5th grade today

The 5th grade students worked individually on the projects for homework last night and made their presentations today. I taught many of the students last year in 4th grade and was very impressed with the ideas and creativity expressed today. Mrs. McCoy (their classroom teacher) did a very good job of making sure all shared and expanded on their ideas. She asked good questions that made them think. When I shared the problem with them yesterday. I had a class copy written on chart paper. We started off by circling or underlining key words or words students did not understand. I looked at some of the evaluations today after they were done. Several students mentioned that they liked the way it was presented and the vocabulary explained. Students learned from the art, writing, and research mostly using their science textbook. Some of the used what they learned in 4th grade science about animal adaptations to help solve this problem. We kept the problem posted in the room and referred back to it while students were working in class and presenting to make sure they had everything covered. While students brainstormed, I kept a list on the board of all the ideas of things they needed to do. Students then wrote this list in Science notebooks to refer back to as they worked on the project. Students did not work in small groups this time . . . maybe next time.