Congratulations and happy summer!

Well, we did it!  This year's fifth grade class has officially been promoted to middle school!  Can you believe it?  It's going to take me a little bit to adjust.  I'm still reeling from all of the fun we have been having together.  Here are some highlights from our final days and promotion:

At the end of the year assembly, Paige was recognized as our school's top fundraiser for Jump Rope for Heart.

Kaia played beautifully as students entered for our promotion ceremony.

The Class of 2022

Dr. Martin offered words of wisdom.

Getting ready upstairs before they officially became middle schoolers.

Look at all those beautiful smiles!

Many thanks go to Mr. Lynn who compiled the following slide shows for our celebration (click the links to see the slide shows):

5th Grade Candids

5th Grade Baby Pictures

Finally, I just want to thank each and every one of you for a fantastic year of fifth grade.  I will miss seeing your children each day, but I know that they are eager (and a bit nervous) to begin their middle school careers.  I wish all of them success and happiness as they move on to find their paths.  I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for news of their gifts, talents, and kindnesses to others as they continue to grow and learn. 

Have a great summer! 

Wydown Tour Field Trip

Monday we had the perfect afternoon to walk over to the middle school for a tour and question and answer session.  I was very impressed with the eighth grade ambassadors!  The guides for my small group showed us every type of classroom at Wydown.  They introduced our students to the teachers and answered questions about classes.  More than once, we were reminded of the importance of having a growth mindset and embracing rigor and challenge in learning opportunities.  And, maybe a little treat from Ted Drewe's at the end of the tour does help allay the nerves.  ;)

STEM Day 2015

Friday was a fantastic day of learning!  We went on a field trip to Clayton High School for this year's STEM Day.  STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  All of the fifth grade classes in the district came together for learning opportunities around STEM. 

Throughout the course of the day, students traveled in mixed groups with one Clayton teacher and one Clayton High student to 6 stations.  Each station housed 2 activities focusing on its theme.  For example, there was a planes station sponsored by Boeing where students learned about how planes fly and then got to design paper airplanes and feed them through a launcher at targets.  The Missouri Department of Natural Resources had a streams station where students participated in demonstrations explaining our water sources and water pollution.  At the electricity station, sponsored by Ameren, students completed a circuit challenge and learned about alternative forms of energy for electrical power.  The biomedical station was extremely popular.  It was coordinated by a Clayton High anatomy teacher and facilitated by high school students.  Our fifth graders learned about blood pressure, heart rate, blood cells, circulation, and even got to compare and touch (with gloves!) sheep hearts and human hearts.  The math station, coordinated and facilitated by Clayton High math teachers, allowed the students to use blueprints to create structures, and work with graphing calculators hooked up to motion sensors to create graphs with their movement.  Finally, the robotics station featured an informational presentation by Washington University Students on body mechanics and a demonstration by the Clayton High Robotics Team.

All in all, it was a FULL day and our students represented Captain well will their thirst for learning!

Check out some of the fun I was able to capture with my group:

Examining human hearts.

Clayton High Robotics Team demonstration with their competition robot.

Plane design!

More plane design...trying to focus!

This one flew great!

Using a blueprint to build.

Teamwork in building!

Circuit challenges.

Touching a sheep's heart.

Examining blood cells under the microscope.

Here is our stream and what we did with our land along the water source.

Using blueprints and teamwork to build.