5TH GRADE NEWS

MATH AND SCIENCE:

What’s the Weather?

In fifth grade we are learning about weather, seasons, and climate through online research and hands-on investigation. Pictured here are students trying to figure out what time and season it would be in Texas, based on the tilt of the Earth’s axis, its orbital position around the sun, and its rotation upon its own axis.

Students will also participate in a weather forecasting contest with KTAL Chief Meteorologist, Todd Warren.

LANGUAGE ARTS AND HISTORY:

In our study of the thirteen colonies, 5th graders are learning about the colonists’ growing dissatisfaction with Britain. Most especially, students are connecting the dots between Britain’s desire for land, the French and Indian War, and the costly effects of that war on the colonists-- taxes on paper, glass, and tea, among other things, and quartering British soldiers in colonists’ homes. To sympathize with colonists’ feelings, we played a game about taxation without representation. Students were allotted a small cup of candy, as I chose students to play King George III, a member of Parliament, and a tax collector. The tax collector announced random taxes, such as one Skittle to be paid by all colonists with blond hair, or three Smarties to be paid by all colonists wearing a red shirt. He then split the “taxes” among King George, Parliament, and himself. As the photos demonstrate, the tax collector was not a popular person. Thankfully, our students did not tar and feather him!