Fifth Grade With Mrs. Tiedt

We are at the halfway mark, the end of the first semester.

Today we will be going to the computer lab to type up the Salem essay we have been working on since last week. The three paragraph essay starts with some background on the issue, followed by a paragraph about the four causes we examined, and ending with a paragraph in which we say which reason we think is the most likely and why.

This morning we will have a chance to improve our score on the  Social Studies test. Many of us think that if we spend some review time in class that we don’t have to study on our own, but unfortunately that isn’t true. We all have the notes, map, and handouts about the first thirteen colonies that we should have been using to prepare for this test. Hopefully our less than hoped for results yesterday were a wake-up call that individual effort is essential to success.

Since we didn’t get a chance to go to the library on Monday, we rescheduled for early this afternoon. For most of us this will be a time to choose our first book for the second marking period. Many of us have not been using our in-class AR time as intended and/or have not been reading at least a half hour everyday at home, so have not reached our goal of reading at least four chapter books at the middle to upper end of our reading level during the last nine weeks.

After a week of reviewing fractions and percents in class, and hopefully at home, we will take the unit test today. Our next math topic will be geometry in which we will study angles, measuring angles, and various polygons and their angles.

We should finally have a chance to read through the Salem play today. Working on the play/readers’ theater should be an enjoyable activity to start the second semester.

Students have no school tomorrow.

After our reviews yesterday, most of the class said they felt ready for the tests that we will be having today and tomorrow. At noon everyone was asked to put their math assignment, if incomplete, and their Social Studies materials into their backpack when they went to their locker to get ready for lunch. Later in the day, we were all told to put any Science review materials into our backpack as well. We also knew that the Science review sheets and the Social Studies notes were both on the blog.

So, today we will be taking the end of unit Science test and the Social Studies test over chapter 5, lessons 3-5. We will also be spending some time reviewing math in preparation for tomorrow’s test on fractions and percents.

In Language Arts, we have been writing a three paragraph essay about the causes of the Salem witch events. Last Friday we started by writing the second paragraph in which we explained each of the four causes we had read about and cited the documents we studied. Yesterday we wrote the third paragraph, in which we said which of the four causes we thought was the main reason for the problems and then explained why we felt that way. Today we will write the first paragraph which is probably the hardest, in which we give background information about the issue. We have a background essay to consult, the Salem Witch Trial book that we all have read, and some additional documents that tell what type of person was accused and what type of person most often made the accusations. If we have been keeping up, we will be ready to type this essay tomorrow.

We didn’t have a chance to read through our play yet, hopefully we can do that today. Our homework tonight will be to study for the math test and be sure we have our Salem essay written. Tomorrow is also the last day we can take AR tests that will count in this marking period.

Since we will be taking three tests in the next two days, we will spend much of today reviewing. Social Studies notes were posted yesterday and the Science topics were posted on Friday. Today the Science review sheet will also be posted.

In our math review we will be looking at equivalent fractions and percents, arranging fractions in order of size, and adding and subtracting fractions. Of course to add or subtract we need to be able to use common denominators, which are just equivalent fractions that have the same denominator, and to reduce the answer to simplest form. We will take a practice test today to see where we need to focus our review tomorrow. Our homework assignments will be a worksheet of eight addition or subtraction problems and a sheet of story problems. Our math test will be Thursday.

To review for Science we will go over the review questions that stumped us and go through the post test (the same as the pretest we took at the beginning of the unit). The Science test is tomorrow.

Our Social Studies review will include looking over a note graphic which we will be given and answering questions, similar to the ones on the test tomorrow, in teams.

We will have just a short Language Arts session today in which we will write the third paragraph of our Salem essay. We wrote the middle paragraph last Friday and will work on the first paragraph tomorrow. The reason we are writing the paragraphs out of order is so we can start with the easiest one and write the hardest one last. Thursday we will go to the computer lab to do some typing on the essay. If we have time, we will also read through our Salem play.

SCIENCE:              Force and Motion

Investigations:

                An investigation begins with a very specific question.

                Before carrying out an investigation the experimenter must have a plan which includes a list of the supplies and equipment he will need and the procedure he will follow.

