5B Classroom News: Week of Sept. 30th

A note from Mrs. Burke:

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to the OQS open house on Thursday night. I enjoyed meeting parents and extended family members and seeing the students show you around our classroom. If you couldn't make it to our open house, I sent home a letter and curriculum overview with your child on Friday. This week we got together with the other 5th grade class and had the students play math games to practice their multiplication facts. As you can see from the pictures below, it was a lot of fun!

The highlight of our week of learning was the catapult battle. Students persevered, even when it was difficult to have their catapult hit their target, and when they were eliminated from the competition they cheered for their classmates. They all showed great sportsmanship.

Keep reading to see what our classroom reporters posted this week.

Science:  Engineering & Design
Reflecting on the catapult battle:

What worked well with your catapult during the battle?

What didn’t work well with your catapult during the battle?
To make your catapult better, using the same materials, what would you change?

What worked well was it shot and stayed together. What did not work well was the base because it kept falling over. I would like to fix on my catapult the base.

-Peyton

The catapult  war was awesome and very fun to shoot at the Lego men with the marshmallows. It was so cool. There was a very cool arena we battled in and we worked very hard on them. My cap kept falling off and it will not shoot the marshmallow. If I could change it I would put on more sticks.
-Ben

One thing that worked well is that my catapult could shoot the marshmallow really far and fast. One thing that did not work well was that the bottom of of my catapult fell apart. Next time I would put more support on the bottom.

-Aaron 

What worked well during the battle for me was that it launched far. Something that didn't work was the cap kept flinging off.Something I would change is putting one more rubber band on the cap to make it stay on.

-Kady

What worked well  was my catapult had good range and it has enough power to knock down Lego men. What didn't work well was it snapped twice during battle. I would change the shooting stick to be thicker.

What worked well was that it shot farther than usual. What didn’t work well was that it didn't shoot far enough. To make my catapult better, using the same materials, I would change the height so it will shoot farther.

-Andre   

What worked well with my catapult was that  it didn’t break in the middle of it. What didn’t work well with my catapult was that it shot way too far. To make my catapult better, using the same materials, I would  make it more sturdy.

-Emmariah

The thing that worked well with my catapult was everything! Nothing really didn’t work well, catapult it stayed together. To make my catapult better I would make a better and stronger base. I thought this was really fun and I am glad I won! When I was testing I only hit the target four times, so thought that Kady would beat me. 

-Charleigh

What worked well during the catapult battle for me was the shooting angle. What did not work was the cap it came off a lot. To make it better I would double the rubber bands.

-Triv-Ann

That my design 1 worked so good I made it to 2 rounds. And I didn't get anything to snap. Someone took one of by bands during the battle. I would use extra bands to make the things more sturdy.

-Liam

One thing that worked in my catapult battle was that my catapult ammo was rolling and almost hitting the Lego dude. One thing that didn’t work in the catapult battle was that the rubber bands kept on breaking and coming off. In order to make my catapult better I would use stronger rubber bands and create a stronger base to make it so my catapult won’t fall apart. 

-Cody

What worked was how it actually launched. What didn’t work is that it bent the wrong way. I would change how many sticks I have on my catapult.

-Max

One thing that worked well was my base because the base was kind of hard to make it stand. One thing that didn’t work well was my “arm,” the thing that swings the marshmallow. I would change my design to make a better one so it would swing.  

-Alisha

Here are some pictures from the catapult battles:

Congratulations to Charlie, our catapult battle winner!

Students gathered for a science meeting to debrief the catapult battle. They discussed what worked well with their catapult, what didn't work well, and what surprised them.