Mrs. Stone's fifth grade class took to the Nature Trail to study vascular/non-vascular plants, and vertebrate/invertebrate animals. We found examples of everything and recorded them in our journals back in the Nature Nook.
Ground-level Ozone
We are taking a look at chemical changes in fifth grade. For the last two weeks we've learned how transportation choices affect the air quality in Georgia, and participated in a nation-wide cartoon strip contest to educate our peers - this week we are creating homemade ground-level ozone detection strips. Ground-level ozone is harmful to breathe in; we really just want it higher up in the atmosphere to help protect us from the sun's rays.
Using the charts below we can check how much ozone is in the air in our community. This more of a problem in the summer, as the heat from long days breaks down volatile organic compounds into increasingly unhealthy stuff.
Mrs. Lupiani's class wraps up Snap Circuits.
Jack/Jack/Will experimented with parallel circuits in ways no other class had, while Mary Scott made a game controller for her team's circuit board! Way to wrap up our series on circuits!
Radon Test Kits due next week!
We had some awesome visitors from the Center for Disease Control in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades before the Holiday Break. The two scientists had great information on STEM careers and science lessons for each grade. 
They focused the lessons on radon, a poisonous gas that can naturally collect in buildings. Fifth graders even got to experiment with dry ice and radioactive lead! Your student came home with a radon home testing kit and letter explaining what we were up to. It is a really neat opportunity to contribute to the CDC’s database on radon levels in Georgia – a real-world “citizen science” project. 
The class that mails in the most completed kits (postage is free and you only have to hang them up over one weekend) will win a pizza party from the folks at the CDC! But time is running out - All completed test kits must be mailed in after this weekend!
You gotta know it...
It's electric! Fifth Grade is exploring our Snap Circuit sets this week in the Science Lab. The hands-on challenge reinforces the electricity unit being taught in the classroom. Students discussed "open" vs. "closed" circuits (S5P3b), built examples, and recorded the creations in their journals. Mrs. Swierski's class is featured below. 
Boogie
Woogie 
Woogie
Don't forget to mail in your radon kits!
Our Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade classes all took home a radon household test kit. The class that mails in the most test kits to our CDC presenters will win a pizza part! The directions are on the test kits and there is still time to participate!