The Rookery

The Herons have taken to our engineering theme with great enthusiasm.  On Monday the students brainstormed a list of famous buildings/locales they were interested in studying and building.  Their list included buildings from every corner of the world, from early civilizations to new construction. The air was full of quick…

Every Tuesday and Thursday the 5th grade band members play a little concert after lunch, often in the Herons.  A crowd gathers to hold sheet music, watch, request songs, and cheer for the performers.  On Tuesday the concert became a bit more formal.  Band director Roger Jenni visited Prairie Creek,…

  Well, we're off by two days but today the Big Birds had a lot of fun celebrating the number pi.  We began by discovering pi by measuring all the circles we could find around the school.  By dividing the circumference by the diameter, students found that the quotient was always…

 One of the things I like most about teaching probability is that I still encounter situations that I have to puzzle out.  Of course, I enjoy that type of thing but I also appreciate having a genuine opportunity to model to the students how I muddle through a new concept.…

 Facial Hair Day was a huge success.  A truly shocking range of facial hair was sported by the Herons.  I myself wore mutton chops (although if I had to do it over, I would spring for the fake fur I was considering.) Days like these bring a class together and…

At the end of the day today, the Herons headed out for what might have been our last cross country ski of the year.  I was really proud of them.  They've become adept at getting the skis on and have really pushed themselves to hone their technique and find their…

 Last Friday, everyone wanted to know "when we were going to have our geography test."  Before we had it, I wanted to make sure they understood why I had asked them to memorize countries in the first place.  As I mentioned last week, it is important to be able to…

 We began a math unit on probability today.  Let me just say up front that I love teaching about probability and consider central to my teaching success that none of my students leave 5th grade thinking that winning the lottery is a good retirement plan.  At this age, students often…

Today's theme work was pretty related to the sun.  We read a segment of a Gail Gibbons book about the moon and then went down to the kitchen to see the moon's phases for ourselves.  It's a fun experiment and, if you've never really thought about the moon's phases, I hope…

View Larger Map As you know, we've been studying different aspects of the sun including a broader definition of "solar energy."  We've looked at how almost all of the electrical energy generated in the world comes from the sun, usually by way of fossil fuels or the water cycle.  We've…