The First Day of School

Our class had a fun and busy (and very hot!) first day of school. We made clay animals, sang "Down By the Bay," wrote about our summer vacations, used a magical tool, and learned what makes a happy marker. We read Kevin Henkes's Chrysanthemum, watching for the problem in the story, his use of interesting words, and how much he loves the number three.

A lot of the beginning of the year involves setting up a common base that we build off of for the rest of the year. We work on establishing a class culture, norms, and community. We develop rules and learn procedures and structures that keep our day flowing smoothly. We learn about each other and build relationships and trust. And we challenge everyone to do their best, setting high standards for everything from passing the door to the person behind you to writing narrative nonfiction. As Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete say in The First Six Weeks of School, "The first week is a time to help children see their school as a place where they belong and where they know and can meet expectations. They need to feel comfortable and supported, excited and challenged."

All of the teachers and staff at the Lowell School are looking forward to all of the learning and growing that lies ahead. We have a lot to do, and we are excited to do it!

Foamy Fountain

Want to try a fun activity with some chemicals? Do a foamy fountain at home. If you want to make it an experiment, change one of the variables and see how the fountain is different!

You need:
- 16 oz plastic bottle
- 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 3 tablespoons of warm water
- 1 tablespoon dish soap
- food coloring if you want to make it a fun color
- small cup
- safety goggles

Start by putting on those safety goggles. Hydrogen peroxide isn't something you want in your eyes or in your mouth!

Also, you probably want to do this outside, in a sink, or in a plastic container to catch all the foam you are about to make.

1. Pour 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide into the bottle.
2. Add 8 drops of food coloring.
3. Add ~1 tablespoon of dish soap.
4. In a separate small cup, combine the warm water and the yeast and mix for 30 seconds, or until the yeast is all mixed into the water.
5. Pour the yeast mixture into the bottle.

If you want to read more, check out this website: http://sciencebob.com/fantastic-foamy-fountain/

Rocket Day!

On Friday, June 19th, we had rocket day! Some of the launches worked well, some had some difficulties. That's just how things are in life.

If you want to build your own rocket launcher, I based most of my design on the instructions on this website:
http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/waterRocket/buildWaterRocketLauncher.htm
and the variations here:
http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/waterRocket/waterRocketVariations.htm
A good video is at the Ask This Old House website:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20263020,00.html

Rocket Day 2015 from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.

Marble Roller Coasters

Lab 204 experimented with physics and gravity and built marble roller coasters. Here's what we made:

Marble Roller Coasters from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.

Field Day

Field Day was a lot of fun! We played beach volleyball, had a relay race around the baseball diamond, raced on bouncy balls, horses, and chariots, played "drip, drip, drop," shot goals in soccer, tossed chickens, knocked over cones and picked them up again, and made a parachute tent. After lunch, the K-2 teachers faced off against the 3-5 teachers in a close game of kickball.

Memorial Day Assembly

During this year's Memorial Day Assembly, we heard the 4th and 5th grade chorus sing "The Star Spangled Banner," some fifth graders read poems they wrote about the holiday, and our class sang "This Land is Your Land."

Thank you to Ms. Peca for this picture!

Thank you to Ms. Garabedian for this picture!

Seed Design Challenge

JRL Associates received an urgent fax from the WPSeed Corporation, asking for immediate design of some seed prototypes. Our engineers answered the challenge, learning about how seeds travel (by wind, water, stickiness, catapult, and being eaten) and then designed a new way for a corn kernel to travel. Here's what we came up with: