Mouse vs. Robot

Progress: Teams are working hard to ensure that their side (mouse or robot) will be the first to conquer the maze. Robot teams have begun to program, maze designers are working hard on the final maze designs and the mice trainers have started to see results. 

Meet the Robots

First Hour

Second Hour

Third Hour

Sixth Hour

Tomorrow we will meet the mice!

Time to Revive the Blog

Fifth grade science is full of exciting changes this year. We are nearly finished with phase one of the simulator redesign, our students are exploring their world in ways that no fifth grade class has ever done with their iPads and we are embarking upon new projects that will push our young scientists to do and discover more. 

Fifth Grade Overnight Trip

Who is watching who? Using iPads at the Oklahoma Aquarium.

1st Hour Robot Team

The first half of the year has been full of discovery as we have learned about chemsitry, physics and ecology using the oceans as the vehicle for the discovery. It has been quite a journey. Currently my amazing scientists ar exploring this question: Can a robot complete a maze faster than a mouse? They came up with this question and experiement all on their own. Half of the class is building and programming a robot while the other half is working on training a mouse to complete the maze. Subsets of each group are working as public affairs and maze design teams. Stay tuned for more cool information as the teams gear up for an early December race!

Animal Team working on a Maze Mockup with Usainia Bolt

Spacewalk tomorrow (10-22-14) at 8:24 am. 

SPARTONIUM

As we learn more and more about science, one of the key abilities of any good scientist is the ability to communicate what he/she knows or has found our through their research. We did presnetations about our Spartonium lab and the findings from that lab. Here is what our 1st hour students thought was the best presentation from their class. Good job Adley and Nick!



In 2nd hour Emily and Joseph used a different mode of communication but got their point across very well.

                   

                           

                            

                            

          

Such an original way to share your research! Good work crews!

WELCOME BACK to the SCIENCESPHERE!

It has been a long summer and I am eager to get all of my new students acquainted with the Sciencesphere, but the real question is...are they ready! We will be exploring the vast unknowns of the outer space and the deep sea environments of the planet Earth while learning about sound, life, chemistry, physics and exploration. Hold on tight fifth graders, you are in for quite a ride!

Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench

Ares 1 Launch Vehicle

Story Time

Today's assignment is to write a short mystery. Each story must include three types of evidence. Use your evidence cube to decide which types. Story must be half a page long and the solution must not be at the end of the story. Choose from one of the following situations:

A. Leah's cookie cake is missing. She had it at the beginning of school and now, at lunch, it is gone. She claims that she did not eat it all,  but no one seems to know for sure what has happened.

B. Sonny is late to class and no one seems to know where he is. Where is Sonny?

C. Alex turned in her Civil War project but now there is a big hole in it! What happened?

D. Davin has lost his football. He had it at recess but when it comes time to pack up for the day it is nowhere to be found. Please help poor Davin figure out where his football is.

Once your story is written, exchange it with someone at your table to see if they can solve the mystery.

Solution to the Wife Puzzle

William's wife isn't Barbara, because the former gave the latter a permanent. William's wife must be either Gilda or Gloria.

Fred's wife isn't Gilda, because he speaks only Basque and her husband speaks only French. So Fred's wife is either Gloria or Barbara.

If John is bald, he doesn't live next door to Gilda and he doesn't speak Spanish and Basque.

Therefore, John must speak French and be married to Gilda. Only Gloria can be William's wife and the horrible cashmere shredder.

Evidence: This is what is left of the sweater!