Sidewalk

As I was driving in Queen Anne (Seattle) Sunday morning, I noticed this sidewalk. What do you think happened here? How do you think the cement broke? What observations can you make?

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Erosion and Deposition

Group "WSU" and their attempt to recreate the Colorado Plateau in hopes of finding out how the Grand Canyon was formed. What landforms do you notice?

This video gives you a clear picture of how EROSION works.

"How was the Grand Canyon formed?" Students were recently asked this question as it relates to our focus on Landforms. Here are some of their original predictions:

*Natural disaster   
*Formed by a river
*Meteor                
*Mudslide
*Wind                   
*Sun/Heat/Time
*Earthquakes         
*River/evaporation
*Earth                    
*Tornado

Were any of the predictions correct? How did it actually form? What landforms were created as a result of its formation?

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Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers and Decimals

Check out this video to gain a better understanding of adding and subtracting whole numbers and decimals. How might you use this skill in your everyday life? Where have you used it or have you seen anyone else use these skills?

Wetlands

Two students working together to bring new life to the wetlands.

With the help of volunteers from Earthcorp, students worked towards preserving the wetlands located in the southwest area of the school. Last year marked the first year of students learning about the history of the wetlands and how they could make a difference.  Earthcorp is an organization that works with young people and teaches restoration of habitats.

Before we grabbed our gloves and shovels, the students used a tool for improvement called "P.O.P.E" (Purpose, Outcomes, Process, Evaluation) Courtesy of Langford International, Inc. I wanted the students to understand why they were working in the wetlands and to be able to identify what they wanted to accomplish and take away from the experience. After working in the wetlands, students evaluated their outcomes and effort. Student statements are in bolded text.

PURPOSE

Why are we out there?

We’re there to help the environment. We want to help the animals get food.  We will provide animals with a better habitat. We want to discover new things in the environment.

OUTCOMES

What results do we want to see at the end of the process?

Space is cleared so we can walk. We will see new plants planted.  The wetlands will be free of garbage.

PROCESS

How will we go about achieving our outcome?

We will pick up garbage when we see it. We will use hard work and teamwork when we are planting. We will shovel out blackberry bushes, carefully place plants in the dirt, and communicate with team members.

EVALUATION

How well did we do?

All students planted different types of plants. We communicated about plants and supplies. We worked together and used self control. We used teamwork and helped each other.

What are some other ideas for future work in the wetlands? How could we use the wetlands as a place to learn more about the environment?

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Success! All 33 Chilean Miners Rescued

At the end of the day, we watched and discussed the recent success story of the 33 Chilean miners who were rescued out of a collapsed mine. After discussing the story, I thought it was interesting to hear some of the questions and thoughts that the 5th graders shared. Here is some of what they shared in their writing:

That's cool how they thought of using the elevator to bring them up. They should've brung like three people up at a time. Why did it take them so long to bring the miners up?
                                                -Dwan
I wonder what they were doing down there?
                                                -Vincent
Did it hurt when they go on the chair to take them up?
                                                -Rut
How did they know how to work together?
                                                -Victor
How many days or hours did it take to get all the 33 people that were in there out?
                                                -Jasmin
How did they protect their selves? What was the temperature?
                                                -Karla
I bet their families, were worried, scared, and sad. How did they know where the miners exactly were?
                                                -Hawa
Why were there only men?
                                                -Miguel
How did they come up with big machines to get people out? How did the people send papers about how they were trapped?
                                                -Mariana
There were more people than our classroom! What was their plan to get them out?
                                                -Yasmin
Connection- There was a dog who got stuck underground and the dog was there for like three days.
                                                -David

Any additional questions or thoughts?

What does teamwork/cooperation look like?

Some days just don't always go according to the plan. This summarized our most recent Friday. The plan was to begin our first science investigation and for whatever reason, things just didn't work out the way I had hoped.
When things aren't going as expected, it's time to go back to the drawing board and think about what we need to do to come together as one.

There were many ways that I could have handled Fridays hiccup. I decided that this was a learning opportunity. What was unique about this day? Why couldn't we accomplish our learning targets for the day?

It's ok...it wasn't our day. Rather than being upset or frustrated, we watched a video about cooperation. In the video, you see people cooperating at a high degree. "What would happen if one of the men turned the opposite direction or drove too slow?" Students soon realized that one person can change the outcome of a simple occurence.

"They probably had to practice a lot so they could get good at what they do," said one student. 5th grader's are starting to realize that if you identify the things that need improvement, after quality practice and effort, things can improve.

Transition Time

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot."

                                        -Michael Altshuler
Time is unavoidable. It's everywhere. It determines when we wake up, what time we need to be somewhere, when we should move from one thing to the next. Time management is an important part of our lives.

This year, we've placed a large emphasis on efficient transitions. When our transitions are smooth, we create more time for teaching and learning. My hope is that students will become more aware of their own time and understand how they can use that time productivly.The picture above is an example of one way we are tracking two common transitions that have proved to take longer than necessary. For example, when the students come back from recess, they need a drink of water after working hard on the playground. The first time we began tracking our transition for getting water it took the students 13 minutes. The students identified that as being too long and thought they could improve their time. As transitions continued to be recorded, students would discuss trends and reasons for longer or quicker transitions. After multiple attempts, the 5th graders have improved their time to an average around two minutes. In the grand scheme of things, this is a small example however, the students are realizing that every minute counts!




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Code of Cooperation

At the beginning of the year, students created a list of factors necessary for a high degree of cooperation. The initial list was rather long and some of the ideas sounded similar. While all of the ideas shared were important, we wanted to narrow our list down to 4 or 5 main ingredients for cooperation. We did this by using a tool called "Hot Dot." Students were given three different colored dot stickers. Each sticker had a value as you can see at the bottom of the picture. Students had to decide which three ideas were most important to them. The red dot being the "hot dot," was their number one choice. The students decided on the following:
   *Show respect
   *Make good decisions
   *Solve Problems
   *Take turns (communicate)/share
   *Do the best you can
Students have signed the code and understand that we will need a high level of cooperation in order to improve in all that we do. We will continue to refer to the code of cooperation throughout the year to remind eachother about the importance of cooperation.
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Welcome to the blog!

After many efforts to get this blog up and running, I have finally decided to write my first blog. Welcome to Hitchner's Hub! This is my first year at Horizon Elementary and and my third year in the Mukilteo School District. It's hard to believe we are already a month into the school year. The days are flying by but they've been loaded with a plethora of learning opportunities. Students are motivated, making important decisions, laughing, collaborating, reflecting, and taking risks. This class has demonstrated many positive qualities that I believe will lead to success.

I hope that this blog will allow the followers to see some of the exciting happenings in room D-120. Stay tuned for the next post.