                During the investigation data is gathered. Some data is numerical—measurements. Some data is qualitative—descriptions of what happens.

                After the investigation the data is examined and presented in a clear form—a graph or chart—along with any conclusions that can be drawn from the data.

                All the steps of the investigation are clearly described so that another scientist could perform the same experiment and expect to get the same results.

                When conducting an experiment, several trials (at least three) are run for each situation to be sure that the results are accurate and represent what would happen every time the trial was run.

Motion:

                Motion can be defined at a change in position relative to a point of reference.

                A point of reference is a location in the background that does not move—like a starting line.

                Motion has a direction, speed, and distance.

                Distance divided by time equals speed.

Newton’s First Law;

                An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.

An object at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion in a straight line tends to stay in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by another force.

                When an object at rest is acted upon by balanced forces, it remains at rest.

                When an object at rest is acted upon by unbalanced forces, it will move.

When an object in motion is acted upon by an unbalanced force, it will change direction or speed.

Force:

                Forces can be described as pushes or pulls

                These pushes and pulls can be balanced or unbalanced.

                Gravity and friction are forces acting on most objects on earth.

                Force is measured in Newtons

Mass and Weight

                Weight is a measure of the pull of gravity upon an object. The weight of an object on earth would be different from its weight on the moon.

                Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object. The mass is not affected by the pull of gravity.

                A spring scale is used to measure weight

                A balance scale is used to measure mass

                An object with a greater mass takes a greater force to start moving

                Newton’s Second Law states that an object’s acceleration depends on the mass of the object and the size of the force acting on it. Force = mass x acceleration. If two objects of different mass were pushed with the same force, the less massive would accelerate faster (its speed would be greater).

                If two objects of different mass were dropped from the same height at the same time, they would hit the ground at the same time.  Though the lesser mass needs less force to attain a given speed, the pull of gravity is greater on the more massive object (greater weight).

GRAPHS

                The title of a graph very clearly states what it is showing.

                A graph needs to be labeled as well as having the units of measurement given—distance in meters, time in seconds, etc.

                A line graph needs both a horizontal and vertical scale, which should be chosen so that the data comes very close to the top and edge of the graph.

                A bar graph has one scale and one labeled axis—trials, types of objects, etc.

                If more than one line is drawn on a line graph either the lines should be labeled on the graph, or a key should be included indicating what each line represents.

                Data is not plotted until all the parts of the graph are drawn.

                PARTS: Title, Labels, Units, Scales, Key, Data.

The forces that act on an airplane are: weight  (gravity), lift, drag (air resistance), and thrust.

Since we won’t have a chance to spend part of today reviewing for Social Studies in class, here are the notes for the three lessons that will be covered on Wednesday’s test. Some of the formatting was lost, but the notes should still be understandable. The Science review questions are in the previous post.

Chapter 5,    Lesson 3                         New England Colonies

Protestant: Christian, but not Catholic. Many northern European counties became Protestant in the 1600’s.

Pilgrim: A religious group that split from the Church of England. Seeking religious freedom they sailed on the Mayflower to Plymouth, MA. Befriended by Squanto who taught them how to raise corn. First Thanksgiving.  Mayflower Compact—first example of self rule in New World.

Puritan: A group within the Church of England, seeking to make their religion more “pure”. Given a charter to establish colonies in Massachusetts. Main cities, Boston and Salem. Life revolved around religion. Men met at meetinghouse to establish laws for colony. Puritans did not welcome people who did not believe as they did. John Endicott and John Winthrop were two of their early leaders.

            Puritan Schools: Puritans felt that everyone should be taught to read the Bible. Parents taught their own children in some small villages, sometimes a teacher was hired to teach reading—writing and arithmetic would be taught for an extra fee. Settlements with more than 50 families had to have a school that taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Though called year around school, students actually only attended about 12-14 weeks a year. The Puritans started Harvard University.

People’s Wants:  Reverend Thomas Hooker disagreed with the Puritans and left to establish a settlement in Connecticut. Hooker believed that the wants of the people should be considered when writing laws. His community established the “Fundamental Orders” which was the first written system of government under which representatives were elected to make decisions for the group.

