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This week may be short, but we’ll be doing a lot of hard work making sure we understand the skeletal and muscular systems of the human body.  This slide show may be of good use:

Thehumanskeleton

To get ready for our test on Friday, we’ll be spending this week on two of my favorite senses-sight and hearing!  We’ll be learning about the parts of the eye and the parts of the ear and how they work to allow us to make sense of our world.  Please go to my portaportal account to check out some great sites that will reinforce these two important senses.  Here is a great way to study for Friday’s test-a Jeopardy game to review the brain, eye, ear, and a little bit about Phineas Gage.

Brainunit

For the next few weeks we’ll be studying the parts of the brain in science and learning about Canada in social studies.  Some of the brain parts include: cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, axon, dendrite, neuron, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, amygdala, thalamus, and hypothalamus.  The provinces and territories that make up Canada are:  Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territory, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon Territory.  On Thursday (April 29th), I’ll be collecting your Canada Scavenger Hunt CanadaScavenger

In class on Thursday, we’ll be reading a handout for the brain and its various parts and I’ll assign a worksheet to go along with it to assess your understanding brainworksheet

Also, we’ll be starting to read a new class book, Phineas Gage.

Now that April vacation is over, we’ve got a lot of things we need to do before the end of the school year:  nervous system unit, skeletal unit, and Canada unit.  Oh, I can’t forget about Phineas Gage.  Who’s that, you ask?  Well, let’s just say, he was a man who survived a horrible accident and recovered physically, but his personality was forever changed.  Projects coming up will include a place mat for a Canadian province/territory, brain part postcard, bone jingle, and regularly scheduled quizzes and tests.

Well, it’s the week before April vacation and we’ve got some exciting things planned.  This Wednesday we are having our disease test.  A great way to study for this test is to answer the questions on this Disease Jeopardy game:Disease Unit Jeopardy

We’ll be playing this game in class on Tuesday.  Each day I will be reading from the book, Winnie’s War by Jenny Moss.  This is the story of a twelve year old girl in Coward Creek, Texas, during 1918, the time of the Spanish Influenza.  Winnie must try to come up with a way to protect her family and friends from this deadly disease.

It’s the year 1918, men have returned from being away at war.  Little do they know, but one of the deadliest killers is about to begin taking the lives of millions.  It’s the invisible killer virus that caused the Spanish Influenza.  This disease will kill more people than WWI, WWII, Korean, and Vietnam put together.

While only a few years old in 1918, the Panama Canal is one of the greatest examples of human engineering.  During the time it took to build it, many men died due to diseases like malaria.  Once it was discovered that mosquitoes were the cause, efforts were underway to stop the disease.

These two events will be our focus during this week.

Ok, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Bobcats are going to be presenting their Curriculum Fair projects.  The fifth grade classes have been invited, but can only come on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Soooo, all Bobcats will be in the library on Monday to listen to about 27 presentations.  On Tuesday, 17 are scheduled to present to fifth graders and 19 are scheduled to present on Wednesday.  Due to the fact that we’ll have presentations going on these three days, there will be a modified schedule.  Thursday and Friday should be normal schedules for us.  On Thursday evening, it will be our annual LMS Open House from 6 to 7:30.  Please have your backboards at your seat in your homeroom and stay near it during part of this time to explain your project to family, friends, and community members.  In case you are wondering what your teachers are going to be looking for when it comes to grading your backboard and your presentation, please refer to the scoring guides you were given last week.

Seriously, does March feel like two months rolled into one?  Anyway, this week it is all about learning how to present your curriculum fair project!  We’ll be finishing up all our pieces, making sure they are error free, and getting our backboards completed.  Here is the paper I will have you use to complete your note cards for presenting:Oral presentation tips

Please remember that when it comes to printing your pictures for the backboard, you are allowed to print off three in color at school (more if you are printing from home).  Also, you’ll need to have a list of resources on your backboard for these pictures if you’ve retrieved them online.

Hi there!  Curriculum fair is approaching rapidly!  On Tuesday, March 16th, the final draft of two pieces, Why I Chose My Topic and Reflection, are due.  Here is the worksheet where we wrote down our information to get ready for the final draft:

Reflection for curriculum fair

Also, this week we’ll be reviewing the Bubonic Plague and the Scientific Method and give last week’s quiz another try.  Then we’ll move on to another fabulous disease-Typhoid Fever!

Well, folks, it looks like we’ve gotten ourselves the Bubonic Plague (also known as the Black Death).  Thankfully once we’re experts on this dreadful disease, we’ll be rid of it:)  To help you understand what people in the Middle Ages went through, read this:

Plague_symptoms

Yup, it was pretty bad!  Thankfully we live during a time where you have almost no chance of getting it.  The Bubonic Plague still exists (unlike smallpox which has been completely wiped off the planet), but in the U.S, it’s pretty rare.  We will be learning how and where this disease began, as well as the destruction it created.  Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be doing some activities that will help us to understand how it spread and killed so many people.

In social studies, we’ll be looking at how Cortes and Pizarro were able to take down two mighty empires-with steel and germ warfare.  Stay tuned!