5th Grade

Here they are, the "seniors" of the school. Fifth graders attempt to merge two worlds that don't quite mesh, that of budding maturity and awkward silliness. But, I've got to say, I do love fifth grade! They get my sarcasm and recognize when it's time to flip the switch into serious mode.

By fifth grade, students are very familiar with growth mindset and teamwork skills built from previous years, but it's just a matter of whether they want to apply them.

This year, my fifth graders were my very first group of kindergarteners when I began in this role, meaning they've been with me for six years. When I reflect on my earlier fifth-grade classes, I notice a significant improvement in their cooperation and work ethic within the STEM classroom. I like to believe that all the effort I've invested in them over these six years has made a difference! Or it could be that I just had no idea what I was doing in those earlier years!

Take a look at how I have prepared these fifth graders to excel in teamwork on my SEL in STEM page.

In this unit students think about where our clean water on earth can be found. In this context, clean water is any water that is not salt water.

We start with investigations on where water is found on earth, how much of it is clean water, and clean water compared to the amount of people on earth.

Many students are aware that the majority of Earth's water is salt water, but when you delve deeper into the amount of fresh water accessible to us in relation to the global population, it really gets the kiddos minds buzzing.

Present students with a scenario

In south Louisiana, several parishes along the Gulf of Mexico struggle with keeping saltwater out of the drinking water supply. This is the basis for our unit. Students watch several news clips about these situations and start to think about what could be causing this to happen.

Students do research on the water supply for these and different parishes around the state. They notice that most parishes get their clean water from the ground while a small few get theirs from the surface (rivers, lakes, swamps).

Do the work of scientists

Groundwater vs surface water

In fifth grade, we dive deep into science and conduct numerous investigations.

Students create models of groundwater and surface water (river) to compare these two vital water sources and their contributions.

During this investigation, they discover that the earth's materials can effectively clean "contaminated" water. While it may not emerge completely clear, students observe how oil and styrofoam pieces are filtered out.

We also examine the Mississippi River in Minnesota, comparing it to images from Louisiana. By constructing a model river, they notice that the water begins clear but becomes muddier as it flows. They also see that oil and styrofoam pieces remain present when the water reaches the "end of the river."

Now we pull back to the Louisiana scenario. Why would some Parishes choose to use water like the Mississippi River for their water source instead of groundwater? Well, there's no groundwater that doesn't have saltwater intrusion. Also, they look at saltwater intrusion happening in the Mississippi River. Through data and research, they learn that in times of drought, saltwater creeps into the river, increasing the salinity in the drinking water supply.

This led to our next investigation, how does salt water creep up the Mississippi River. Wouldn't they just mix together?

Our saltwater (red) and freshwater (green) investigation is shown to the right. The differences in density allow the freshwater to float on top of the saltwater.