Students made volcanoes, identified minerals, and picked out minerals from sand! Thanks Dr. Don!

Here is a list of people who have reserved a spot (as of 3/22) for the science workshops. There are only 34 spots available for each workshop, so be sure to reserve your spot!

Mineral Mania Tuesday, April 5 (4th and 5th grade)

1. Emily
2. Sophia
3. Luis Enrique
4. Alejandro M.
5. Alexander S.
6. Drew H.
7. Kayla B.
8. Midori
9. Creeshayne
10. Joseph
11. Eramis
12. Brianna
13. Stefano
14. Roberto L.
15. Zakary J.
16. Cole S.
17. Karisia
18. Renna
19. Yda A
20. Alejandro A.

Slippery Science Wed. April 6th

1. Dylan K.
2. Sarah G.
3. Mia
4. Ashleigh
5. Cameron
6. Jennifer M.
7. Madelyn
8. Andrew D.
9. Rachel
10. Jamie V.
11. Micaela
12. Bethany
13. Erica H.
14. Zachary P.
15. Alayah S.
16. Audrey S.
17. Virginia R.
18. Kathleen
19. Samantha
20. Jordan
21. Alecs
22. Luis Enrique
23. Melissa B.

Thank you to the families who donated $5!  If you lost your flier, PARENTS can sign up their children here.

After school during Parent Conferences, we will have an optional hands-on Mad Science Workshop for GATE students! 

 Mineral Mania: Peek beneath Earth’s crust and uncover its composition.  Learn about volcanoes and earthquakes and find out how scientists classify and identify rocks and minerals.  Experience the thrill of panning for gems. 4^th and 5^th grade only.  Tuesday, April 5^th from 1:30-2:30 in the auditorium

Slippery Science:  Discover the amazing properties of polymers and learn what makes these molecules so unusual.  Students create their own batch of slippery slime!  5^th and 6^th grade only.  Wednesday, April 6 from 1:30-2:30 in the auditorium

We have a large group of 5^th graders this year, so you may choose which workshop you’d like to attend.  A $5 donation would be greatly appreciated to cover the cost of the workshop. Reservations required! First come, first served.  You may either sign up below or send in the flier.

ONLY PARENTS MAY SIGN THEIR CHILD UP.

Today you will be taking notes in your Thinking Maps about your Natural Disaster.  Remember to write down the resources you used to help you answer the question.  If you used a website, you will need to write down the following (for example):

“Types of Volcanoes.” Enchanted Learning. 8 June 2011 http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/types/index.shtml

Need resources?  Check out our wiki page that I started on resources or just start searching!

Today we categorized a list of Top 50 Things to Do to Stop Global Warming into a Tree Map. In the frame of reference we put deforestation and greenhouse gases because those are the causes.
How are you going to help stop global warming? Research what you will need to do in order to help stop green house gases and deforestation.

Today we did some experiments with air to help us understand natural disasters. We learned 3 things:
1. Air takes up space.
2. Air has weight (although our experiment was inconclusive)
3. Air applies pressure . 

Video of air pressure experiment:  IMG_0704

Today you will need to send off an email to your ePals.  If you do not finish it today, it will need to be done by 11/11 as homework. 

What am I looking for?

Organization:  Well-developed paragraphs that are detailed.

Clarity: Both the overall meaning and the supported details are clearly presented.

To see the rest of the rubric, click here.

Hypothesis

Last week you learned about the top 3 Natural Disasters in San Diego.  Today we are going to hypothesize about what natural disasters you think are more likely to happen in North Carolina where our ePals live?
View Larger Map

In the email

1. Introduce yourself.  Tell them your age and gender; family size and members;  and favorite things to do. 
2. Share your research on natural disasters so far.  DO NOT TELL THEM THE TOP 3 DISASTERS IN OUR AREA!! They will be guessing about that later.   
3. Tell them your hypothesis for their top 3 disasters and why you think that. 

Today we will work in partners to define an academic term (using a circle map) having to do with global warming. You will do some research to help you understand the term and then write about it on the wiki. Then, you will need to find or create a picture that shows your word.  

The next time we meet, we will be emailing our ePals about what we have learned so far, so read a lot about global warming!

Here are some links to get you started:
Global Warming Wiki
ikeepbookmarks:  Click “Inquiry” to find search engines or go to the GATE folder for resources.

Clip Art: to help you find images OR DRAW YOUR OWN with the Paint Program!

How do we use water?

Your homework was to keep track of all the ways you use water and how many times you used it in 1 day. Let’s list them on the wiki: http://epalswater.wikispaces.com/How+do+I+use+water%3F

Were you shocked at how many different ways you used water? How did this data collection make you more aware of your water use?

How much do we use?

Different activities use different amounts of water. Hypothesize how much water (in gallons) each activity on the brainstormed list uses. Then, check this out: http://www.fi.edu/guide/schutte/howmuch.html#Yokota Were your estimates high or low?

Calculate your total personal daily water use for one day. Add your number to the wiki: http://epalswater.wikispaces.com/How+much+water+do+I+use%3F

We will add up our total use as a class. Then, divide by the number of students to find our class average. Discuss with a partner or in small groups: Was your number higher/lower than the class average? Why do you think that is the case? Are you surprised by how much water you use in a day? What did you learn from participating in this data collection activity?

Possible home extension: Ask to see your parents’ water bills if they have one. Normally the water bill will use different units for the volume of water than they use in their calculations, but convert with the volume conversion information. Compared to world water prices, is your family high or low? http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/facts_figures/valuing_water.shtml