February 7, 2017
Hello families!
We've had another busy week (hence my Tuesday as opposed to Friday post).
In 5th grade we finished up some labs that helped students to differentiate between mixtures and solutions. This is a concept we will be covering throughout the unit! This week we are moving on to the concept of saturation and how to make a saturated solution. There are some really fun things you can do with a saturated solution, hopefully we'll have a chance to try!
In 6th grade we conducted a population study of the whole school. In our study we surveyed our community to determine which traits were most popular, tongue rolling or non-tongue rolling, attached or detached earlobes and right or left handedness. Ask your children about the tree we created and how your family would fit onto the tree.
On a side note, as many of you know, there have been several students out sick this week. We are continually reminding students to wash their hands well! Stay healthy!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Rose
January 29, 2017
We are really getting back into the groove now!
In 5th grade science we are getting our hands dirty in our mixtures and solutions unit. We are exploring what makes something a mixture. We've explored the properties of three different materials that include salt, gravel and Diatomaceous Earth. We made mixtures with these materials and water and tried to separate each mixture. We discovered that there is a special type of mixture. Salt and water is one example of this mixture called a solution.
In 6th grade we prepared for and took our cell part quiz on Friday. Overall students performed very well on this assessment. This is exciting because it means we will be moving on to my favorite unit this coming week; genetics!
We are lucky to have Mrs. Bryant joining us on Thursday of this week to meet with students who need to complete a major assignment that was given while Mrs. Bryant was still at school. This will help many of the students who did not have a grade on their science progress report (I). I realize that some students will be involved in our winter program while Mrs. Bryant is here. Students who fall into this group, but still need help with the piece we will be working on need to find another time to get help this week.
Stay tuned for more from our science room!
Mrs. Rose
January 22, 2017
Hello families!
We've had another busy week (hence my Tuesday as opposed to Friday post).
In 5th grade we finished up some labs that helped students to differentiate between mixtures and solutions. This is a concept we will be covering throughout the unit! This week we are moving on to the concept of saturation and how to make a saturated solution. There are some really fun things you can do with a saturated solution, hopefully we'll have a chance to try!
In 6th grade we conducted a population study of the whole school. In our study we surveyed our community to determine which traits were most popular, tongue rolling or non-tongue rolling, attached or detached earlobes and right or left handedness. Ask your children about the tree we created and how your family would fit onto the tree.
On a side note, as many of you know, there have been several students out sick this week. We are continually reminding students to wash their hands well! Stay healthy!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Rose
January 29, 2017
We are really getting back into the groove now!
In 5th grade science we are getting our hands dirty in our mixtures and solutions unit. We are exploring what makes something a mixture. We've explored the properties of three different materials that include salt, gravel and Diatomaceous Earth. We made mixtures with these materials and water and tried to separate each mixture. We discovered that there is a special type of mixture. Salt and water is one example of this mixture called a solution.
In 6th grade we prepared for and took our cell part quiz on Friday. Overall students performed very well on this assessment. This is exciting because it means we will be moving on to my favorite unit this coming week; genetics!
We are lucky to have Mrs. Bryant joining us on Thursday of this week to meet with students who need to complete a major assignment that was given while Mrs. Bryant was still at school. This will help many of the students who did not have a grade on their science progress report (I). I realize that some students will be involved in our winter program while Mrs. Bryant is here. Students who fall into this group, but still need help with the piece we will be working on need to find another time to get help this week.
Stay tuned for more from our science room!
Mrs. Rose
January 22, 2017
Hello 5th and 6th grade families!
It has been a busy couple of weeks! Early last week both 5th and 6th grade classes completed the video projects they created to inform me of what I missed while I was gone. We are finalizing some formatting and students have written short paragraphs explaining their videos. We hope to have a couple samples of these videos up on the blog by week's end.
6th Graders are reviewing the cell parts and getting ready for a cell quiz at the end of this week. 5th Graders are beginning the next unit on mixtures and solutions.
