Pin Box 3000

Using what they had learned about gaming elements and design in Game Star Mechanic, students are now starting the work on their group PinBoxes - a cardboard pinball machine.  Each group has drawn a design draft for the theme of their PinBox and are busy putting together the components (flippers and launcher). 

Science- Testing the effect of varied substrate on plant growth.

Hello From Science!

       5th Grade has started a new project, asking how plant growth will be affected by the substrate the plant are growing in. Paired with a partner, students set up 2 control and 2 experimental conditions. The control groups are simple, plants set carefully in standard potting soil. Each group was required to set up one of their experimental conditions with a mixture of sand and vermiculite to test growth in a soil free environment. The other experiment was up to them. We now have a wide variety of budding plants to monitor for the coming weeks. A highlight is the group who set a plant floating on water using some quite ingenious use of paper towels. Students will be caring for and monitoring these experiments each day in science. We'll see how they do!

Character Analysis at the End of a Novel

After reading The House with the Chicken Legs, by Sophie Anderson, and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by Avi, the girls were asked to create a visual representation of all of the ways that the protagonist in the story evolved throughout the book. In addition to drawing the main character and showing the ways that she changed, the girls also had to support their creation with quotes from the book. We were amazed by the creativity and enthusiasm that they put into this assignment!