Civil War Night!

Civil War Night in the Garden is Tuesday, November 18th, immediately following the PTA meeting (6pm start time).

Join us in the garden to learn about a soldier's life during the Civil War. An infantryman soldier from the 12th Virginia Infantryman will be here to share. Our own 5th grade percussion ensemble will perform a Civil War marching tune and Mr. Joseph will come dressed as a popular Civil War figure to tell a campfire story. The new pergola and a school-wide project, the Important People Bottle Trees, will be unveiled. Light refreshments will be served. Bring a blanket to sit on and/or bundle up with!

In the event of rain or colder weather, the event will take place in the library.

Hope to see you there!

Lunar Eclipse

Did you see the lunar eclipse yesterday morning? I was out running and got to see the whole thing! It was amazing to watch the full, white moon turn reddish-orange. The only picture I snapped was close to the beginning:

Here's more information on lunar eclipses and a video of the lunar eclipse taken at the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Living Museum Trip

Earlier this week, we traveled to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, Virginia. We (mostly) enjoyed an interactive lesson called Snakes Alive! and explored the museum's exhibits. The museum is home to 250 species of animals found in Virginia and the exhibits showcase all of our state's regions and habitats.

Beavers! Check out those webbed back legs and the tail details.

Some of my group checking out the beavers

Red Wolf

Bald Eagle

A King Snake in our interactive lesson. King snakes are able to eat venomous snakes as large as they are!

A snake egg!

A snake skin. If you look closely, you can see where the eyes and mouth were. 

Milk Snake

Bioluminescent jelly fish

Shrimp

Three snakes sitting all on top of each other

My group inside a log :)

Fossils are under us no matter where we are!

You can tell how many times a rattle snake has shed its skin by counting the number of rattles it has. How many times has this snake shed?

In the Cypress Swamp exhibit. We saw elements of Virginia's endangered wetlands including cypress and tupelo tree trunks, an alligator, fish, and turtles. 

A turtle swimming in the Noland Chesapeake Bay aquarium

I don't have pictures with other students currently, but if you have some, please send them my way and I will add them to the post! We had a great time.

September Science Fun

In September, we investigated the steps of the scientific method and the characteristics of the ocean.

Dropping paper bunnies in the Dizzy Bunny experiment. We were investigating how changes to the bunny's appearance changed the time it took for the bunny to reach the ground.

Exploring the properties of salt and fresh water

Observing the difference between salt and fresh water under the microscope

Salt Dough ocean floor maps

Not everyone was thrilled with the salt dough texture

Salt Dough maps - working hard

Some of the salt dough didn't have the correct consistency to achieve the anticipated project outcome

A completed ocean floor model