Providence:  Roger Williams was also a Puritan who disagreed with the leaders especially about the rights of Indians. He was forced to leave his home and went to what is now Rhode Island. There he was helped by the Indians from whom he bought land for a settlement at Providence in 1636.Rhode Island allowed people of all religions to settle there.

Ann Hutchinson: Ms. Hutchinson also had disagreements with the Puritan Leaders. She and her followers established a colony on an island that is part of Rhode Islandin 1636

Portsmouth: Portsmouth, New Hampshire was founded for business reasons. Lumber was shipped from the settlement first called Strawberry Banke (1680) and later named Portsmouth.

Pequots:  The Pequot Indians lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut. For awhile they got along with the English settlers, but did not understand the concept of buying and selling land. First there were skirmishes. Finally, under “King Phillip” the Indians attacked and destroyed several English settlements. The English then destroyed the Indian crops. Discouraged, the Indians left.

Chapter 5, Lesson 4    The Middle Colonies

*Covered with hardwoods

*Less rocky thanNew England

*Better soil and climate for growing crops

“Breadbasket” colonies

*Settlers from different countries and religions

New Netherlands and New Sweden:

            *Dutch built colony of New Netherlands along the Hudson River in now NY and NJ

            *Dutch and French speaking Belgium settlers founded New Amsterdam in 1625

            *Governor, Peter Stuyvesant led, but people didn’t like him

                        Spread colony into New Jersey. Took over New Sweden (in Delaware) in 1655

These colonies less populated thanNew England. King of England declared war on Hollandto get colonies. Settlers would not fight for Stuyvesant so Duke of York seized area.

*Renamed part New Yorkand part New Jersey.

New York City

            *Strong Dutch influence inNew York—windmills, Dutch architecture

            *Settlers from many countries and of many religions

Pennsylvania:

            Swedish had also set up colonies in now Pennsylvania

            *1681 English took over New Sweden and William Penn given charter to be proprietor of Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woods)

            *Penn a Quaker (non-violent), Set up colony as religious refuge for Quakers and others

*Penn planned government with freedom of speech and religion, right to trial by jury, A council, General Assembly, made laws for colony.

            *Philadelphiaplanned by Penn with grid of streets and good port on Delaware River

            *Many immigrants attracted to PA for freedom= many skills and cultures

            *Scotch-Irish settled on frontier.

Relations with Indians:

            *Penn got along well with Indians, but settlers on frontier caused some problems

*Since Quakers do not fight, government would not send troops to protect frontier from Indian attacks= angry settlers.

Chapter 5, Lesson 5:            The Southern Colonies (pgs 218-224)

Virginia:

            1607Jamestown the first permanent British (English) Colony in North America

            Chartered by King

            1612 John Rolfe (Pocahontas husband) introduced tobacco which became cash crop of area.

                        Tobacco sold all over Europe=big money maker

                        Need for workers led to use of slaves by 1660’s

                        1624 Virginia Company out of business, King took over due to profit

            Government= House of Burgesses, an assembly of wealthy landowners

                        First assembly in English colonies

Maryland:

            1632 King Charles I chartered Chesapeake Bay as proprietary colony

                        Cecilius Calvert became 2^nd Lord Baltimore and proprietor

                        Haven for Catholics, but welcomed other Christians

            Tobacco main cash crop

Carolinas (North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia area):

            Chartered by King Charles II in 1663—whole area between VA and Fla.

           Virginia settlers had been moving into northern area earlier, after charter, English, Caribbean, and French Huguenots (Protestants from Catholic France) came too

            Rice Became cash crop first, after trying other crops. Naval Stores (products used for building and repairing ships, made from pine tar) also produced.

            1712 North and South Carolina divided up

            *North Carolina: small farms

            *South Carolina: large plantations. First grew rice, later added indigo (for blue dye) which would grow where rice wouldn’t

                        Plantations needed labor=Slaves

            *Georgia: 1733 James Oglethorpe given charter to settle Georgia(previously part of the Carolinas). Set up first colony at Savannah. Plan to bring over debtors (people in prison for owing money), gave land to settlers plus more if they brought debtors. Didn’t work out well.

