Gerontology, Who You Calling Old? Grades 1-3

Our study of Gerontology led 1st-3rd grades, first, to watch the youtube video, Mr. Six's Introductory Ad for Six Flags.  We talked about why it was funny in a positive way!  Most of us agreed we were not used to

 seeing older people dancing like that and recognized that this person was an actor.  These observations led us to a discussion on who is the oldest person we knew and then we predicted what life would be like for the elderly in 2050.  We also discussed what things we could do to make our own aging process positive:  eating healthy, exercising, having hobbies, etc.  When we interviewed our grannies and grandpas, we found out that some of them had a phone hooked to the wall and you had to dial it to get it to call.  Then, you had to share your calls with others on a party line!  Weird!  We constructed cards for the elderly living in Richmond who might not get very much mail and Christmas.

Love My Cetaceans!

Grades 1st-3rd dove into the Cetalogy, the study of whales, this past month.  We took some measurements in our hallway to try and understand how big some of these mammals are.  How does a blue whale get so big as to fill our hallway, but it only eats little bitty animals like krill?  Having teeth doesn't help you very much if you are a whale and you eat plankton, but being baleen does!  We investigated the difference in how baleen and toothed whales eat with a comb, toothbrush and a jar filled with water and black pepper and got to see
(Click below to see individual 3rd grade research as well)

5th Grade's First Robotic Challenge!

Fifth grade used only the parts in their NXT Mindstorms kit to construct a chair for a beanie baby.  The chair had to survive an ankle-length drop and not fall apart.  It had to fit the beanie comfortably, and be an inch off the ground.  Specialized parts were also added such as cup holders, arm rests, massage devices, even automatic saws in order to cut wood without the beanie getting out of his/her chair.  We used iMovie Trailer to record our engineering ideas.  See below!  Awesome use of the engineering design process mixed with creativity!  Good job fifth grade!

Lamby's Chair by Marin and Riley

The Battle of Jolly by Walker and Mason

Mackenzie and Katie

Brian and Kai

Kaden and Colin



Noah and Ty


Timothy and Mitchell

Caleb and Cooper




Madison and Mallory

Heard from a Little Birdie...3rd Grade Is Studying Ornithology!

Ornithology is the study of birds, and boy, do we have some bird watchers in 3rd grade!  We learned the characteristics that make a bird a bird and noticed that the shape of birds' eggs had more to do with the type of nest they created than other factors.  We looked at feathers of all kinds and researched the parts and looked inside the "hollow" bones birds have.  Our studies led us to look at bird beaks and think about why some birds have certain beaks. Here are pictures of us during the Bird Beak Lab, gathering facts and graphing results about bird beaks!!

Mammal-Mania!! 1st & 2nd

First and second graders have been studying mammalogy, mammals of all kinds: monotreme, marsupial, and placental.  After we looked at these cool groups of mammals, specifically the duck-billed platypus and the wombat, we chose our own mammal to research and find out more.  Our students were on a fact-finding mission, and I'm so impressed by what they found to interest their audience!  See our products below. Some of the audio is hard to hear and we will definitely work on that!

Elise B.

Hayden C.

Maegan C.

Kennedy E.

Michael H.

Alejandro

Adam M.

Gunnar M.

Liliana K.

Landry H.

Mammal-Mania!!

Third grade is summarizing the study of mammals, or mammology, by researching a single mammal of their choice from the 3 groups of mammals:  Monotreme, Marsupial, and Placental.  We collected our mammal  research on an app called iFunFace.  Our research involved specific details to our mammal, patterns of adjusting to habitat, adaptations developed for survival, and in some cases ethical issues surrounding extinction and endangerment.

Mia H.

Conner K.

Dylan M.

Abby B.

Gabriel A.

Griffin V.

Dylyn W.

Kyle D.

Welcome Back! Thinking outside of the pond! Gr. 4-5

Marin S.

Grades 4-5 began the year with a social-emotional unit that had them reflecting on what it might mean to be a participant in the GT pullout class and in life.  How do we treat others and ourselves when differences are very apparent?  What is our own style of learning and how does that affect group members with whom we are working?  Click on link below to read more and see other student's projects!!