PBIS: Listening Activities

This month for PBIS we are working on our listening skills. This also aligns with our Second Step lessons on "Listening with Attention". Mrs. Baade joined up to lead the class in the activity. Students stood in a circle, each having a bag. While a story was read the students had to listen for the words "right", and "left", when they heard them they needed to pass their bag in that direction.

There were some giggles because the story did get quicker, but a lot of concentration and attention to Mrs. Baade's words made this a successful activity for the class.

So, what was in those bags?  Ask your child.... (it was a special treat from Mrs. Baade).

Makers Space: Culmination of our Engineering Process Unit

We just wrapped up our Engineering Process unit in Science.  Mrs. Rau (our school Library Media Aide) introduce the 5th grade to the Maker's Space Cart. Over the course of the week we were able to solve engineering challenges. Some included building a motorcycle, then adding handle bars that would allow the motorcycle to steer.

Other stations challenged us to build a maze for a marble. Teamwork was necessary to accomplish many of these tasks. Many teams took on the challenge, then tried to make the maze even more challenging by creating ramps, ledges, and areas where the marble was not visible. 

Students were able to try out electronic building blocks with Little Bits. It was sometimes challenging to figure out something new that many students haven't experienced yet. 

One of the most popular station was Snap Circuits. Some students used the direction book that came with the sets, while other teams took the knowledge they already had about this engineering toy to construct their own creation. 

 Keva planks offered many fun building experiences as well. Some students took on the challenges like looking at 2-D views from the top, side and front of a structure only construct. Other students took on the challenge to build a ledge over the edge of the table. One group was able to extend the Keva planks 7.5 inches over the edge of the table!!  And yet other groups built the elaborate structures they saw on the Keva box itself.

Another popular station was Ozobot. This little robot follows a line. Depending on what color the line is, or color combination present on the line, Ozobot will do different things. Sometimes the robot would spin or turn different colors. This was one of the stations that kids couldn't wait to visit.

The students did such a fantastic job with these engineering materials. Mrs. Rau and I are looking for other opportunities for students to experience these tools this year.

What is Great Group Work?

Many times throughout the year in mathematics students will be explaining and justifying their thinking, as well as critiquing the reasoning of others (Mathematics Practice Standard #3). This not only happens when students write about their math thinking, but also when they are with a partner and small group.

We explored what "Great Group Work" looks like with a fun math activity.

Throughout the activity student teams were looking for patterns while working together to complete the task. 

After the task we reflected on the qualities of great group work. 

We Broke Out!!!!

The 5th grade completed a Breakout EDU on the first day of school! The theme of the breakout was based on the Dr. Seuss classic Oh the Places You'll Go. The kids had a lot of fun and all teams were successful "breaking out" (or breaking into the case).

Introducing Growth Mindset

We began talking about Growth Mindset today!  This is the belief that the brain can grow and change. You can become more intelligent by taking on challenges.

We watched these two videos to review these ideas: 

This first video talks about the parts of the brain and how the brain works.

This second video reminds us that we all learned many things when we were little that seem easy to us now (writing our name, riding a bike, etc.), because we stuck with it (and failed along the way) we now can do all these things.  Remember: You Can Learn Anything

A Day in the Life...

That moment when, as a teacher, you can't hold it together long enough to get through the read aloud because you're laughing so hard and need to pass the book off to a student.

Happy Tuesday!

~Mrs. Lengyel

Meeting With Our 2nd Grade Buddies

It was so fun to meet with our second grade buddies. Fifth graders had the privilege of listening to their buddy read their personal narrative.

 Fifth graders have their buddies some feedback. We completed our time together with the fifth graders reading to their buddy. It was a fun afternoon!