At first charter did not allow for slaves, by 1750 law changed and plantations developed.

Indian Wars:

            Just like other areas, Indians and settlers got along well at first, but more settlers meant less land and resource for Indians and trouble started.

            1622 Indians upset by loosing fishing and hunting lands attacked settlements in Virginia. English struck back and defeated Indians, took land = First war

            1711 Indians (Tuscaroras) attack towns inCarolinas hoping  to end spread of settlers, but instead started Tuscarora War. Many died. War lasted into 1713 when English won and forced surviving Indians to leave.

Just a slight change in our work today. . .

In Language Arts we discussed what information should go in each of the three paragraphs about Salem and then began writing the second paragraph in which we are to discuss all four reasons and cite the four documents from which our information came. Feel free to ask us what those four reasons for the witch problem were and to explain each one.

In Science, because we have so many topics to review, we were each give a list of Science questions to attempt to answer by Monday and a list of science facts with which we should be very familiar. On Monday we should be able to say which topics we need to look at during our last days of review.

In math we will have two worksheets to do–one with story problems and one with computations. We may finish one in class, but everyone should be bringing one home.

Science Questions:

Science Topics to Review for Force and Motion 

How do we determine that an object has moved? 

How do balanced and unbalanced forces affect motion? 

What four forces are involved in the flight of a paper airplane? 

How does one figure the speed of a moving object? 

What tools are used to measure speed? 

What are some examples of contact forces? 

What are some examples of non-contact forces? 

If we record time on the x-axis and distance on the y-axis, what does a horizontal line mean? What does a vertical line mean? (tortoise and hare)

 What measuring system do scientists use? 

How does mass affect the motion of an object? 

How would Newton describe the effect of balanced forces on a moving object? 

How would he describe the effect of balanced forces on an object at rest? 

How would he describe the affect of unbalanced forces on moving objects? 

What did Aristotle believe was needed to keep an object in motion? 

What type of force is static electricity? 

What are pairs of words used to describe forces? 

What are three simple machines?

This morning we will all be taking Star tests and any AR tests for which we are ready while in the computer lab. Any remaining time we can use to review fractions on one of the math websites we have used, or take another look at one of the Salem websites.

Before meeting with Mrs. Jeffrey’s class we will take the Read 4 Today assessment, and afterward we will begin work on our three paragraph Salem essay. Today when we meet with the third graders we will be looking at informational text to recognize its features and to practice summarizing.

Late this morning we will look at the graphs of distance and time that we made based on the “races” we conducted yesterday. Then we will recall what we know about simple machines.

This afternoon we will be solving the story problems that we wrote yesterday. In some cases we will be explaining why the problem can’t be solved as written–no one can spend a twelfth of a dollar, you can’t eat 7/8 of a pizza one day and 2/3 of that same pizza the next day. Our assignment will be another practice sheet.

During our Social Studies time we will review the New England colonies by reading a section of the book, Life in the Colonies, and comparing that text with the notes we have taken from our textbook.

Yesterday we looked at two reasons that historians suggest for the problems at Salem, watched a short video about the incidents, and heard more of the story of the beginning of the accusations. Today we will read about two other possible reasons, discuss them, and begin to decide which reason or reasons we personally feel are most likely. Tomorrow we will begin writing a three paragraph essay about Salem, starting with a paragraph of background information, then a paragraph about the four reasons we have looked at, and ending with our conclusion and reasoning. We will continue to work on this essay next week. We will also be working on spelling and Read 4 Today this morning.

Our homework assignment for today in math included the last page of the fraction unit. After going over our homework, we will form small groups in which we will write and solve story problems using fractions. The unit test in fractions will be next Thursday, so we want to get in all the review and practice that we can. Feel free to ask us to list equivalent fractions for any given fraction or to find a common denominator or two.

