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- Investigating Earth Changes
- Investigating Energy, 1
- Investigating Energy, 2
- Pendulums Swing as Pendulums Do!
- Weather the Weather!
- Investigating Microscopic Organisms
- Eco-Trekkers
- STEM Fair
- MSA Science
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Investigating Earth Changes
Rocks, minerals, volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, moving plates,
continental drift...what's not to love about a unit on these exciting
topics?! Maybe we'll even figure out how fossils of marine animals
have been found on mountains! Start collecting some interesting rocks and
minerals to share during our first unit.
I am looking forward to meeting our speaker, a geologist from the Maryland
Department of Natural Resources, during Earth Science Week in October.
I will send an update when I post the Family Field Trip that you can take on
a weekend, and collect some terrific specimens right here in Baltimore!
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Investigating Energy, 1
A textbook will talk about electricity as moving electrons, and no, that's
not very exciting. Just wait until you test static electricity, build a
circuit and light a bulb, and create an electromagnet that uses common
items! Then we move into magnetism and test different magnets and various
substances as we uncover the mysteries of magnets during the first quarter
of the year.
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Investigating Energy, 2
Start boning up on your knowledge of my hero, Sir Isaac Newton. It's really
a serendipitous series of events that lead to some of his research and
investigations into force and motion, which are the focus of our study. You
already know a bit about the topic since the success of your third grade
Safe Racer was all about force and motion. We'll study this topic during the
second quarter.
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Pendulums Swing as Pendulums Do!
We'll have a great time during the second quarter, learning about the
science behind pendulums, and at the same time, we will be conducting an
investigation in the same manner as you will follow for your STEM Fair
project. It's never too early to select an area of interest and narrow the
focus for your project!
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Weather the Weather!
This unit makes its debut this year...and what's more relevant than the
weather? Weather affects us every day! Let's think about adding a weekend
weather segment to the Friday broadcast on SKAR news. We'll be in full
winter when we study this topic so we can pit our forecasting skills against
the network meteorologists. Anyone want to guess the date of the first
snowfall in Relay? How about the number of days we will be off for snow
closures?
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Investigating Microscopic Organisms
During the fourth quarter, we break out the microscopes and really have some
fun! We will investigate plant and animal cells up close and personal! Do
all cells have mitochondria? How about cytoplasm and chlorophyll? What cells
in your body protect you from disease? Too bad we have to wait to find out!
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Eco-Trekkers
Circle May 30th on your 2008 calendar! That's the date that we will all
travel together to Miami Beach...in Essex, of course. This unit of study
finds us learning more about food webs, ecosystems, and the flora and fauna
of four ecosystems in our area: meadow, forest, beach/ocean, and
wetland/marsh. Our trip is a hands-on investigation into the conditions and
the critters and the plants in each system. And, yes, you will be going into
the water to seine for life at Miami Beach!
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STEM Fair
All students in my class are expected to participate in the Relay Elementary
STEM Fair by creating and conducting an investigation related to a question
that you have. Your project will be the culminating activity for the
Pendulums unit, and will be scored for a grade in Science.
The STEM Fair will be held over a period of three days. Projects must be in
school by 9:00 AM on March 17 for preliminary judging on the 17th and 18th.
Final judging by a panel of distinguished judges will be held on March 19th.
Students must be present during judging for the interview component of the
fair. We will hold the exhibition of the projects and award prizes at our
Relay STEM Fair, the evening of March 19, 2008.
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MSA Science
Aren't we the lucky ones! Fifth grade students are the only students at
Relay that are tested on Science! Let's do our best and show all of our
teachers here at Relay that you learned all that they had to teach you!!
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