To review, 6th graders played forks, memory and heads up with the cell parts and their functions.
5th graders spent time learning how to conduct scientist meetings, an important element of our class. We used the opportunity to discuss what we already know about mixtures. We also had some fun reviewing the water cycle, which is a great application of understanding that would have been covered in both the heat energy and weather unit. We got really excited about making a cloud in a beaker together!
Making a cloud! Ask your students about how this worked! ;)
January 6, 2017
Wow! It feels like it's been such a long time since I've been at school! I'm glad to be back and am learning a ton about what my scientists were up to while I was gone. In fact, students are working in groups to create movie trailers that will inform me of all that went on in the name of science learning while I was at home enjoying my new little one! I look forward to sharing some of those videos here on the blog once they are completed!
I look forward to catching up with all of you over the next couple of weeks as we transition into our daily routines together. Feel free to check in if you have any questions or just to say hi!
Mrs. Rose
Nov. 11, 2016
http://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=btv
Oct.9th, 2016
What's cook'n in 5th grade science? After 3 weeks of learning about heat transfer, thermal insulator and and thermal conductors, the students are busy building solar ovens. This week, sunny weather permitting, we will experiment with the ovens first trying S'mores and then take a cookie baking challenge.
5th Grade science class was putting their new knowledge of Heat Energy to the test
Emma and Zofia are installing a thermal insulator onto the sides of solar oven to hold in radiant heat from the sun.
Hal, Elisia, and Lila add black paper, which absorbs the most radiant heat, to the outside of their solar oven.
Jacoby and Dakota use rolled newspaper as a simple thermal insulator on the side of their oven.
Conner hard at work.
Sept. 29, 2016
Dear 5th and 6th Grade Families and Guardians,
I have had the pleasure of filling the role as 5th and 6th grade science teacher for Sara Rose while she is out on maternity leave. My name is Mary Bryant and although I'm a new substitute teacher I am not new to S.M.E. In the past 2 years I have been in the role of a Paraprofessional, Farm to School Coordinator and gardening volunteer. I have found Samuel Morey Elementary a very special school community.
5th grade is studying a unity on Thermal Energy. Students are investigating Thermal Energy and Green Engineering through a story of a young girl, Lerato who lives in Botswana, Africa, who learns to design a solar oven to cook so she can save her family time from collecting wood and preserve the over harvested surrounding forest. Next week the class will put green engineering design to the test and build solar ovens.
6th grade is studying Ecology. We are doing investigations of New England Habitats and learning about food chains, predator prey relationships and human impacts on the landscape and what they can do to be good care takers of our environment. Students have had the opportunity to explore independent topics of interest such as fishing, what native people used for shelter, clothing and hunting-all which tie into our native diversity of plants and animals.
I look forward to meeting you over my time as substitute science teacher which will continue until December break.
Sincerely,
Mary Bryant
Sunday, April 24th
The few weeks leading up to break has been very busy for us in science. We had just come down from a very exciting science night (thank you all for coming, what a great time) and were working on our genetics unit in 6th grade and mixtures and solutions in 5th grade.
In genetics, we have gotten to the point where we are "raising baby dragons." Students create a dragon with popsicle stick chromosomes and then cross their dragon with another in order to do a population study of the traits. We will finish up our dragon families and study the outcomes when we return from break.
Quite possibly one of my favorite things we've done this year was spending a day with my parents. They live down in Virginia and have always wanted to spend a day in my classroom. Well we made that a reality about a week before vacation and they helped us kick off our electricity unit (a tad early) and a 40 Schools Project with the Montshire! The day was a blast!
In fifth grade we have been working on saturating solutions and did so with three four different solids. We tried table salt, citric acid, a "mystery solid" (epsom salt) and then finally borax! The borax solution was one that we super saturated by heating it over a burner while dissolving all the solid we could. We then poured it into cups and hope that when we return from break we will find some awesomely formed crystals!
Scribble-Bots!
