Be A Revolutionary Reporter

For our next social studies project, we will be taking an in depth look at the people, places and events of the Revolutionary War.  Get ready for a heated battle!  You will be taking on the role of a Patriot getting the news out to the fighting rebels who are working hard to gain our independence.  You can use the links below to help you become the best Revolutionary reporter in history!

The American Revolution

Shmoop: American Revolution

The Betsy Ross Home Page

Kid's Info: American Revolution

PBS: Revolution

Colonial Williamsburg

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

Ben Franklin Research

Use the following links to help you create a timeline of Ben Franklin's life and to decide what is fact and what is imagination in the story Ben and Me.

Ben Franklin: Inventor
An Extraordinary Life
The Electric Ben Franklin
Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government
The Life and Times of Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin's House
The Autobiography of Ben Franklin
What Do You Think Ben Meant?
Ben Franklin: A History
Ben Franklin Tercentenary
Ben Franklin in his own Words

Simply Sci-Fi

Use the link below to help create your crossword puzzle for our next novel study.

Crossword

A Journey into Space!

Watch the following videos on the planets we have not yet covered in class.  Use the login and password given to you in class to access the videos.  You and your group may choose to assign videos to members and share notes in class on Monday.

Mercury Video

Venus Video

Mars Video

Jupiter Video

Saturn Video

Neptune and Uranus Video

If there are still questions you did not answer from watching the videos, use the fifth grade technology page to fill in the missing information.

Moon Log

Track the phases of the moon each night using this calendar.  Remember to record the weather and any comments you have.

Moon Phases

Time to Get a Job!!!

In BizTown we are filling out job applications and some students have chosen to write a resume.  Here are some websites that will help you create our own resume.  Bring your resume to school on Monday January 30th to impress your interviewer.

http://www.careerkids.com/resume2.html

http://www.teachingkidsbusiness.com/resume.htm

http://dimdima.com/smartkids/show_smartkids.asp?q_aid=46&q_title=Writing%20A%20Resume

10,000 Hours of Practice

In fifth grade, we have had many opportunities to stretch ourselves out of our comfort zone.  Recently we have had Signal to Noise auditions and our class mayoral elections.  These events have brought to light the fact that we don't always win.  Even people we consider to be top in their field (The Beatles, Michael Jordan and Abraham Lincoln) have tried and failed.  The people in this clip had many opportunities to improve themselves after a multitude of failures.  The students have been thinking about how failure can make us more successful by providing opportunities to improve ourselves.  Failure is an inherent part of success.

After watching this video, we read an excerpt from the Malcolm Gladwell book Outliers.  The part that we read addressed the debate over whether innate talent is all you need to succeed.  The author argues that innate talent actually has ver little to do with success and success depends more on how much practice you put into your craft.  In fact, Gladwell argues that in order to be truly proficient at any one thing, you must put in 10,000 hours of practice!  He provides several examples of people considered to be the top of their field and through interviewing them he found they all had one thing in common: they were able to get at least 10,000 hours of practice in before they became a star.

In our BizTown lesson today, we listed topics that we were interested in to try to figure out what career type we are best suited for.  After reviewing the difference between interests and skills, we were reminded of Gladwell's argument that if you want to be good at something you have to work hard, make that VERY hard, for it!

As the students get closer and closer to middle school (forcasting for Highland is this Thursday!), it's important for them to remember that if they want to succeed at something it doesn't matter if it's their "innate talent" or not.  What they do need to remember is that success is something that is earned.