Banyan
Banyan students work on their selfportraits and character traits in their character clubs.
NEWSLETTER
Character Clubs Character Clubs help students explore and understand the complexities of characters and in turn help them understand the story better. Banyan students explored book bins containing stories that highlighted different characters: Henry, Poppleton, Katie Woo, Cam Jansen, Little Bear and Biscuit. As a class, we are reading a series about a very funny and exciting character named, Mercy Watson.
Science
Each student noted their first three choices for which character they preferred to study and then we placed them in character clubs based on their choices. The students have been working in cooperative small groups to learn all about their character. First, we have been listing some of our own character traits and our own physical traits. Then, we began looking for character traits that are the same for our character in each book. Banyan students made self-portraits and described one of their own traits as well as provided three bits of proof for their trait. We are excited to spend more time getting to know all our new characters!
Fifth Grade Buddies Our buddies wrote folk tales and gave them to us. They visited Banyan and read us their stories and we read them our small moment stories. Then, we played some fun games together!
We investigated two questions:Does a ball with more momentum have more force? On which surface do you think the ball will roll the farthest: towel, wax paper or rug? We learned about friction. Banyan scientists learned that friction slows things down and/or stops things from moving. They also learned the importance of NOT being a sloppy scientist. In order for our results to be fair and accurate, we need to set up our investigations carefully.