Fish Fertilizer

Did you know that we had planted lettuce, onions, and cabbage. We have been watering them, taking photos of them and, fertilizing them… With fish dung! On Friday, me and 2 other 5th graders in my class had 3 buckets and 2 tubs, that were full of water that had fish poo. Our school has an aquarium and we are able to take to dirty water from it and put it to good use.

First, we filled our buckets with the water. Then we took it to one of the 4 plant beds. After that, we dumped a little water on to the plants. Finally, we lifted the 2 tubs and dumped the rest of the water and the fish poop into the grass. After that we washed our hands. The experience was interesting for me. I had never known that fish poo could work as fertilizer. When I looked online, I found that there are many benefits to using this type of fertilizer. It is:

• Natural, organic (derived from living cells), and chemical free

• Fast-acting fertilizer that supplies nutrients quickly
• Effective for an instant boost at the start of growing season
• Suitable for a wide variety of vegetables, flowers, trees, and crops
• Suitable for indoor and outdoor use
• Prevents root burn associated with many chemical fertilizers
• Stimulates microorganisms in the soil
• Single fertilization lasts 4-5 months

Below and above, are examples of plants we have been have been fertilizing. 

-Jake     

Yorkshire Colony Doing Good!

-Alonso

GoogleDocs: Our Door to the Future

---Adam

Technology: Our Extra Special

Extra Specials Day

0nce a week, we have a day called extra specials day. Extra specials day is when we go to the tech lab at the end of the day .  I look forward to this time because this is the only day we get to have technology class. I don’t have a computer at home, and I really enjoy using computers, so this is something to look forward to.  In the tech lab we usually start with our typing skills, in fact I'm using those skills right now. Typing is a skill that is important for us to learn so that we can do our school work quicker on a computer and someday we will need it for our job. Then we get to have 20 minutes of free time, we’re allowed to play whatever game we want, I usually play a game called Agar.io. In this game  you’re a blob trying to eat littler blobs in an attempt to get to the highest position.

Other classes have extra specials also, but they go to different specials.  0n the day of extra specials we still have our normal specials, so we get to have two specials in one day. Also, we get to have read aloud earlier and longer, which is another favorite of mine.  

- Dylan

Tinkering and Capsela

Capsela: By Cole

When you were a kid, did you ever build a working motorized vehicle in class? Chances are, you haven’t. But if you were a student at our classroom, then you would be able to use Capsela to build anything from a crane to a tank! What is Capsela, you ask? Capsela consists of a wide array of parts such as tubes, wiring, a motor, chains, and wheels. Currently Cole (me), Andrew, and Sophie are working on a motorized boat with a large propeller in the back and two floatation devices on either side.

You may be thinking, “You know, this sounds fun and all, but where is the real educational value in this?” Well, Capsela helps improve vital skills such as creative thinking, engineering, and technology skills. Capsela is currently what is at the ‘Tinker Table’ which consists of creative sets that can be used to build robotic devices. Thank you for reading this blog post by yours truly, Cole!

Learning through Simulation

We learned about pilgrims in our class. We learned about them in a simulation. My favorite part in the simulation was sailing across the ocean. I liked it because we had to answer questions about what we just learned. I also, did not like it because we had to stand with our table group in a little square on the floor. Our table has eight people! As Pilgrims, our trip didn't go so well. Two people fell overboard. Those two people were Ann clarke, and Braden clarke.

Some other hardships we had are storms. Across the great ocean we encountered many severe storms. We broke our mast and the strongest men went to fix it. It took time and energy. Also the big storms pushed us back. Those are some of the hardships the pilgrims had were not good for the pilgrimes like hunger, and lack of sleep. The pilgrims were also bored.

The pilgrims brought no water on there trip. They only brought beer. Even kids drank it! Yuck! They brought ingredients for porridge. They also brought seasonings and spices to use in food and to trade with the Indians.

The children played games like throwing a metal ring  around bottles. There sleeping arrangements were horrible! They slept with three or more people in a small bed. Many people got sick on the  Mayflower. They had severe sickness like high fever or little sickness like sea sickness. It was dreadful on the Mayflower.

We learned about the pilgrims because we wanted to learn about history. Pilgrims set a big place in history because they were the first Englishmen to come to America. Also, because we learned how they set up a colony, traded with the Indians, make peace with the Indians and make that dreadful journey.

