More Writing, History, Science and Math

5th graders have been writing galore! In learning about Columbus’ requesting financial backing from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela of Spain for his proposed expedition to find a western sea route to Asia, students wrote letters to these monarchs, as if he/she were Columbus. Each letter was written to persuade Spain to spend a large sum of money for, what was seen by many, as a foolish endeavor. After writing these letters, the class performed a skit, reanacting Columbus’ meeting with the Spanish King and Queen. Sofia and Kuba played Queen Isabela and King Ferdinand, respectively and Noah played the role of Columbus. The rest of the class was divided into two groups of advisors to the court. One group argued to support Columbus and the other group argued against it. It was set up somewhat like a debate and the students had to prepare their own arguments, writing persuasive paragraphs.

Another writing assignment we did in class came out of our reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. The language that the author uses is so rich and colorful that it can model for the students how to use descriptive language and also help increase vocabulary. I picked four phrases out of the chapter we were reading and students were told to make up brief paragraphs, incorporating these coloful phrases. What came out of this assignment was delightful. Many students came up with deliciously wicked and coloful paragraphs. Some students decided to make a story using all four phrases and were inspired to write more and more. For example, one of the phrases was: …”the pervaisive stench of rot permeated…”

We integrated science and history and made compasses. We discussed how magnets work, how the earth is magnetized, and how we can magnetize an ordinary sewing needle. After magnetizing the needle, the students floated corks in a dish of water and put the needle on top of the cork. Pretty soon all the needles were pointing North. Of course, we have been learning about how techno;ogy such as the compass encouraged exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries.

In math, we have been working on double and triple digit multiplication, the role of zero as a place holder and word problems using multiplication. Tomorrow we will be starting a short unit on division. There will be a math test on multiplication, division and order of operations next Thursday.