As part of our review in Science we had been assigned to write up the question and plan for an experiment in which a marble takes as long as possible to travel from one end of a table to the other. Yesterday we randomly picked a plan and then had someone other than the writer try to set up the experiment. Wow, did we find out that we needed to be much more precise in our directions! Several of the plans called for materials that we didn’t have, contrary to assignment directions. Some were unclear about what to do with the materials, or described using materials that were not included in the supply list. Finally, we set up the experiment as a class and ran three trials, recording the data on the board. Our new assignment was to write up the entire experiment as we conducted it in class, adding our own analysis and conclusion. (See previous post). Today we will look at those papers before reviewing speed. Our assignment will be to make a graph showing distance over time for a “race” we will conduct today.

In groups of three we took completed notes on the Southern colonies yesterday. Today we will read them over to be sure they are complete, then add the colonies to our map and examine a chart about all thirteen colonies and answer questions based on the chart. We will be taking a test on the thirteen colonies next Wednesday that will be based on lessons 3-5 of chapter 5.

Question: How can we increase the amount of time it takes for a marble to travel from one end of the table to the other?

Supplies:

                12 Social Studies books

                  2 small wood blocks to tilt the table

                  1 marble

                  1 stop watch

Set Up

Data:                                     Trial                        Time in seconds

1                                                                     12.5

2                                                                     13

3                                                                     14

Analysis:  By increasing the distance the marble had to travel to get from one end of the table to the other, we increased the amount of time it took. Also, since the marble traveled almost horizontally on some stretches, it moved more slowly because there was less incline on a sideways path.

Conclusion: The best way to increase the amount of time the marble is in motion is by increasing the distance it travels. If we were to do this experiment again, we should try to increase the distance even more, by using smaller books so that the route changes direction more often.

As we return from our bonus day, refreshed and ready to go, we will start looking at some of the reasons historians give for the witch accusations in Salem. Today and tomorrow we will examine four of the more popular reasons for the events. On Friday we will begin to write an essay about Salem.  We will also take spelling tests and continue to work on reading comprehension using Read 4 Today exercises.

Today, after correcting our math homework, we will begin work on the last two practice pages in the book–pages 67 and 70. Since we really need more practice with fractions than that, we will also be assigned a worksheet of fraction addition problems for which we will first change at least one of the fractions so that we have common denominators and then add and reduce our answer to lowest terms. Our unit math test will be next Thursday.

This afternoon we will take notes on the Social Studies lesson we read on Monday, about the southern colonies. We will be given a set of notes that has blanks for key words for us to complete. We will also add the southern colonies to our map of the original thirteen colonies. We already know that we will be taking a test on chapter five, lessons 3, 4, and 5 next Wednesday.

On Monday, as part of our review of the force and motion unit, we all wrote up the questions and plan for the first experiment we did in class–rolling a marble across a table, taking as much time as possible. We discussed ways to increase the time it would take–increasing friction, decreasing the incline used to start the marble, or lengthening the distance by forcing the marble to not travel in a straight line. Today we will randomly check some of the plans to see if they are written in enough detail that anyone could conduct the experiment as it was designed. We will then be given some data so that we can complete a data chart, analyze the data, and write a conclusion. We will continue reviewing during our science time in preparation for our unit test next Wednesday.

Since most of us expressed a real interest in the book about the Salem witch trials, our next writing project will be on that topic. Today we will review what we know about the situation and then read some additional information about the trials. Tomorrow we will start looking at some of the reasons historians have come up with for the event. We will also start another Read 4 Today exercise.

After correcting our math assignments, we will work on some story problems using fractions on page 62. We will also be assigned pages 63 and 64 and continue on with a Math 4 Today exercise.

We added more Puritan homes to our New England portion of the bulletin board and some Dutch style homes to the Middle Colony area last Friday. Today we will start reading about the southern colonies and recording vocabulary words and definitions.

In preparation for our unit science test next week, we began reviewing last Friday by first reading a graph and then constructing one. Today we will look over our graphs, then review the process we used when we conducted investigations: question, list materials, describe set-up, record data, draw conclusions from the data.

Toward the end of the day we will go to the library to pick out books to read to help us read our AR goals.