What's going on in Mr. Solarz's Class? - Gianna

Food - Matter and Energy

4/16/2018

Questions

On the human food label:

How do we find the energy (calories) per serving?
How do we find the matter (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals)?
Where can we locate the list of ingredients?

Answers

We look at the amount of calories that are in the food or drink.
You have to look at how many carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals there are in the food.
You look at the top of the food label to find the list of ingredients.

Questions

On the pet food label:

Where can we locate the list of ingredients?
How do we find the percentage of different types of matter in the food?

Answers

On the top of the food label.
Next to each of the different ingredients under the Guaranteed Analysis.

Money Island and Vault Reflection

4/10/2018

What is an Ecosystem?

4/10/2018

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

Ducks eating plants
Ducks eating bugs
They eat grass to survive
They eat the fish for food
They interact with eachother

Between living and non-living things

The ducks play together
The duck flaps the water off his/her wings
The ducks float through the water
The ducks catch food together for survival
The duck eats dead fish and dead grass
The ducks breathe the air

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within the system of living things

Fish is eating the seaweed
Fish use seaweed to hide
Seaweed grows
The fish gets eaten
The fish eats smaller fish
The fish gets caught on a fishing line
The fish interact with each other

Reflection Questions

What kinds of living things (organisms) do you see in both pictures?
What other living things might be here, even if you can't see them in the photos?
Why might living things in these photos interact with each other?
Read the BIG IDEA below. How do these pictures depict an ecosystem?

Between living and non-living things

The dirt helps the seaweed grow
The fish swims in the water
The fish interacts with the seaweed
The fish eats the seaweed
The fish sucks the algae
The fish filter oxygen through there gills

Answers

I see plants and I see animals. The animals are interacting with others of its own species. There are plants in both pictures and there are seaweed in both pictures. There are plants that the animals eat to survive.
There might be bugs, and there could be algae. There might be some bits of food in the water. There might also be some other fish swimming around in the water around them or beneath them.
The living things might interact with each other because they might work together to find food. they might interact to mate with each other and they might play around with each other and swim with each other as well.
The first picture with ducks shows the ducks flapping their wings and it also shows the ducks interacting with the water because they are floating through it. The Ecosystem shows the ducks eating the plants. The second photo with the fish shows the seaweed wrapping around the fish. It shows me the fish maybe looking for something to eat or he might just be taking a swim. I see the seaweed and the fish interacting by them swimming and flowing/floating near each other.

Reflection Questions

What do living things get from their ecosystems?
What evidence do you have to support your answer to Question 1?
What does the term ecosystem mean, based on your experience in this lesson? (Don't use the definition from the BIG IDEA here. Put it into your own words.)
Brainstorm at least one question you have about Ecosystems that you hope you learn from this unit.
Look at the image below that shows a portion of a forest ecosystem. Name at least five components (living or non-living things) of the ecosystem that you can either observe directly or infer.
What are three (or more) interactions that might occur in this portion of the forest ecosystem?

Answers

Living things get their food from their ecosystems. Living things also get their energy from their ecosystems. Living things can get their home and their sleep from their ecosystem, they get their habitats from their ecosystem as well. The ecosystems that the living things have provide the living things to have food, shelter, habitat (home), and energy. This is because if they had nowhere to find food or if they didn't have a home they would be stomped on or they wouldn't have any food so they wouldn't be able to stay alive.
For example, I saw a squirrel that was about to climb a tree and that would be his shelter or his safe place because some animals or other things wouldn't be able to get him. The squirrel was also possibly hiding a stash of nuts in a hole in the tree because he was hibernating for the winter. I also saw a worm in the dirt and that worm was hiding in the dirt so that nothing or no one would find him and so that no one could step on him.
The term ecosystem to me means a habitat that we and animals live in. Or a place/home that animals and people need to survive. Ecosystems can also hold the things we need to survive like food and matter that we would need.
One question that I have is, does every food chain have animals or a living creature involoved?
1.) The deer are eating the grass. 2.) The deer might go and hunt some food for his friends or family. 3.) The deer might drink some water from the pond. 4.) They might chew some leaves off of the trees. 5.) The deer is trotting through the field.
1.) The deer might all go hunt for some dinner. 2.) They might go to find a warm place to sleep. 3.) The deer might go and run through the fields to find some other deer from their family.

