Grade 5 Category
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 4 – Dynamic Coasts (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 18, 2019—In the morning we learned more about coastal hazards like ocean acidification, hurricanes, tsunamis, and oil spills. Students worked in groups to research and develop presentations on one of these topics. They shared their findings to the rest of the class. After lunch, we learned about radioactive decay and how scientists use radiometric dating (like...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 3 – Math and Music (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 17, 2019—This morning the mathemusicians continued their work preparing for the trial of John Cage on Friday. This morning, both teams determined their witnesses and shared them with the opposing side. Taking the stand for the prosecution will be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Julian Dodd. Speaking for the defense will be Weird Al Yankovic and Albert...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 3 – Dynamic Coasts (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 17, 2019—What a busy day! We got to experiment with a stream table in a research lab in Vanderbilt’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Department! This activity helped us better understand how rivers erode and deposit sediment. We were also able to see what happens to a stream when base level drops. In the afternoon, we spent...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 2 – Math and Music (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 16, 2019—We began Math and Music today by splitting up into two teams and laying the groundwork for our John Cage trial later in the week. I was impressed with how well the students worked to come up with their respective definitions of music! Of course the two sides will be presenting different definitions as they...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 2 – Dynamic Coasts (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 16, 2019—Today, we dove deeper into the processes that influence coasts and drive coastal change…literally and figuratively! We learned about isostasy and how the lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) floats on the asthenosphere (below the lithosphere; upper mantle) and responds to changes in loading and unloading. We linked this idea to the ideas of subsidence and...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 1 – Math and Music (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 15, 2019—Hello, parents of mathemusicians! We spent almost the entirety of the day listening to, responding to, and discussing music, specifically the compositional techniques that artists use that incorporate some mathematical elements into them. We began with a look at sonata form and how it still pervades music today. Sonata form typically contains two themes, and...
SAVY 2019: Session 5, Day 1 – Dynamic Coasts (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 15, 2019—We had a great first day in Dynamic Coasts! We started the day by familiarizing ourselves with Google Earth, a tool that geo-scientists often use in their research. Google Earth allowed us to explore all the different coastal systems we’ll be learning about this week. We focused on understanding systems, their components, and how they...
SAVY 2019: Session 4, Day 5 – Unpacking the Magic of Harry Potter (Holland W.) (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 12, 2019—I can’t believe how fast this week went! It has been such an honor to work with such talented young witches and wizards. For our warmup this morning, the kids were tasked with coming up a catchy headline that might be found in The Daily Prophet. They really know how to sell a headline! Next, we analyzed...
SAVY 2019: Session 4, Day 5 – Unpacking the Magic of Harry Potter (Sarah B.) (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 12, 2019—Happy Friday, SAVY parents! It was so wonderful to meet many of you today at the Open House! We had a wild and wonderful last day here in the Harry Potter-verse. To start the day, we did an icebreaker where we composed Daily Prophet (the wizarding world’s newspaper) articles and shared them with the class....
SAVY 2019: Session 4, Day 5 – Puzzles and Problem Solving (Rising 5th/6th)
Jul. 12, 2019—On our final day in Puzzles and Problem Solving, we looked at a couple of gold coin problems where students had a certain number of weighings on a balance scale to try to determine which coins were fake. Students quickly solved the nine-coin problem and set to work on the five-coin version. You would think...