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Mrs. Underwood's 5th Grade is Off to a Great Start

Mrs. Underwood's fifth graders are very excited about joining with Mrs. Reavis's second graders as "reading buddies" this year. Every other Friday, the two classes get together to spend some quality reading time together. The "reading buddy" time allows both classes to intertwine the curriculum. For example, this past Friday Mrs. Reavis's second graders shared their personal narrative writing with their fifth grade buddies, and Mrs. Underwood's fifth graders shared their memoir writing with the second grade buddies. The second graders look up to their fifth grade buddies and have the opportunity to learn from them. The fifth graders, in turn, act as peer tutors for their second grade buddies. Mrs. Reavis and Mrs. Underwood end each "reading buddy" session with a special song. It is a positive experience for everyone!

Mrs. Underwood's fifth graders have been studying how factors such as friction, gravity, and change in mass affect the motion of various objects within the world. They have been performing hands-on experiments to test the effect of the force of friction on moving objects by measuring the distances a marble will roll on different surfaces. Students even went outside to test a grassy surface and found that it had the most friction of all the surfaces tested. The fifth graders are learning what it means to collaborate with another "scientist" as they gather their data. They are also utilizing their math skills and knowledge of the metric system in the science experiments as they take measurements in meters and centimeters, as well as find the mean and median of their data. They are working hard while enjoying the active learning taking place in science and applying it to real life situations!


Written by: Donna Underwood, 5th Grade Teacher
Posted: Oct 01, 2012 by Carrie Johnson

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