Slater was an overseer at a yarn factory. An overseer is a person who watches over everyone in a factory. As an overseer, Slater knew the plans by heart. That’s how he knew how to build the machine in America. Today, Samuel Slater is known as the “Industrial Spy”.
If I were to teach the Industrial Revolution to a student who did not know about it, I would break little segments of the whole lesson. First, I would teach about Samuel Slater and what he did. Then I would talk about another person and what he did and so on so forth.
Article posted March 31, 2008 at 12:54 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 26, 2008 at 09:48 PM GMT0 •
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by Shivani
One unit our class has been working on is the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is a time period when machines started taking the work of people. Since machines could work faster, people made more than they needed. They then made factories and specialized in one specific thing. This made an industry. So it went on like this and it grew and grew and grew and you get the point. People in the south especially needed more workers. So slavery grew big and there were all kinds of problems and all kinds of positive things going on. I thought this was very unfair but amusing in a way.
I learned a lot more interesting things that I thought were unfair. But when you look on the other side, they were as fair as right and left. This confused me at the beginning but at the end of the unit, I sort of got it. I learned that people were really “out of balance”. Some people who owned factories were really successful and were at ease with money. Others, who had just lost jobs, worked for less then minimum wag. Their life was okay but the slaves were like dishrags. One other thing I learned was that people who owned slaves were doing the best they can for themselves. They got workers without paying anybody. See, things were really unfair.
The Industrial Revolution was very hard to understand. Only a very experienced, understanding teacher would succeed at teaching it to their class. I would teach it to a class who didn’t know anything about the subject by putting on a little “play”. One person would be a factory owner and a few people would be slaves. This way kids could really understand why people did things and remember what they learned because they were “part of it”. I know this will work because Mrs. Parisi and Ms. Southard did this and every single student understood it after.
By putting on a play, watching little clips on the internet and listening to my teachers talk I have learned a lot about the Industrial Revolution. Why don’t you give it a shot? It’s not that hard. It’s even kind of fun.
Article posted March 26, 2008 at 09:48 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 31, 2008 at 12:49 PM GMT0 •
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by Bridgette
My topic is pioneers. Pioneers find unknown territory to settle with their family. I learned that life when pioneers where alive it was hard taking care of family and wagons. I would do what we are doing in our class I would make a game with fate cards and they will see what the pioneers went throe. And I think I improved a lot of work and extra credit for pioneers. That’s my topic pioneers
Article posted March 31, 2008 at 12:49 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 26, 2008 at 12:21 AM GMT0 •
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by Thushara
I have understood a lot of subjects in school. But I think that the most motivating and encouraging topic that I learned this year was problem solving methods in math. Problem solving has to do with a question that you have to answer and/or clarify. There are copious ways of solving these questions. I have premeditated a great deal of them. One way to answer a question is to use guess and check. You can also compose a chart or table. Another way is to depict an image. Occasionally you have to look for a pattern. There are most likely plenty of supplementary ways to crack a math word dilemma. I don’t know many.
If I were to teach a student that doesn’t know anything about this topic I would begin like this: Problem solving is a way to solve math word problems. You can solve them in a plentiful amount of ways. One way to do this is to use guess and check. Also making a chart or table may possibly work. One other way is to illustrate a representation. Maybe you even have to look for a pattern. There are innumerable other ways as well. I admired studying this theme. It constantly seemed compelling and appealing to me.
Article posted March 26, 2008 at 12:21 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 31, 2008 at 03:29 PM GMT0 •
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by Frank
I would demonstrate my skills about cells by explaining that you are made of cells and every living thing is made of cells. Also I'd say that you have over 75 trillion cells. I'd teach them that their are 2 types of cells which we are learning about which include animal cells, and plant cells. That's how I'd explain cells.
Article posted March 31, 2008 at 03:29 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 29, 2008 at 11:00 PM GMT0 •
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by Brian
Do you know what a pioneer is? Well I do. Pioneers were people that explore new land. Well actually before, I didn't know anything about pioneers until now. Now I know many things. For example, when pioneers were traveling they would always travel in a wagon train. Another thing is that pioneers would mostly have a job or something they are really good at or when they reach Oregon, they can't earn that much money.
If I really want to teach a student that doesn't know anything about pioneer, I would first give them some definitions of what a pioneers is. I would also maybe play games with them. And before that I would study with that student with a packet. Then at the game I would ask him questions about the pioneer, it's sort of like a test, but fun. If that doesn't work out I would start to get a bit stricter so he has some pressure. Maybe I would give him a text book and read a few articles about pioneers and give them a test based on the few article in the textbook. These are some ways I would teach a student that doesn't know anyhting about pioneers.
Article posted March 29, 2008 at 11:00 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 30, 2008 at 10:13 PM GMT0 •
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by Katherine
I have learned lots in the subject, Math. I really like math! I think it is lots of fun.
Problem Solving is when you have to solve a math problem. Some problems can be hard, and some easy! =) The problem can be any type of operation. Like subtraction, addition, division, multiplication, graphs and much, much more.
