New Project Due Date

Hi Team,
Just to give you a heads up, due to the crazy schedules of the last 2 weeks, project time projects will be due this Thursday. Students will be given class time to work on their projects and presentations  all this week. They also may work on them at home. Presentations will be all day Friday. Each presentation will be recorded and shared with each student's parents. I will be checking in with each student/group on Monday to check the progress of their project and project reflection sheet/project log.

Let me know what questions you may have.

Mythbusters!

Hi Team! 

In science, for the past few months, we have been learning how to be good scientists. We have been discussing the Scientific Method and working with all its parts (Asking a question, Making a hypothesis, Making a prediction, Experimenting, and Drawing a conclusion) to create experiments and learn new things. We have also learned how to include factor such as variables and a control. 

For the past few weeks, we have been watching Mythbusters, and discussing how they use the scientific method in their show to prove or disprove a hypothesis. We have also been searching the episodes and our own experiments for factors that may cause an error in our results. We found that even the professionals make mistakes sometimes.

This Friday, we traveled to The Imagination Station in Toledo, Ohio for their Mythbusters exhibit. We got to try real Mythbusters experiments and draw our own conclusions.

We had tons of fun experiencing new concepts and learning about physics. 

I even got to doge a paintball pellet!

For more information about Mythbusters go to: http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/

Traditions

On Friday, Team Spencer visited the headquarters of one of Michigan's oldest traditions, America's Thanksgiving day Parade.  It has become a tradition in our class to visit this space every year.  This yearly national parade (This year will be the 89th parade.) is an important part of the culture and identity of our country and our state.  My father has been a volunteer for over 20 years and has made sure to make this a part of our family's identity as well.

My dad (The Original Spencer) was kind enough to give us a tour of the facilities.  We learned how floats are made, the ways in which to propel the floats, all about balloons, and cool information about the different types of costumed marchers that volunteer in the parade.  We also received cool historical facts about Detroit and its history with the parade.

In the coming week we will be exploring, in depth, the impact the parade has had on the identity of the people in our community, the history of the event, and how the floats specifically reflect and represent the people in the community.

Be sure to check out Me and my family in the parade next to the Blue Cross Blue Shield float. Look for the blue float heads. I'll wave at you!

For more information on America's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Please visit: theparade.org.

Writing Project

Hi Team!

Over the last month and a half, we have been reading "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick. In the story, [[SPOILER ALERT]], one of the main characters writes beautiful stories using artifacts he has collected from antique shops and resale stores.

We have decided to do the same. We went to Treasure Mart and bought items that inspired stories within us. Not only did we have to look for interesting artifacts, but we also had to compromise with our partner, budget our money, and be held responsible for the money, the receipt, and interacting with the staff at the store. Everyone in the class was well behaved, quiet, and very respectful of the fragile nature of the items in the store.

We are going to start off small, by writing short stories of our own. We did a lot of magical thinking while searching for our objects, and most items have already got quite the story to tell.

In The Marvels, the stories that were told about the objects defined the identity of an invented family. We are going to take our stories and find creative ways to combine them all. We seek to create a new set of characters and use our real life artifacts to help define their identity. We will be researching the objects that we have procured and using our new knowledge to help add interesting details to our story. We are then planning to make a small museum where we display our objects and our writing. I hope you will come by and visit it.