Our fifth graders have been learning about landforms for science.  Our final project for this unit was to create landforms from a topographical map (either one I provided or one that they found), and it had to be completely made from edible materials.  The students were able to think about how these landforms are created in nature.  The edible part….well, that was just for fun!  The kids had to get very creative to meet the requirements of the challenge.  I think that’s higher order thinking skills, don’t you? 🙂

Here are some pictures from our Edible Landforms presentation day.  Students and teachers from other classrooms came by to hear our kids talk about their models and the formations of landforms in nature.  I felt that the day was a huge success, and I am extremely proud of our scientists!

Ms. Mannino and her second graders visited the newly-opened International Civil Rights Museum here in Greensboro. To read about their trip, check out this article in today’s Greensboro News and Record.
To learn more about Ms. Mannino’s class, visit their blog…great stuff!

This is for Mr. MJ’s kindergarten and first grade class, and for anyone else who needs help telling time:

This installment of Meghan’s Math Minute is to help the little kids out there count money! Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again, when Mrs. Buckmaster gets another year older! My birthday is March 24. I love math, so every year for my birthday I have a contest to see who can be the most creative with order of operations.

This year, the contest is to come up with an interesting way to make the number 30, since that’s how old I’ll be! Using order of operations, write an equation that is equal to 30. The bigger, the better! Any elementary school student may enter from anywhere in the world! To enter, make a comment on this post with your equation.

Some quick things to help you type your equations:
* to show exponents (powers), use the ^ symbol (hold shift and press the number 6). Example: 3^2 means “three to the second power”.
* To show division, use the backslash /. Example: 9/3 means “nine divided by three”.
* to show multiplication, use a lowercase letter x or use the asterisk * (shift and 8).

That’s all! Please send me lots of equations for my birthday! The deadline for entries is March 23. The winner will be given/sent a Bucky Bear!

We have a new show…Meghan’s Math Minute!  It will be available as a podcast soon, but you can enjoy the first episode here:

What do you think? What topics would you like to see Meghan teach?

Hello friends!

It’s time for another fun blog assignment (woot!)!  This assignment was inspired by Miss Tyler-Smith and her grade fives in Cape Town.  They are keeping a blog too and it’s awesome.  You can check it out when you are done with this assignment.

Please make a list of ten things.  Your list should have a title and should consist of complete sentences (be sure to use your DFI skills and check your grammar).  Here are some suggestions:

• Ten things I love but everyone else hates
• Ten things I hate but everyone else loves
• Ten places I’ve been that are unique
• Ten people I admire (tell why for each)
• Ten things I will never do when I have children
• Ten books that every kid should read
• Ten ways to get out of going to school (hehehe)

If you don’t like my suggestions, make up your own!  You just need to ask me first before you get started.  When you are done, you may post your list on your blog as A-17, then check out Miss Tyler-Smith’s class blog and leave some meaningful comments.

Smiles,
Mrs. B 🙂

We received a comment to our Camp Greenville post from fifth graders all the way in South Africa!  According to our Feedjit, it appears that they live somewhere near Cape Town.  I thought it would be interesting to find out more about where our new friends live.  Here’s what you need to do:

1. Read their comment under the Camp Greenville post.  They have provided a link that shows a camp they went to last year.  Check it out, there are some great pictures!
2. Go to Google Maps and type in Cape Town, South Africa.  This will show you where they live on the world map.  Zoom all the way out so you can see just how far away they are!
3. Check out this tourist site about Cape Town.  If you were to visit Cape Town, which of these things would you like to do?
4. Lastly, post a letter to our friends on your student blog.  Title it A-16–South Africa Friends.  In the letter, please thank them for visiting our blog, tell them a little about what you’ve learned about Cape Town, and maybe ask a few questions about where they live.

Can’t wait to read your letters!  Happy posting!
Smiles,
Mrs. B 🙂

PS: If you are the teacher from South Africa who commented, please leave me a comment on this post with your email address; we’d love to hear more from you!