Today, the students started the day learning about how lenses bend light and magnify images. They also compared and contrasted the components of a standard microscope (which the design of has barely changed since the early 1800s!) and a Foldscope.

They then got to explore the class set of glass slides by attaching their Foldscopes to the class set of iPad minis, which makes them much easier to view and allows you to capture photos and videos. Unfortunately, we were surprised that the iPads have stopped being supported by the district, so we couldn't upload the image files to portfolios like the 5th graders could last year. 😭 We troubleshooted the best we could, and students added photos of their iPad screens to their Book Creator portfolios. I'll reach out to the district tech department to see if they have any spare iPads we can borrow or have. I also applied for a grant to get a few iPads to use as drone remote controls. I should hear back about that by the end of the week, so we'll cross our fingers!

After Choice Time, the 5th graders finished their day by starting the exploration phase of a microbiology research project! Next week, they will learn about the classifications of life, help craft a rubric/success criteria for the research project, and get to work!