Hidden Figures Field Trip

  We had a gorgeous day to walk to the Esquire to see Hidden Figures!

It felt pretty special to have the theater open just for us and have the movie to ourselves.  Everyone made themselves comfortable right away.

When we returned, we took some time to reflect on the themes in the movie.  This is the list that our class generated:

• Be brave and strong even when it's hard.
• It's never too late to do something.
• Any color, any gender, any one can do any thing.
• Stand up for what's right.

What a powerful list!  Then we examined these themes as they relate to the book we are reading as a class.

The students were interested to discover that the same themes they found in Hidden Figures were also applicable to Sophia's War.  We discussed that these are important ideas to remember in times of difficulty and that this is why we tell stories of real people who inspire us (as in the case of Hidden Figures), or create stories that will communicate these ideas. (Sophia's War).  

What important ideas and themes do you find in the stories you read, watch, or tell?     

Celebration of Learning: Black History Night

After a very unusual school week (President's Day off Monday, Flood Day off Tuesday, full day rehearsal field trip to the high school Wednesday), Captain came together for our annual Black History Night on Thursday.  And what a night it was!  It was a beautiful celebration of the learning our students from kindergarten through fifth have engaged in around the topic of the Harlem Renaissance.  Students from our classroom represented us well in a variety of ways: speaking, singing, and dancing.  I am so proud of all of their hard work!

Torre lead the chorus in the first song with his solo!

Maria provided an informative introduction to the evening and performed a scat solo!

Grace had a lovely solo in the first song, too!

Mekhila dazzled the audience when she came on stage to scat!

Unfortunately, from my vantage point I was unable to get any shots of our dancers, but we had several from our class who joyfully "stomped at the Savoy Ballroom."

A gigantic thank you to all of you for supporting this wonderful evening!  It takes a village!  

Learning Outside the Box...a.k.a. Classroom

Although I believe fifth grade is a year packed full of learning in our classrooms at Captain, there is so much learning that goes on outside of our classroom that grows our young people all the time.  Your children amaze me with their talents and gifts that they pursue outside the "walls" of our room.  Many of them even carry the learning they do in our space out into the world with them.  You may have even seen some flyers come home with essay contests and a photo contest last week.  Several of our writers entered the "Law Day Essay Contest" sponsored by the National Education Association.  It's exciting to see how what is learned in school is applied beyond it.

Last week, our class enjoyed a sweet moment of learning that occurred outside our room and was brought in to be shared.  Two of our own wrote a song together and were brave enough to perform it for us.  Their joy and excitement, along with some understandable nervousness, bubbled forth before their classmates in song.  The support they received from the other students was just as inspiring.  Talk about mindset - the optimism, perseverance, flexibility, and empathy!  I think it's so important to have these moments together to recognize what happens outside of our classroom and celebrate that learning, too.

This week, our school has another outside the box opportunity for learning as we celebrate Captain's annual Black History Night.  Students have participated in learning since the fall that has lead up to this culminating experience.  There will be art, speaking, singing, and dancing to share our learning about the Harlem Renaissance.  This performance will take place in the Clayton High School Auditorium tomorrow night beginning at 7pm.  I encourage you to arrive early to find a seat as it is always a packed house.  Students who will be on stage should wear some combination of black and white or all black and arrive at 6:45pm.  Teachers will direct students to rooms to gather before the show while families go to the auditorium to find seats.  After the show, students will return to the rooms in which they began and can be picked up by one parent.  I will be there and look forward to seeing everyone on this special night.  See you tomorrow!

Valentine Party Fun

We had a great time at our party!  Thank you so much for your help!

There was a lot of action...so these are my best non-blurry shots.  Catching a marshmallow in your mouth is harder than it looks!

All you need is love.

You know the feeling when you feel so good, you just want to make someone else feel good, too?

Today, I was given a medal for empathy.  In our classroom, we have "mindset medals" that can be awarded at any time to anyone for exhibiting a mindset for learning by showing: persistence, flexibility, optimism, resilience, or empathy.  I wasn't the only one who was given a medal.

Here's how it started:

Dr. Martin delivered a clean, white piece of poster-board to each classroom yesterday morning.  On it she wanted us to create a message of inclusiveness to be displayed in the school.  Although I told the students about it yesterday afternoon so that they could think about it, I saved the activity for this morning.

The ideas got jumpstarted by a collection of quotes that Maria brought to the class.  Quotes are important to our community.  I put a new one on the board each day to help inspire us.  Immediately, someone chimed in, could we all put a quote we like?  Maybe we could put it on hearts?  Maybe we should have the hearts frame a picture like a tree?  What about hands holding onto each other?  And, like magic, our idea was born and everyone was itching to take action.

Not trying to be pessimistic, I asked, "Drawing hands is really hard, you guys."

As if scripted, someone piped up, "But we have Leah!"  All eyes turned to Leah.  Her eyes lit up as she grinned from ear to ear.  With just that look, she agreed to be our artist.  I quickly found a picture of hands for our poster and we arranged a way for Leah to transfer it to our poster.  Volunteers asked to add color and a scheme was rapidly planned.

Once Leah finished her drawing and presented it to the class for approval, she was positively beaming.  She asked, "Can I had out mindset medals?"  She felt so good, she was compelled to make others feel good, too.

It was a group effort and the results were beautiful.  That's the best example of love I can share on this Valentine's Day.  May you feel so loved that you can't help but pass it on.

Wednesdays have their own magic.

It's the middle of the week in the shortest month of the year.  But, February has a way of slowing down time for me so I walked around with my camera a lot today and captured some sweet moments in our day that I thought I'd share with you.

We are currently writing persuasive essays in class.  Students just completed essays debating whether chocolate milk should be served in schools.  I am so amazed at the growth of these writers in such a short amount of time!  Even more exciting, students have embarked on pursuing topics of their own choosing for their next persuasive essays.

In science there are no words more thrilling than the following two: chemical reactions.

Feeling the temperature change as a result of chemical reaction.

Wait, there could be a few others: Diet Coke and Mentos.

Mrs. Hwande never disappoints.

Our latest reading unit is historical fiction, and our book clubs just began in earnest today.  All of our topics for this round of clubs pertain to early American history.  Students wrote book club "constitutions" to set their beliefs, norms, and schedules today.  Perhaps a few asked you if they could tea-stain them at home to make them appear aged?

And, then the most magical thing of all happened today...it snowed, and it was simply beautiful.  We couldn't help but pause and look out the windows for a few minutes in awe of the sight.

What magic did you find in today?

STEM in 5th Grade

Last week was full of STEM learning for us.  STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Thursday, we shared our novel engineering projects with each other.  I was so impressed by everyone's creativity and growth mindset around problem solving.  Here are some pictures from our share:

Friday, we went on a field trip to Clayton High School for STEM Day with the other elementary's fifth graders.  We learned so much from all of the stations: aerodynamics, planetary science, electronics, robotics, biomed, coding, and mathematics.  Check out some of the fun:

Using Bloxels to design a video game.

Using a special pen to draw an electronic circuit pathway.

The CHS robotics team let us play with their robot!

Learning about the heart with a real sheep heart in the lab.

Learning about heart rates.

Building cubes.

Blueprint challenge.

Coding for Ozobots

Catch!

Learning about airplane design and aerodynamics.

I wish I had one of these cool gizmos that you can use to fly your paper airplane!

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and I look forward to another exciting week!