A Wonderful Winter!

For the past few weeks with Mrs. Terrill, we have been doing ecosystem projects. There were five groups,
meaning five ecosystems. They were: Tundra, Tropical Rain forests, Coniferous Forests, Grassland, and Oceans. We had lots of fun creating and presenting these projects!

On November 18th, we had a Harvest Social for 5th and 6th grade students. A social is where you dance with your friends. There was a DJ that took requests for songs. The student council sponsored The Harvest Social. The student council members managed the snack bar. At the snack bar, you could buy drinks or popcorn for $.50. We had over 100 students come to the social. After each 20 minutes of dancing, we played some games for movie passes. Some of the games included eating donuts off of a string and a hula hooping contest. It was a blast... we can't wait for the next social!

The Groton-Dunstable Middle School is working on making the world's biggest book. When it is finished, it will be 12-feet-tall, 10-feet wide, and weigh over 1 ton! The cool thing though, is that this book will be filled with only pages of peace. This school is accepting donations to this book. Our class has been making pictures, poems, and other materials to donate. For more information about this project, see the following website: http://www.pagesforpeace.org/home.html

In math, we've been working with algebraic expressions. An algebraic expression is when you use a variable in the place of a number. "H + 36" is an example of an algebraic expression. Sometimes, there is more than one variable in the expression; like "6 + M + H". When you make an algebraic expression, make sure to not use an equal sign (=), or else it would be an algebraic equation. Here's an example of a situation using an algebraic expression:
         Ms. Smith's dog is 16 pounds heavier than her cat.
        If her cat weighs C pounds, how much does her dog weigh?
        N + 16

Also in math, we had homework that consisted of figuring out a graph about Ferris wheels. We had to figure out what happened to a rider's distance from the ground as she rode the Ferris wheel. We graphed this on our graphs. For a cool simulation of this graph, check out this link:  http://www.mesacc.edu/~dschultz/FerrisWheel/ferriswheel.html




After how much the soldiers have done to serve our country, Quashnet School wanted to show their appreciation for them by asking students to donate some of their Halloween candy to send to the troops overseas. We also made cards and letters to send over. We appreciate our troops and hope that they all come home safely!

Our class recently learned what "show, don't tell" meant. It means to have descriptive writing. You put more describing nouns and adjectives in your writing. Ms. Smith read us a book called "Show don't Tell: Secrets to Writing". It tells us how to use the right describing words. Inside the book, there is something the reader can touch. It feel rough- like a net. The book also tells us a bunch of adjectives and we guessed the noun that they were describing. We can use "show, don't tell" to make our readers feel like they're actually experiencing what we're writing about!


Our class is also practicing Mindfulness. So far in Mindfulness, we're doing mindful breathing. That is when you close your eyes and pay attention on purpose to your breathing. Mindfulness helps us to learn to pay attention better and can help us calm down when we need it. We're looking forward to practicing mindful listening as well!

Our class also learned how it is nice to give thanks to others. We learned how great it is to be with family and friends. We thank people who are nice and kind to us. Since Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, we wrote letters to our relatives and friends that we are thankful for. We mailed them right before Thanksgiving. Hopefully some of you were recipients of these wonderful letters! We hope everyone is able to enjoy this holiday season with their friends and family!