Week 16 Grade 5 June 8-12

Don't forget Monday's 5th Grade Science time at 3:00 (Italian time) - this is time for questions about Science News or your Science assignments. Here's the Google Meet link.

This is the last Science assignment for the year. Next week is the last week of school. I have had you working on structure and function for the last few weeks. Thinking about how something is built and why it works the way it does is hard. We can learn so much about living things and the world around us by questioning structure and function.

This last week I would like you to select a living thing - plant or animal- and think about how it's built and why it's built that way. Select something that is very unusual so that you can try to explain why it is so different. 

As examples, think about a Venus flytrap, a plant that eats animals. How different than a normal plant!





Or think about a polar bear, all the special things about it like thick blubber, white hair, huge size.

Please write, in your own words, a description of your living thing and tell me about it's structure and what that structure does to help your plant or animal live.

Week 15 Grade 5 Jun 3-5

For your assignment this week, I would like you to report on something in the science news this week. Please tell me in your own words about one thing that is happening in the world of science. I have some suggestions if you can't find something of your own:

• The hurricane heading for Mumbai India called Nisarga. This hurricane is historic for some reason, do you know why? Link to story
• The tropical storm Cristobal in the Gulf of Mexico that just started yesterday. Where is it headed? Link to story
• The historic space flight of the SpaceX Demo 2 mission to the International Space Station. Why was it historic? What's next? Link to story
• The latest on the race to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. Why does it take so long to make a vaccine? Link to story
• What are earthquakes and how do they happen? What's the biggest earthquake you can find on this map and where did it happen? Link to story

Week 14 Grade 5 May 26-29

Last week I asked you to think about toothpaste, how it's made (it's structure) and what it does (it's function). I made this short video to tell you how I compared it's structure and function, please watch it first.

Now that you see how I would like you to compare structure and function, this week's assignment is to do the same thing for the human hand.

Please think about how the structure of our hands control and influence how we use our hands, what we do with our hands. Put your answers in a table just like in my video comparing structure and function for toothpaste.

Week 13 Grade 5 May 18-21

Don't forget Monday's 5th Grade Science time at 3:00 (Italian time) - this is time for questions about Science News or your Science assignments - here's the Zoom link 

For the last weeks of Science, I am going to go back to the way we started the year - what is Science and how does a scientist work?

Scientists look deeper at the world and ask 2 main questions:

• How is something made (it's STRUCTURE)
• How does something work (it's FUNCTION)
  

I am going to challenge you to think about some common and ordinary things in a new way. Today we start with toothpaste! Something I hope you use every day but don't think about.

Please investigate toothpaste by creating a report that has:

• 3 different ways that toothpaste works, that is 3 different things that toothpaste does. Please answer in complete sentences! A good sentence would start "One thing that toothpaste does is ..." or "One function of toothpaste is ...".
• 3 different ways that toothpaste is made that helps it perform its functions. A good sentence would start is "One way that that toothpaste is made is..." or "One of the things in toothpaste that makes it work well is ....".

Week 12 Grade 5 May 11-15

Don't forget Monday's 5th Grade Science time at 3:00 (Italian time) - this is time for questions about Science News or your Science assignments - here's the Zoom link

Do you have Pic Collage installed on your computer? If so, please use it for today's assignment. If not, it is free to install if your parents would like to have it on your home computer.

• for Windows
• for iPads

You can also create a Google Doc or Slide and share it with me at the completion.

Please create a collage of your question from last week. The question you thought of was about how the universe worked. It was supposed to be about Science and a how or why question. Your collage should include:

• At least 5 pictures of the thing your question is about
• Your question
• Some answers to your question that you have thought of or that other scientists have thought about
• Find and include pictures of some scientists who have investigated your question

Week 11 5th Grade May 4 - 8

Don't forget Monday's 5th Grade Science time at 3:00 Italian time - this is time for questions about Science News or your Science assignments - here's the Zoom link

Your assignment:
Science is the way that we learn about the world. Our biggest questions on how things work, why things happen the way they do.

The biggest discoveries about the way the

universe works have started with someone thinking "why does this happen" or "how did that do that".



I want to know what is your biggest question about the way the universe works. It might be from the very smallest things like atoms or viruses. It might be about the very biggest things

like suns or galaxies. It could be about technology that we use every day or about a very rare animal or plant that you heard about.

Write your question starting

with "I wonder how..." or "I wonder why....". After you write your question, I want you to investigate it. Ask your computer by typing it into your browser. Sometimes the answers you get are hard to understand. Sometimes you can add "for elementary student" to your question to get simpler answers. Try it. Please enter your question and whatever you find out about it into a document and share it with me. Please add pictures if you can.