Skills21 - Superhero Rehabilitation Program

4/9/2018

#WorldPoetryDay

3/21/2018

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Dustania

3/21/2018

Reflection Questions

What was the hardest part of writing your preamble? Explain how you overcame that challenge.
What is your favorite part of your preamble? Why is that part powerful and important?
What is the purpose of a preamble in a constitution? What does it do?

Answers

The hardest part for me was changing parts from what I liked into my own words for me to undertstand. I overcame this challenge by using google as a resource and looking up a word then using its definition to make the sentence better understood.
My favorite part is when we talk about our goal being to respect each other no matter where we are from and to set aside our disagreements. Also when we say that "we shall agree to peace, equality, and forgivness becuase we never hold grudges in our classroom. We always come up with way to solve differences in opinions, and we never treat each other like we don't belong. This is very important becuase we always have to make sure no one ever feels left out or unheard.
The purpose of the preamble is that the preamble explains the reasons of why our Framers made our government a republic. The Framers wrote the preamble having six goals that they wanted the United States to accomplish. These goals were to form a perfect union, to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. The preamble lays out the goals for the constitution. The preamble is also the beginning to our constitution.

Student-Led Conference - Spring

3/20/2018

21st Century Skills Progress Report

3/20/2018

Evidence for Meeting Common Core Standards

2/28/2018

Character Trait:
What examples from the text are evidence that Catherine's dad is inconsistent? (A character is a specific personality trait)

Text-to-Text Connection:
In what ways are Rules and Wonder similar (two books)? What evidence do we have to support our claims?

Inference with Evidence:
I think Jason went to the dance because he is very forgiving. Here's all my evidence.

Prediction with Evidence:
I think David will be embarrassing because of Catherine telling us what has happened in the past. Here's my evidence.

Character's Past:
"How has Squirrel changed during the book?" What evidence do we have to support our claims?

Character Comparison:
How are Catherine and Kristi similar and different? What evidence do we have to support our claims?

What's the theme?
Explain how specific moments in the text combine to create a moral or theme and describe that theme.

Responding to a Challenge:
How did Catherine respond to the challenge of Jason's together card?

Inventor's Challenge 2018

2/22/2018

Peer Collaboration Improvement Focus Responsibility Active Learning Twenty-First Century Skills Empowerment

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Science Units & Resources:

STEM Investigations
Earth in Space
- Science Companion
- Mystery Science
- Mars Generation One
- Recap
- Weebly
Scientific Method (Science Fair)
Investigating Matter
Ecosystems

21st Century Skills:

Life Skills & Abilities (Skills21)
Digital Literacy (DQWorld)
Classroom Meetings
Mini-Lessons

Social Studies Units & Resources:

Revolutionary War
- history Alive Online (TCI)
- Recap
- Weebly
U.S. Constitution/Government
- iCivics
- EverFI
Geography

Social-Emotional Skills:

KinderPals (Peekapak)
Second Step
MindYeti

Reading Units (Schoolwide):

Launch
Fiction
Non-Fiction
Poetry
Content Reading (Ecosystems)

Writing Units (WriteSteps):

Getting Ready
- WriteAbout
- PenPal Schools
True Stories (Narrative)
- Edji
Information/Explanatory
Opinion/Persuasive
Research/Expository

Spelling (Words Their Way):

Spelling City
Word Sorts
Sown to Grow (Goal-Setting)
Rotation Schedule

Math (Math in Focus):

Whole Numbers
1. Think Central
Multiplication & Division
Fractions & Mixed Numbers
Multiplication & Division
Algebra
1. Hands-On Algebra
Area
SKIP
Decimals
Multiplication & Division
Blah blah blah.
Graphs & Probability
1. Vault (EverFi)
2. PARCC Testing
3. Money Island (First America Bank)
Properties of Triangles & Quad's
Surface Area & Volume
Angles

5th grade classroom website