Week of January 5

We came back from the holiday break with both feet running.  This week we began our book report for the December book.  We are making a video using the program Powtoon.  The kids are very excited about doing their book reports, even upset on days when we aren't able to get to the computer lab.  They should be able to log in from home and can show you their presentation, but should not be working on it at home. 

"I like to use Powtoon because they have lots of animations."

 

"I really liked Powtoon because it is more animated than PowerPoint, and we really used it."

 

"I loved working on Powtoon because making the animation was super fun.  I got to type the words instead of writing it."

 

"I liked Powtoons because of the characters that you can put on your Powtoon."

 

"I thought making a Powtoon book report was fun.  I like seeing my book becoming an animated video.  It is super fun to add all the effects."

 

"I like doing my book report on Powtoon because it's really fun to make a video for a book report."

 

"I love Powtoon because it is a movie!"

  

"I like doing Powtoon because it is animated."

 

"I liked Powtoons because it is much quicker.  There are better pictures."

 

"I like doing Powtoons because it is quicker to do reports and presentations like PowerPoint but quicker."

"I liked doing my book report on Powtoon because it is not boring like writing on a piece of paper.  It's animated and colorful."

 

 

We also did an interesting science experiment this week.  We gave each student a test tube with water in it, with 2 of the test tubes having a small amount of vinegar in it.  The students walked around and shared their water solution with 3 students, squeezing a few drops of their water into each other's test tube.  After the tree trades, the students tested their water with litmus paper to test the acidity of the water.  We had 9 students who became "infected" with the virus.  The students were then asked to become epidemiologists and figure out which two students started the epidemic.  There were many rich discussions that occurred among the students, with really effective arguments and reasoning shown.  We may never know which two students started with the virus, but I assure you that the students definitely understand how epidemics begin and spread. 

 

 

 

Here are a few of their reflections about the experiment:

"I observed that timing is important."

"I would make it so three people were it to make it even harder."

"We could change the experiment by checking who was pink more often and who was trading with who."

"I think it is these two suspects because they can be traced to their beginnings."

"I observed that you should expect the unexpected."

"I observed that the purple people (no acid) might have traded with pink people (infected), but are still purple."

"A.E. was one of the people who started it.  But the other one is not definite.  It could be 2 people."

"I observed that people did things that led to other things."

"The purpose of the experiment was to find out how germs spread."

"A.E. had it!  She gave it to A.M., who was her first person.  A.E. was A.M.'s last person, which explains why A.M. didn't give it to me or G.H."

"I observed that disease spreads fast."