5th Grade Week 10 Summary Atoms April 27-30

Don't forget Monday's 5th Grade Science time at 3:00 Italian time - this is time for questions about Science News or your Science assignments - here's the Zoom link

This Week's Science News link

For your assignment, please watch this video first about atoms. Then do the following things:

•  Watch Video Crash Course Kids - Matter link
• Please write a story about a 5th grader who gets shrunk down to the size of an atom and explores water. Describe the trip through ice, liquid water, and steam, paying attention to how the atoms are behaving. What do they look like? How do they move? What happens to the 5th grader as he/she travels around the atoms?
• Put your story in a document and share/email it to me.

5th Grade Week 9 April 19-23 States of Matter

Don't forget Monday's 5th Grade Science time at 3:00 Italian time - this is time for questions about Science News or your Science assignments - here's the Zoom link

This Week's Science News link

For your assignment, please watch this video first about atoms. Then do the following things:

• In the simulation here, please investigate the three states of water - solid, liquid and gas. Play with the simulation for a while and then
• Create a document and put pictures inside of the three states of water. 
• Describe each picture by telling me about the temperature, what the molecules look like and what humans see when they look at water in this state without using a microscope - in other words what it looks like in our world, right now in your room when I take an ice cube, melt it and then boil it in a pan.

5th Grade Week 8 April 13-17

I am sorry there wasn't a Science News Zoom this week because of the holiday but you can still see the video at

This Week's Science News link

For your assignment, please watch this video first about atoms. Then do the following things:

• Build an atom with every proton, every neutron, and every electron there is in the simulation. Copy the picture into a document and tell me about it. Have you ever heard of it before? Is it stable or is it radioactive?
• Now take out neutrons to make other kinds of the same atom. When is it stable and when is it unstable? (answer in the document you have created).

5th Grade Week 7 Atoms Part One

Don't forget Monday's 5th Grade Science time at 3:00 Italian time - this is time for questions about Science News or your Science assignments - here's the Zoom link

This Week's Science News link

For your assignment, please watch this video first about atoms. Then do the following things:

• You are going to build different kinds of atoms
• You will hand in a document with information about at least 2 different kinds of elements.
• Please take a picture of the elements that you make on this website, bit.ly/ASMatom. You can just click on the link to get there. I showed how to use the website in the Atoms video above
• Put the picture of the elements into your document
• Include the information that you research about your elements and include that information alongside the pictures in your document.
• Send or share a copy of your document with me

Grade 5 Week 6 March 30 - April 3

Science Question time for 5th Grade
Every Monday from 3-4:15 there will be a Zoom meeting for 5th graders to ask questions about Science News or assignments. Just click on this link to join each week. If you can't attend during that time, send me an email with your question or join the Zoom meeting for 4th grade on Tuesdays at 3 or the meeting for 3rd grade on Wednesdays at 3 and ask your questions there.


This week's news

Link to video for this weeks news

and to the website with the links to the articles

Please take a look at the links above for this week's science news. 

For your assignment this week, we are going to start a new unit studying Chemistry and atoms. We are going to start out talking about atoms. Please watch this short video first.
                                            Link to atomic video

Assignment to turn in
Your job is to find another chemical in your everyday world that is also made of atoms, just like table salt is NaCl. Please find out what atoms make up your chemical by asking on the internet "what atoms are in ....." and inserting your chemical name into the sentence. Find a picture of the atoms in your chemical on the internet, copy a picture of your chemical and also of the atoms inside it and write a description of your chemical into a document and share it with me. Here is a list of some common chemicals that you could use if you are struggling to think of any, but please think of some of your own if you can.

Water                                   Wood                        
Bleach                                  Steel
Soap                                     Plastic
Alcohol                                Glass

Week 5 March 23-27

This Week

First, here's a link to a video with me telling you all about the news this week in Science just like as if you were sitting on my carpet in my classroom at school, take a look. (Yes, I am a Youtube star!) Don't forget you can see all the articles on the Weekly News blog site here.

Virtual Maker Faire
We would like to see all of the things you have made for the maker faire, I hope you have seen the message from Ms. Kress. Here it is again with the directions on what to do:

Virtual Maker Faire

Hi everybody! Since our Maker Faire was meant to be this week at school, I thought it would be great to share your maker projects online. If you made something at home as a solution to your grade level's sustainability goal challenge, post a video to our maker FlipGrid! Go to https://flipgrid.com/079f2f8b on you computer, or download the app and enter the code: 079f2f8b. (Login with your asm email) I will leave the flipgrid open for two weeks, so you can even start a project today. I can't wait to see what you've created!      -Ms. Kress

Please upload some information about your project so we all can see if you haven't already. I know some of you have already sent me some very cool pictures and videos.

