Hello families of Twilight Peak Room!

Upcoming Events in April:

April 12th - Ukulele band trip

April 22-26th - 6th Grade Trip 

April 22/23 - chicks hatching in room 211

April 22-24th - 5th Grade Growing & Changing (More information coming soon)

April 24th - Red Tailed Hawk visit

April 25th - Meet the Author of Finding Gobi, Dion Leonard

Science: We're having some fun in class this month. We have chicken eggs in an incubator in our classroom. Hopefully we'll see chicks around April 22nd.  We'll learn more about their lifecycle and caring for backyard chickens. They will go to their homes at the end of April.

Writing: April is poetry appreciation month & we're studying poetry! We're also embarking on Nature Journaling.

I know May gets busy, so here are some dates to save:

May 3rd - Musical

May 10th - Upper Elementary Field Day

May 21st - Science Fair (Parents invited 1:30-2:45PM)** Parents must have a nametag printed from the front office (RAPTOR system) I suggest you come in as soon as possible to get this done so the office isn't overwhelmed that day and you can get to the classroom sooner!

May 22nd - 6th grade graduation 6:00PM @ North Building (graduates arrive 5:30PM)

May 23rd - last day of school, noon dismissal

Science Fair: Next week I will be introducing the Science Fair to the class. You can find the information on my classroom website (with due dates). 

Important to know:

• They can work alone or with a partner

• experiments must be done at home

• Tri-fold boards will be provided & worked on at school

• presentations will be on May 21

Reminder: Please don't pack/ allow your child to pack soda or candy for school.

Donation request: 

• When we clean up at the end of the year, it really helps to cover our Montessori materials in large sheets. If you have King sized Flat sheets, or see some at the thrift store, we could use many for our classroom.

• Pizelle iron

Welcome to Class 211 Science Fair! 

In this unit of study, you will dive deep into a topic, run experiments, and teach us about your findings. Below, you will find the Scientific Method that will help you with the process of your experiment.

What are the steps in a science fair project?

1. Pick a topic

2. Research

3. Hypothesize

4. Experiment

5. Construct an exhibit for results

6. Write a report

7. Practice presenting

Some science fair projects are experiments to test a hypothesis. Other science fair projects attempt to answer a question or demonstrate how nature works or even invent a technology to measure something.

Before you start, find out which of these are acceptable kinds of science fair projects at your school. You can learn something and have fun using any of these approaches.

1. First, pick a topic. Pick something you are interested in, something you'd like to think about and know more about.

2. Then do some background research on the topic.

3. Decide whether you can state a hypothesis related to the topic (that is, a cause and effect statement that you can test), and follow the strict method listed above, or whether you will just observe something, take and record measurements, and report.

4. Design and carry out your research, keeping careful records of everything you do or see and your results or observations.

5. Construct an exhibit or display to show and explain to others what you hoped to test (if you had a hypothesis) or what question you wanted to answer, what you did, what your data showed, and your conclusions.

6. Write a short report that also states the same things as the exhibit or display, and also gives the sources of your initial background research.

7. Practice describing your project and results, so you will be ready for visitors to your exhibit at the science fair.

You will probably also want to know:

What is science?

What is the "scientific method"?

I need ideas for a science fair project!

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

Albert Einstein

General Dates and sequence:

April 19: Topic of Study chosen

April 22 - May 3: Items needed to conduct the experiment are listed and/or collected. Check in with Ms. Natalie once you’re ready to start the experiment.

May 4 - 10: Schedule home experimentation, data collection etc. at home, with a partner. This may require more than 1 session together! Be sure to get each other’s phone numbers and talk to each other’s parent(s) to be clear about needs and schedules. You are also welcome to enter something on your own.

PARENTS: Unfortunately we can not accommodate the experiments and material needs for 24 children in the classroom so this is why we ask for your support in supplying and supporting the children at your homes for the actual experiment piece. We are here to guide them in the scientific process, inquiry, decision making and making of poster boards if they need help. It is amazing what they can do on their own with support!!

May 13: Assemble boards at school. We will provide a trifold board in class to work on, get print outs, and work on design/assembly if needed. You may use your Chromebook to print images and titles, charts etc. you have created for your board. Some people prefer Google Draw over Google slides to do this.

May 17: Experiment completed, pictures acquired, charts and data are complete. Showing all data. One day available for edits/finessing, etc.

May 20: Tri Fold Board or poster is complete and stored inside the classroom.

May 21: Science Fair. This is the day/morning to bring in delicate parts from home or physical pieces that will appear in front of your board. Students tour Upper Elementary 1:30PM - 2:45PM, Parents tour  (please park in the North lot to help with carline congestion)

Here is the general expectation of the board for the final project:

Here is how another resource explains it: Scientific Method

Step 1: Determine the problem or question.

• In this step you decide what it is that you will study.

• This step identifies exactly what you want to learn and allows you to focus only on that material.

• Still no ideas? Try some of the resources listed below.

Step 2: Develop your hypothesis

• The hypothesis is an educated guess. It starts with researching the problem and finding out what others have learned. Then, using this information, make an educated guess or prediction about the question at hand.

Step 3: Design an experiment to test your hypothesis

• Design an experiment whose results will either support or disprove your hypothesis.

• There should be at least two groups in your experiment. The first group has the experimental variable or the factor that is being tested. The second group is the control group which is identical to the experimental group in every way except that it lacks the variable.

• Your Research Plan is a summary of Steps 1, 2, and 3—a description of background information leading up to your research question, a statement of your hypothesis, and an experimental plan to test your hypothesis.

Step 4: Conduct your experiment and collect the data

• Run your experiment. In this step, you will be measuring the dependent variable, the thing that is being observed or measured. Any pieces of information that you collect regarding the dependent variable are called data.

• Record all of your data in your data/lab notebook.

Step 5: Draw Conclusions from your data

• Determine if your hypothesis is supported or disproved on the basis of your experimental results or data.

• If your hypothesis is supported, repeat your experiment to support the quality of your data.

Collect data and pictures throughout the experiment to include on your tri-fold board or poster.