-Alex

Silent Reading

In my class we have silent reading (or independent reading). In silent reading we can read a book of our choice, such as classics, biographies, or other types of books. We can either bring a book from home, or we can get a book from our teacher’s library. The library is an area in the classroom where we can borrow books. There is a very wide variety of books we can borrow and what's more we can even bring one of the books home for reading. Our whole class looks forward to this time each day.

We can also do silent reading to fill in our reading log minutes. For our reading log we have to read 300 minutes a week. You should also read at home if you want to reach your goal of 300 minutes. Our teacher says it is good to read and that it can be really helpful in the future. So silent reading can really help you in life because it can help you become mentally strong and helps your mental aptitude.

-Luke

Algae in Our Fish Tank

Our Plecostomus fish, Walter couldn't keep up with the constant growth of algae.  There was to much fish poo and light. That's exactly what the algae needs to grow. We learned that we were overfeeding our fish which caused them to poo a lot more than they should need to. Luckily, we have a garden in need of new fertilizer.

We were gonna look at the algae under the microscope, but our microscopes, were broken. The algae became black and hard when it was out of water. It was growing like normal plants would. We got rid of it, and if we didn't, it would have taken over the whole place. These pictures are what the algae looked like. Walter is working on it.

~ Amanda

Inflatable Chairs

In our classroom we have inflatable chairs.  This chairs make the classroom library very comfortable. These chairs are not just any chair,  they are very comfortable.   A lot of students enjoy the bigger inflatable chairs that are shaped like a half egg. These are big enough for adults.  We also have 2 donut shaped chairs, that are round but don’t have holes in  the middle. The reason we have these chairs is because our teacher wants students to relax while working in these chairs. But we don’t want anyone messing  around with them like throwing them or popping them, because that would be unsafe and off task. If that happens we have to take the chairs away. Inflatable chairs could explode so don’t get anything sharp things   near it or else it would explode! We do not want this to happen, if it happens we do not get another one The inflatable chairs have air inside  just like a balloon.      

~Eduardo

A Fishy Ecosystem

We  recently got a fish tank! Our school got it from a family that was moving . We  placed the fish tank outside our classroom in the 5th grade area. There are so many fish! I think there are about 15 fish. The fish like all the rocks and surrounding objects that have been put in the tank for them to hide in. I really like the fish tank. A lot of kids come to look at the fish tank.

( Here are some of our teachers, Ms. Marr, Ms. Moreland, and Mrs. Humphrey working to clean the fish tank)

 
The  biggest fish is Walter which is a Plecostomus fish. There are also catfish and other types of fish. They are big and small. We also have to clean the fish tank. Do you know what we do with the fish dung? We put it in our garden as fertilizer! The fish tank lets us look at an underwater ecosystem and observe another habitat. The fish tank is really cool. Everyone seems to enjoy it.
~Andrew

The Myth of Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock, an old piece of American history. You might think ‘Hey what is all the fuss over a rock?’ ,but this poor old rock went through a lot in about fifty years. The people of Plymouth said the Pilgrims stepped on Plymouth Rock. Some townspeople wanted to move the large rock from it’s place on the beach  to the middle of the town square and others didn’t. The townspeople finally  decided on a verdict. They would try to move it to its new location in the middle of the town. When they were moving the old rock from under the wharf,the top half broke  off. The town decided to leave the bottom half there, and make a monument for the top half.

Months passed.  Soon the town thought the top half of Plymouth Rock needed a better monument. So they tried to move Plymouth Rock again.  This time they broke the top half in two. The townspeople cemented these two pieces back together and built a new place for it.  Time passed and soon the people of Plymouth thought that the bottom half needed a monument too. The people tore up the wharf and built a monument for the bottom half of Plymouth rock. Soon the town realised that the two pieces belonged with each other.  The people cemented the pieces back together. After a couple years,  the city of Plymouth built an even better monument for this great big piece of American history.

~ Elli  

Rooftoppers- A Read Aloud

Our class has just finished an OBOB book. It was called Rooftoppers and it was written by: Katherine Rundell. The book was very interesting and had a lot of inspirational quotes. This book was about a girl named Sophie who was found in a cello case, floating around in the English Channel. A man named Charles found her and took her into his home. He raised her for the past 12 years. Then, Sophie on her 12th birthday knew her mother was alive and asked Charles to travel to France. Charles of course said yes. They traveled to France looking around for her mother. One day Sophie went on top of the roof of Hotel Boste and met an interesting boy named Matteo. Matteo told Sophie to stay off the rooftops. Eventually, the became friends. Soon, Sophie, Matteo, and his friends Safi, Gerade, and Anastasia. They all went on a journey trying to find Sophie’s mom and eventually, Charles started helping.

If I had to rate the book from 1-5 I would give it a 4 because in the end it was very disappointing. In the end Sophie found her mom and it ended that way. It didn’t explain what happened to Matteo, Charles, and Sophie and her mom after that. Also according to my other classmate the books average rating is 3. Other than the ending overall the book was amazing. I recommend you read the book.

~Ester

Pilgrim Journal Entry

Dear Journal,

Today we hit land in the new world. It smelt of the freshest grass, and the evergreen trees. The water was the purest blue and the sky looked like a never ending waterfall with the clouds as the rapids. Later in the day, I was hit with a shock when we took a vote to make our government, because there was no government in the new world. I never thought that I would be elected to be somebody of importance. I always thought that I was just another pretty face that people knew, but never really thought could do something. I was proved wrong today when I was voted to be “The Cold Blooded Hudson's” leader. It proved myself worthy of believing that I could do things and not have a reason to be afraid. Fear was always one of the biggest blocks in my life. It stopped me from doing things that would have made me different from all of the other people. But that block was removed about 2 months ago when my family decided to hop on the Mayflower and sail away to the new world. This changed and rattled my way of looking at life. Now I am the head of the government, and four others were also appointed jobs to do. Two of them were the head of security, one other makes laws, and the last one revises the laws.

While we were out at sea, we lost 5 people. We had to throw some of the bodies overboard. Sadly, I know that the worst is yet to come. The thought hangs in my mind like the morning fog looming before me. I can swipe it away, but it still comes back later. It makes me feel like there is danger lurking around every corner, every step is one away from safeness and one closer to danger, and that every illness and death is a sin that never escapes our minds. I feel that I am never safe, and that the Indians are the greatest danger that we all fear above all else. I am still thankful to be on dry land, and not in that cramped boat out at sea in storms. It still makes me sad to leave England and all of the friendly and happy things that I knew there. I had a few friends, but only two came on the journey with me. We love to challenge ourselves.I have always felt like the third wheel with them, but thankfully I have had the journey to take my mind off of friends and sadness. The journey was rough, but the payoff was worth it. I would definitely do something like this again if the payoff was this big. All in all, the journey, the events, and the payoff… everything was worth it, from the deaths to the land and freedom to me being chosen to lead “The Cold Blooded Hudsons”.

~Sophia~

A Trip for Freedom

We left England for religious freedom, in a ship called the Mayflower. Who Are we? We are the Pilgrims. We took a voyage in ships and landed in the “New World”. Once we arrived we washed our clothes and started building houses. We haven’t lost a lot of people so far, but a few. We have made some houses in the time we have been here, but some people still live in the Mayflower. Our colony is very glad to finally be out of the sea from all the storms, being crowded, and being seasick. Our life is going to change.

Our class is doing a pilgrim simulation. In the simulation we learned about why the pilgrims left England. We have sailed to the “New World” and learned about a lot of hardships on the trip. We have arrived at the “New World” and learned about the land we are on. We have even made are houses in the “New World”. Each group has their own ship name, ours is the JuneRose. Our class learned about a lot of facts, including that there was a baby born on the trip, and that the trip was really crowded, there were many bad storms, and everybody was seasick. I’m glad I wasn’t on the Mayflower.

-Daniel

Coding Time

Have you ever coded before?  If you have coded before, think back to the time when you were coding.  Do you think coding is fun? I think it is  more than fun, it is AMAZING!  You get to tell the computer anything you want it to do.

In my 5th grade classroom we are offered time to code.  We get about 30 minutes to code.  We do not do coding every day, but we do it often .  I normally do a game called Flappy Bird.  On the level that I am doing, I get to create my own directions and commands.  I can make all sorts of things change, like the character, the background, the speed that the character is flying and many more changes.

Recently, little kids from 2nd grade came in and we got to buddy up with them.  I was paired up with a nice, smart student.  My class got to teach the 2nd grade class how to code and what coding is like.  My partner did course #1, and did really well.  Some levels were a little hard for my buddy and some were easy.  All my buddy had to do was drag different blocks that tell the computer what to do to complete the level.  After some help, my buddy rocked through the rest!

I really think that coding is a wonderful opportunity and skill to have.  Coding is also probably good for the brain as well.  It is nice to know that you can tell the computer all different things to do!  Get your kids to code at home instead of playing mindless video games.  Just remember, coding rocks, get up and code, code, code!
-Madeline