5B Classroom News: Week of Sept. 23rd

A note from Mrs. Burke:

It's hard to believe another week has flown by! Students have been enjoying our Spanish classes with Mrs. Bristow. Along with learning new Spanish words and phrases, they are also connecting the Spanish culture to the book Esperanza Rising that we are reading in language arts. Science class has been very exciting! Students have been learning about catapults and built their first prototype this week after doing lots of research. Referring to their labeled diagram, they went to work constructing their catapult. I have seen so many creative designs and I can't wait to see them in action next week!

Here are pictures of students sharing their catapult research during one of our science meetings:

Keep reading to see what our student reporters posted this week:

Science:  Engineering & Design Process

Reflecting on your catapult prototype, what has worked well with your design so far? 
What have you had to change?

Does your prototype look like your labeled sketch? Why or why not?

I had to change it 10 times and i figured it out at the end.

-Liam

Barely anything worked because I had a hard time getting the catapult on to the base.

-Tony

What worked well was the “arm” that swings the marshmallow.  I had to change
the base because it did not stand. It kind of looks like it because I had to change
the base of the catapult.

-Alisha

The one thing that has worked well in my design is that I have been able to
connect three of the popsicle sticks with the rubber bands.  Although I had
to change that from there I could not get the 4th and 5th bordering popsicle
sticks on without wrecking my previous creation.  My prototype does not look
like my sketch because I have edited so many times that I now have nothing
but pieces, I hope that later this week I can get a successful something out of it.

-Colin 

My catapult design has worked okay so far, but I have had to change my design multiple times. I had to change the entire design specifically the base so that it now looks like the opposite of my design. My prototype doesn't look anything like the original design because of all the changes I have made.

-Cody

Nothing has really worked in my plan so far. I have had to change the bass of my catapult and the arm. Not at all I did think it would be easy to make sketch and it was not. It doesn't look like my sketch because the bass is thick and not so wide.

-Charleigh

What went well was my prototype was successful and interesting. I had to change my whole idea because I could not slip 7 popsicle sticks in a rubber band. No because I had to change my whole idea. 

-Riley 

Students building their catapult prototype:

Students testing their catapults:

Language Arts:  Esperanza Rising

Which human rights have been threatened in the chapter “Los Higos” in Esperanza Rising?

How does it make you feel when a character in the book has had their human rights threatened? Why?

Makes me sad that Esperanza had her papa die and have to live with her mom only.

-Liam

One of the human rights that was threatened was the right to live because the
uncles burned down their house and if Mama didn’t marry Tio Luis he would
probably burn down the servants house, too, or kill them.   I feel sorry for them
that they might get killed.

-Alisha

Spanish Class:  

What is your favorite part of Spanish class?  Why?

How has Mrs. Bristow connected the book Esperanza Rising to Spanish class?

My favorite part of spanish is the songs because they are catchy and fun. Mrs. Bristow connected the book Esperanza Rising to Spanish class by showing us a song and translating some of the words/phrases from the book.   

-Andre

My favorite part of Spanish class is that we get to say “Hello” in Spanish.
“Hello” means “Hola”, “Adios” is “Good-bye”, and “Buenas noches” means “
Good night."

-Aaron

She is teaching us Spanish and the book has Spanish she is talking about words that we find in Esperanza Rising.

-Liam

My favorite part of Spanish is the songs because they're the only part of Spanish that does not include any work.

-Tony

My favorite part of Spanish is the songs because I can sing along and see the cool video.  Mrs. Bristow connected with Esperanza Rising with the Spanish and one of the things is the birthday songs.

-Alisha

My favorite part of Spanish class is singing. Mrs.Bristow sings the happy
birthday in Spanish and that’s how it is connected to Esperanza Rising.

-Triv-Ann

My favorite part of Spanish class is listening to the different songs. Also saying our names in Spanish. It related to Esperanza Rising  because they are both are in Spanish.
-Peyton

I love spanish class because we can get a trophy. It is very shiny and golden the art teacher made it. Spanish is so fun to do and we learning a lot from Spanish. It is the best time of day and the Spanish teacher is very nice.  
-Ben

Learning Spanish so I can talk in Spanish. By teaching us the birthday song in Spanish.

-Max

My favorite part of Spanish class is singing the Spanish songs because I love
listening, learning, and singing the songs.

-Emmariah

When she teaches us new words to use and say, also the songs because they're
fun.

-Kady