Science Time
I am going to be attending some of your morning meetings this week to update you on a time set aside each week for each grade to be able to log into a meeting where you can ask questions about Science and what's going on in the world. You can always send me emails with questions but I thought it would be nice to have a Zoom meeting where we can see each other, ask questions and talk about Science. Hope you are as excited about that as I am, I can't wait to see you all.

Week 4 March 16-20W

This Week in Science

You get to select what you are going to report about this week. At the top of this blogsite, you will see a tab that says weekly news. I want you to click on it (or click on this link) and look through the articles that you will

find there. Please select the one that you are most interested in and tell me about it in a couple of paragraphs. There will be a link inside by the picture that you can click on to go to the website that has the article itself or you can look on the web for more information. If you don't like any of the articles you see there, find your own on the web and tell me about it.

While you are there.....

Please look at the links on the side of the news web page and click on the links to see what the moon looks like in the sky this week and how earthquakes are going in the world. Lots more is happening than the coronavirus! Have you noticed the moon in the morning sky? Or seen Venus still shining bright in the evening sky?

Links to other pictures

Here are two links to some collections of photos - one of 30 stunning animal pictures

and this one of funny animal photos from 2016

Week 3 March 9-13

It's Almost Spring Time!

If you have looked outside, despite everything else that is going on, springtime is arriving, even if not officially here. Your assignment this week is to investigate life around you. I want you to find

something outside that is waking up from its long winter sleep and investigate its life. Take pictures of either a plant that has started to grow or an animal that is starting to move around, take some pictures and then start finding out something about its life.

Create a document (either on a computer or a piece of paper), and fill it with information about your organism. I need details on how it starts life, how it grows, how it reproduces, what it does during the wintertime. Tell me about its life. Fill your document with pictures and information. Tell me about its food web, its environment, what kind of climate it likes best. Where does it live? Does it live in other places besides here in Milan?

Either share your document if it is on the computer, take a picture of it if it's on paper and email it to me, or keep it to share with me when you return.

5th Grade Week 2 Mar 2-6

Activity

We have studied about food webs in the oceans. I would like you to consider the amount of water on Earth and where it is located.

• Before you begin ... Consider these questions:

How much of the Earth's surface is covered with water?

How much of the water on Earth is fresh and how much is salty?

• Make a graph that compares the percentage of the Earth's surface covered by land and by water. You can use any type of graph that you want. You will need to find out for yourself what the percentages are. Put the graph into a Google doc (if you don't know how to create a Google doc, you will have to do it on paper and turn it in when you come back.)
• Make a graph that compares the percentage of freshwater and the amount of saltwater on Earth. You can use any type of graph that you want. You will need to find out yourself what the percentages are. Put the graph into (or onto) the same document as the last graph.
• Sample graph types are on the right------------------->
• Share the Google doc with me. If you used a piece of paper, take a picture of it and send it to me by email.

Things to think about

PLEASE ANSWER IN COMPLETE AND THOUGHTFUL SENTENCES!

Look at these two pictures of Earth that I took from Google Earth:

Answer these questions in the same doc:

Can you explain why some people call Earth a water planet?

Where do most living things on Earth live do you think?

Send me a picture!

Send me a picture of yourself doing your Science homework to fhunter@asmilan.org. Use your imagination and do something scientific while you take the picture.

5th Grade Week February 25-28

Maker Faire

Please be finishing up any projects that you are building at home for the Maker Faire. Although we don't know when it will actually take place (at least 2 weeks after we return), we want to be ready. Your posters will be finished the first week we are back. 

Your challenge is to design a solution to the problems facing the oceans of the world - overheating, acidification, over-fishing and/or pollution.

Activity for the week

We have watched the following two videos in class before but please watch them again to review, thinking about how the spheres on Earth interact. You will be doing an activity to show your understanding of the 4 spheres and their interaction to include in your Science journals when you return to school.

• The 4 spheres, part 1 Geosphere and Biosphere
• The 4 spheres, part 2 Hydrosphere and Atmosphere

Answer these questions on a piece of paper that you will glue into your Science journal when you return. ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES WITH EXPLANATIONS!

• How does the hydrosphere interact with the geosphere? How does the hydrosphere change the geosphere? How does the geosphere change the hydrosphere? Are the changes fast or slow? Please include diagrams if they help you explain.

• How does the atmosphere interact with the biosphere? How does the atmosphere change the biosphere? How does the biosphere change the atmosphere? Are the changes fast or slow? Please include diagrams if they help you explain.