November Update

Science Fair Update

The students' research and procedures have all been approved.  So what next?  Students, with their families, need to set a timeline for actually completing the experiment at home.  Please sit with your child and determine how long the experiment will take and plan accordingly.  I am hoping the students can bring data to the computer lab during the first two weeks of January.  However, the absolute deadline is the presentation date.  Each student will have his/her own presentation date, set during the last week of January/first week in February.  Your child will know the date this week so everyone can plan for that.

Parent Conferences

Parent conference have start today- Monday and Tuesday.  Please make sure you have received the letter informing you of your appointment.  If you have any questions about the schedule, please contact the office- they have the master schedule of parent conference appointments.

I encourage your child to join you in this conference.  Your child can add valuable information about his/her grade.  If your child is not able to attend, that is okay as well.

Thanksgiving

The fifth grade students have been reflecting and writing about what it means to be thankful for what we have.  As Catholics, we are called to serve the poor in our community.  Each class is bringing in items to give to the Duroview/Mountain View Estate Community in Thermal.  Fifth grade students are assigned to bring in sugar, flour, and/or masa in a reusable grocery bag.  I am counting participation as a Religion grade- only one item in a bag is necessary to participate.  Items need to be turned in by Tuesday, November 26.

Our Thanksgiving Liturgy is Wednesday, November 27 at 8:30 am.  Please join us.

Christmas

OLPH School is presenting a Christmas Concert on December 19.  The fifth grade students are working with the fourth grade students in learning two songs to perform.  Please "pencil" this into your calendar- I am counting participation in this concert toward the music grade.

Students will need to wear the type of outfit you might expect to find at Christmas Mass- boys should wear nice pants and a buttoned shirt and/or sweater.  Girls should wear a knee-length (or longer) dress or a nice blouse and slacks outfit.  The colors we are encouraging include black, white, red, and green.

5th grade Update

Tomorrow is the field trip to the Air Museum.  Please make sure you have signed the permission slip and your child has turned it in.  There are only a few missing- I gave extra copies yesterday to those students who had not returned the form.

My drivers are Mrs. Flores (Breanna's mom), Mr. Flores (Nevada's dad), Mrs. Hinojosa (Hannah and Nicolas's grandmother), and Mr. Becerra (Maia's dad).  Drivers- please follow up at the office about any requirements you need to fulfill.

Science Fair Update

I assigned "The Procedure Project" to all science classes.  It should not take them long to do this- it is much easier than the research project.  Students are required to write out their question, variables, hypothesis, list of materials, and procedure steps.  They will have paperwork on this today, but I also want to post an example for them to follow.  I also wrote up some comments- what I have been telling the students to help them be successful in this.  Here is the example.

Question

How does the temperature of the soda affect the volume of the geyser in the Diet Coke/Mentos experiment?

Variables

The manipulated variable is the temperature of the soda.  The responding variable is the volume of the geyser.

Hypothesis

I predict that the soda kept at room temperature will produce a larger geyser than the soda kept in the refrigerator.

Materials

• ·      10 Mentos mints
• ·      10 2-liter bottles of diet Coke
• ·      measuring cylinder (at least 1 liter)

Procedure

1. 1.     Place 5 bottles in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours.  Place the other 5 at room temperature.
2. 2.     Take one bottle to an outdoor, easily cleaned location.  Open the bottle and place on the ground.
3. 3.     Drop one Mentos mint into the bottle, and then step back.
4. 4.     Observe and record.
5. 5.     Pour the remaining soda into the measuring cylinder.  Record the volume of soda (in liters) left in the bottle.
6. 6.     Subtract this measurement from 2 liters (the original amount of soda in the bottle).  Record this as the volume of the geyser.
7. 7.     Repeat steps 2-7 with the remaining bottles.
8. 8.     Calculate the average volume of the geyser from the refrigerated bottles.  Repeat for the room temperature bottles.

Mrs. Becerra’s comments:

Even though the variables are the second item on the page, that’s where you should start.  Identify your variables. 

·      The manipulated variable is the thing in the experiment you are changing to see if it makes a difference. 

·      The responding variable is what you are measuring.

Then, make sure your two variables are mentioned in the question.  Basically “How does the manipulated variable affect the responding variable?”

Your hypothesis can use the words “I” or “my”.  You can say:

·      “I predict…..”

·      “I think that…..”

·       “My hypothesis is…..”

You can copy the list of materials and the procedure from the source where you find your experiment.  Real scientists repeat each other’s experiments and you can do the same.  THIS IS THE ONLY PART OF YOUR SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT I WILL NOT CHECK FOR PLAGIARISM!!!

Notice the materials are bulleted and the procedure is numbered.