The fall in science was very, very busy! Sorry to just be catching up, but as I was sorting through pictures, I found some great ones that highlight some of our best moments before vacation!
6th Grade focused on the ecology unit and began a unit on cells. 5th Grade learned about skills and habits of a scientist, the scientific process and heat energy.
The fifth graders try to capture some heat energy on a cold day. They compared black and white to see which absorbed more radiation! During this experiment we problem solved and decided to use our vernier digital thermometer to read lower and lower temps! It was a great intro to the high tech equipment we have at our disposal!
The 6th graders took two incredible trips to the New England College and Dartmouth campuses to get involved in some collegiate science and to see what it's like to be on a college campus. It's safe to say that the lab was a hit, but we really, really loved lunch!
Over the last two years, 6th graders have been working with the Montshire and Dartmouth as part of a grant partnership. The partnership allows for us to grow fast plants in our classroom as a way to study the way genetic traits are inherited! We began growing our own plants and then had the opportunity to visit the Dartmouth campus where they are growing and researching fast plants of their own. We also had the chance to tour campus and see what else Dartmouth has to offer!
Goodness! The 6th grade took plenty of field trips for science this fall! Below you will find pictures of our trip to Cedar Circle Farm. Here we learned about the impact of farming on our ecosystems! I'd say we had the most fun playing with bubbles (to demonstrate carbon sequestration) and playing with dirt!
Some serious 6th grade scientists at work with microscopes we borrowed from the Montshire!
One last project before vacation, angel ornaments for Angela's tree!
Stay tuned this week as we'll highlight our work with cells in 6th grade and our Sunday Mountain Hike with 5th grade.
Friday, October 2nd
This week in 5th grade science we worked on debriefing our data from a lab about conductors and insulators! We observed a demonstration to see if we could make connections about the reason water happens to be a good conductor of heat energy!
5th Graders Making Demo Observations
In 6th grade science, we have continued learning concepts related to food chains and food webs and have begun applying what we know about the need for energy to topics such as local and organic food sources as well as colony collapse disorder among honeybee populations! Exciting conversations were had!
Check out Salsa Friday!
Welcome to my science blog and to my classroom for the 2015-'16 school year! I anticipate it will be a great year! I fell in love with science years ago when I had teachers who made it fun and recognized my excitement for everything we were learning. I knew pretty early on that I would enjoy teaching science! We have a lot of fun and learn science in ways that are similar to 7th and 8th graders! I have very high standards for my students and FUN is always one of those standards.
I feel very fortunate to be starting my 6th year teaching on the 5th and 6th grade team at Samuel Morey! My husband and I started out our careers with many moves in short periods of times. He is a college hockey coach and works in a field that is forever changing; it certainly had us living in some pretty fun places. I have been lucky enough to teach in most of the places we've lived. I grew up in Connecticut, went to school in New Hampshire and taught there for a bit when I graduated. After that it was back to Connecticut for two years to teach 7th grade, then onto Erie, Pennsylvania for a year of teaching high school biology in the inner city. After that we moved up to Fairbanks, AK where I taught 7th grade life science again. By the end of that school year we were moving on to our next location in Kearney, NE where I changed things up and ran a Sylvan Learning Center as the director of Education. Finally, my husband accepted a job as the Assistant Men's Hockey Coach at Dartmouth and we've been here for 7 years! I love this community and our school! Though it can be tough to move, I believe I've grown as a result and have certainly become the teacher I am today because of all the experience I've had in diverse places. 
When I'm not teaching, I enjoy being with my family, who I consider my closest friends. There are so many things I love to do with my friends and family, among some of my favorites would have to be eating fabulous, Italian meals, going to my favorite pizza restaurant for pizza, listening to live music, dancing, camping, paddling on calm water and of course, watching hockey games! I'm a pretty crazy hockey fan ;)!! I'm sure I'll see many of you at Dartmouth games this school year! As the year gets underway, please don't hesitate to contact me for any reason! I look forward to working with our 5th and 6th grade students and families to make this year a phenomenal one!
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