Article posted March 4, 2011 at 01:55 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 411
We cannot place a name and a picture of a student in the same post (remember Mrs. B's ;Safety on the Internet' lessons), but since we have a picture of him, we all wish him a very happy birthday. 11 already!!! And the cupcakes were very yummy!!!
Article posted March 4, 2011 at 01:55 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 411
Article posted March 2, 2011 at 02:05 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 362
I would like to share some science things we’ve done in class
We were studying the circulatory system. Alaa’s mom brought in a sheep’s heart, complete with lungs, trachea and esophagus, and Ms. Salem shows us how the circulatory system and the circulatory system work together, when she blows into the sheep’s lung.
And here you see in detail how Ms. Salem dissects the lungs and the heart for students of 5A, and 5a students give it a go themselves.
Enjoy!
Article posted March 2, 2011 at 02:05 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 362
Article posted February 1, 2011 at 01:31 PM GMT+2 •
comment (6) • Reads 682
After every writing assignment, there comes the time when you need to conference with the teacher. You read your piece of writing over with the teacher, and the teacher discussed with you what the strengths are of the piece, and where it needs strengthening (organization, vocabulary, conventions, sentence fluency or ideas).
And then it gets to look like this:
Oh boy.
Article posted February 1, 2011 at 01:31 PM GMT+2 •
comment (6) • Reads 682
Article posted February 1, 2011 at 09:59 AM GMT+2 •
comment (1) • Reads 482
Correcting assessments is tedious work; the actual teaching is much more fun. But every now and then you get assessments that provide a spark. Such as this one; a math problem solving assessment. This was the problem:
Problem # 1: Basel is starting a summer lawn-mowing business to earn money to buy a new bike. He borrowed $225 from his dad to buy a lawn mower. He charges $35 to mow the average lawn. It costs about $ 0.75 for gasoline for each lawn. That means that his profit from each lawn is $34.25. How many lawns must Basel mow to pay his father back? And if he wants to buy a bike for $500, how many lawns must he mow?
And this, my dear fifth graders and 5th grade parents, was one of the answers. A real gem.
This was the answer page (see up)
And this is what caught my attention.
7 mows too pay back his father and (he) is too busy to buy a bike.
i.e. He has to mow 7 lawns to pay back his father the $225.
Personally, was inclined to give this child the full points, because after all, it is totally true. Mowing 22 lawns should take a normal child an awful lot of time. There is no way on Earth he is going to have time to bike, let alone buy a bike. Besides, what Lebanese child knows how to mow a lawn? Who has lawns in Lebanon? And even if you do, does your dad let you mow the lawn? No, too dangerous, would be the argument, you could cut yourself. And $225 for a lawn mower? If it is a mechanical mower, you got seriously swindled (cheated, short-changed). If it is an electrical one, I doubt it would even function for a mere $225.
Unfortunately, we (the grade 5 teacher) decided not to give him the point, for the simple fact that it might entice students in the future to come up with more of these ‘smart’ answers, in order to avoid doing the calculations, to save time, or in order to cover up possible comprehension problems, and that would defeat our purpose of teaching them how to solve complex and multi-step problems.
Still, it is a gem, and I wanted to share it with you. It made me smile. I hope it made you smile too.
Article posted February 1, 2011 at 09:59 AM GMT+2 •
comment (1) • Reads 482
Article posted November 4, 2010 at 04:28 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 763
Tired of doing homework every single day? Fed up with those dumb number lines? How about you give your teacher some of those assignments. And that’s what students from 5a did. Here they are.
You can also see them up close on their individual blogs.
Article posted November 4, 2010 at 04:28 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 763
Article posted November 4, 2010 at 01:38 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 505
Grade 5 students are right now learning about place value in math. But what is place value? And who invented it anyway? And why?
The Arabs? Well, there is some discussion about that. In general it is said that the Hindus (from India) invented the system, and the Arabs introduced it to Western Europe.
It is uncertain when the zero was invented, but a similar (like) symbol was in existence by 500 BC (that’s some 2,500 years ago). The inventor of the zero symbol is unknown. Before its invention, Indian mathematicians had already taken to leaving an empty column on their counting boards and clearly at some point this empty space was filled.
In those days, many Arab travelers came to India to trade. They saw the system and thought “Hey, now that’s a smart thing to do”, and took the idea, complete with the Hindu method of writing numerals, to Baghdad. Baghdad was then part of the Arab empire, and pretty soon all scholars (educated people) were using it.
Why? Because it was much more logic than the systems they were using at the time. Arabic scholars during this time improved the system by introducing decimal fractions.
The system than slowly spread to Europe. Many mathematical books from the Greeks and Hindus were translated in Baghdad and were then sold in Europe.
Those ten marks (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are also known as the Arabic numerals; for it was the Arabs who introduced them into Europe.
So the Europeans are using the Arabic numerals, and the Arabs are now using the Hindi numerals. How about that?
Article posted June 18, 2010 at 03:41 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 1087
Sorry you guys did not make it into the Grade 5 Celebration Program, but we thought it would be even more appropriate that we would send your technology projects into cyber space!!! So now the entire world can see it!
Great job!!!
Great job!!!
Article posted June 18, 2010 at 03:41 PM GMT+2 •
comment • Reads 1087