I learned a few things in Problem Solving. Like...
-Highlight or Underline what you think it is important
-Look for clues in the problem to see what operation to do
-Read it over if you're not sure what it means
-And plan what you are going to do!
The first thing that I would teach someone that doesn't know how to problem solve, is the 3rd dash above. The 1st dash above is part 2 for dash 3. You also need to know what kind of answer you are looking for. Red-Herrings are sentences that get you confused and may get your answer wrong. Be sure to read the question over a few times to understand it. Underlining the inportant information will lead you to the correct answer, with no "problems"! ^^
Article posted March 30, 2008 at 10:13 PM GMT0 •
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Article posted April 1, 2008 at 12:13 AM GMT0 •
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by Gina
In school we learn about many things. One thing is pioneers. Before we started the topic of pioneers in school I barly knew what they were. But, now I know a lot about what they did and how they survived. I learned that being a pioneer wasn't easy. I learned that pioneers weren't just in the 1800's. My teachers are pioneers. Pioneers are people who study new things.
Article posted April 1, 2008 at 12:13 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 31, 2008 at 03:33 AM GMT0 •
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by Jocelyn
Today I am going to demonstrate my knowledge on pioneers. The topic of Pioneers is not a very hard subject to learn. Pioneers are people who lead the way into new lands. It was a very frustrating journey for them, especially for the pioneers who were on the Oregon Trail. In class, we are playing the characters of the pioneers in the 1800's who were on the Oregon Train. From our knowledge,we are now facing the problems [not in reality] that the pioneers faced. You would notice all the problems they'd faced. While we were learning about them, I had truly felt bad. They frequently had to remove A LOT of weight off their wagons. And, we had to do that too. You wouldn't imagine how hard it was, how much of a choice you had to make, the necessary items and the not so necessary ones. All of the items were very necessary for a pioneer, so it was very hard.We had to put ourselves in their shoes.
They barely had food, too. They would have to probably make hunting trips frequently due to the loss of food. Spices, Coffee, and bacon were one of the main food items that they would bring. many people probalby died from starvation or the fact that they didn't have enought space on the wagon for their own food.
And, I can't even imagine how hard it was sleeping in a wagon. The wood, scratching your back while you lay, and the fear of the wheels of the wagon just collapsing while your in deep sleep. And, no soothing pillows! Imagine that kind of hard life! Now, compare that to where we are now. We have plentiful amounts of food, a nice cozy comfortable bed to sleep in, no fear of the fact that you only had discomfortable horses to travel on, etc.
The Indians were also a problem. If you ran into an angry indian... I don't even want to explain. You would get your scalp cut off or it is probable to die. Don't even think about hurting them. Once you kill or attack one of the indians, the whole Indian tribe is after you. Before you even know it, your dead. There are so many things that they missed. The fact that we most of us are living our lives peacefully and without any Native Americans chasing us behind our backs, is just so horrible compared to what the pioneers went through. It makes you want to shudder when you think about if you were a kid or a mother or a father in the 1800's, forced to go on a journey to Oregon, hundreds of miles away. Some people might have even had to go on foot. A lot have lost their own wagon. Like me! A tree happened to crush my wagon train and all the supplies were completely gone. So, there was no other choice but to drag myself and my 'family' to another wagon on our wagon train.
I have learned many new things on pioneers that I have never knew in the 1-4 grades. I'm only beginning to imagine how hard it was for all the ladies who had to do all the work around the house, cook the meals, take care of the kids, while the men were usually out, risking their lives. At first, when I learned about it in 4th grade, I thought that the ladies didn't have that much of a hard work. I mean really, women still do that around the world! But then, in 5th grade, I really got into the information and thought over everything. So, once again, I'm only starting to imagine how hard it was for them to survive, especially when the kids were too young to do work around the house. I learned more than just the basics that I knew before. It's a very interesting topic to learn about, that's why I chose this topic. It's not so hard to learn about and it's easy to write about.
If I were teaching this to a student who knew nothing what so ever about pioneers, I would mainly talk about the hardships and the journey on Oregon trail [because I know about that on pioneers than other any part]. I would go deep into details so that the person i'm explaining it too gets carried away in the hardships and the frustration and the problems they faced. The floods were a big thing to worry about, too. So, I'd first explain who pioneers were. I'd also surprise he/she that they, themselves were pioneers. If, they discovered something new or did something different than other people, they were considered pioneers.
So, that's mostly everything I learned about pioneers!
Article posted March 31, 2008 at 03:33 AM GMT0 •
comment (4) • Reads 311
About the Blogger
Our class is run by our two teachers, Mrs. Parisi and Ms. Southard. They are a collaborative team. Together, they get us excited about learning through website creations, podcasts, our SmartBoard, and now blogging. The fun and learning never end!
Our class is run by our two teachers, Mrs. Parisi and Ms. Southard. They are a collaborative team. Together, they get us excited about learning through website creations, podcasts, our SmartBoard, and now blogging. The fun and learning never end!
