Symbols

After spending the school year analyzing poetry in our fifth grade language arts group, the students were asked to create symbolic comparisons for themselves. Here are a few of the responses:

"I am like a cactus because I am brave and willing to try new things and I have endurance because I can come through in tough times."
"I am like a girder because I am hard to knock down. I am strong and I help build things up."
"I am like a brick because I am hard to break, kind of quiet and it takes hard work to build me since I'm hard working."
"I am like a fern because ferns represent sincerity and I am sincere in what I say and do."
"I am like the number -10 because the negative numbers can represent depth below sea level and I have qualities below the surface that are very important and that define who I am. I also enjoy swimming."

In which book did.....?

Sixteen students in grades 5 and 6 competed today in Battle of the Books. Students read from ten preselected titles throughout the year. During the competition, the teams "battled" to see who could correctly answer questions about the books. What a fun way to read a variety of books in different genres. A little competition can be a fun incentive!

The winners!

STEMLink5 was another big event this week. Thirteen fifth grade students accompanied me to Normandale Community College to participate in a day filled with science activities. This day opened up the possibilities of STEM careers in the minds of the attendees. Some options for classes included:

dissecting cows' knees to learn how bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons and blood vessels work to keep knee joints working,

learning kinesthetic awareness to discover how vision, vestibular function and proprioception play a role in balance,

launching a pneumatic cannon to learn about Newtonian physics,

learning how industry uses control systems through experimenting with wires and test control devices to control lights and motors.

This is just a sample of a few of the offerings. Truly, a remarkable experience for these fifth grade students.