It's that time of year!!

Last year was the first year I've tapped trees and my class had such a great time doing it! I've been looking forward to sharing it with my new class since September!!

On Thursday, Mrs. St Peter and her 5th grade helper shared the basics with our class. She talked about all the materials we'll needs, the process of collecting and boiling sap, and, finally, the difference between syrup like Mrs. Butterworth and real Maple Syrup. 

Friday, despite the cold wind, we tapped trees right outside of OTES! Mr. Avery brought all the tools we'd needs to tap the trees and started by asking students questions about the size of the tree we would needs in order to tap. In order to keep the tree healthy, we had to find last years tap hole to stay away from it.

Many of the students had a chance to take part of the tapping process. We had to drill the hole and find a small stick to clean out the new hole. Being especially careful not to put our fingers or breathe in the hole. Much like keeping cuts clean, we want to keep outside germs and bacteria out of the fresh "wound".

We're using traditional metal buckets and lids to collect our sap. There is a hook on the backside of the tap that forced Will to make a few attempts at hanging one of our buckets. Then a metal lid is connected to the top to keep bugs and other tree fallings out of our fresh sap!

Keep following to stay up to date on our process and collections! Keep an eye out in the next couple weeks for a permission slip as we will be venturing to the University Forest to check out a large scale tapping and boiling process at the Sugar Shack! 

Scholastic Book Orders

After our most recent book order, I wanted to thank you and show you the result of your orders! All 20 of these chapter books and 12 picture books were FREE additions to our library. Every dollar you spend gives our classroom one point towards free books and, when orders reach a certain dollar amount, a free book bundle is included!

Opening book orders is better than a birthday. When I opened the box on Tuesday, you should have seen how excited the students were, whether they ordered a book or not, about all the new books we now have to explore! 

Environmental Changes and Effects

We have had a great two days of collaborating in groups and researching! Students are in groups of botanists, zoologists and landscapers. Together they must redesign a pond ecosystem in South Africa and select animals to inhabit the new area, including plants as a food source.

Yesterday was the bulk of our planning for plants and animal brainstorming. The trick is, the scientists must find animals that are native to the region to ensure survival. The Botanists utilized print resources, while South African animals are easier to find on computer based resources you see in the second photo of half of our Zoologists.

Today the landscapers had a decision to make. Whose design for the land to use? They had a great conversation about ways to choose and how do make the choice in the most fair way. I was so impressed with their reasoning and disagreeing skills! Kylie took the conversation even further by collecting the data of the group. They had created their own system for voting and solving ties. It was so interesting to sit back and just listen to the discussion progress.

Our most recent math topic has focused on data collection and graphs.
It was great to see her come to this solution on her own!

 The Zoologists, meanwhile, used their Google accounts to research pictures of South African animal outlines. We did a lesson in the classroom about using the Research tool and being specific with our searches.