5th Grade
Welcome to the 5th Grade Innovation Lab Journal
We'll use our 5th grade journal to share about each month's bi-weekly lessons and learning activities with the Innovation Lab Program. Teachers and Parents can follow along with the learning and find lesson resources that can be printed or shared and used to connect the learning to the home or in the classroom.
5th Grade Lessons May 2023
5th Graders Design for NASA
An exciting science lesson that took place in the Innovation Lab this May challenged 5th grade students to plan and model large designs NASA's groundbreaking Artemis program. This hands-on experience not only educated students about the moon, Mars, and NASA's plans through 2040 but also fostered their problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills.
The students were introduced to the Artemis program through an engaging video presentation. Artemis is NASA's initiative to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024, paving the way for future lunar exploration and eventually human missions to Mars. The program aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon, utilizing it as a stepping stone for deep space exploration.
In teams 5th graders chose to take on modeling a moon base, a mars colony or new rockets for the artemis missions. Students brainstormed and identified essential design criteria and constraints. They recognized that the moon base and mars colony have special challenges in providing atmospheric pressure, food, and basic life needs, as well as the need to design new rovers and scientific tools for exploration.
With the design criteria and constraints in mind, students collaborated in teams to develop innovative solutions. They utilized their creativity, scientific knowledge, and critical thinking skills to construct physical models using upcycled materials from the makerspace.
By embracing creativity and scientific knowledge, students presented unique solutions that showcased their understanding of the design criteria and constraints for a moon base. While our short term goals are to help students meet NGSS and California performance expectations in science, art and engineering, such immersive experiences inspire young minds to pursue STEAM careers and encourage them to dream big!
5th Grade Lessons April 2023
Annual Innovation Showcase 2023.
Students at Innovation Lab schools in CUSD were invited to after school events showcasing some of the most engaging learning happening in the program this year. This event showcased a variety of STEAM activities and encouraged children and families to explore, create, and innovate together.
One of the most popular stations at the event was the Dash programming station. Participants had the opportunity to program the Dash robot to move and meet challenge criteria. Exploring the basics of coding and robotics, this station encouraged visitors to think critically and problem-solve.
Another popular station was the Bee-Bots programming station. Children used coding skills to program a Bee-Bot robot to navigate a maze using sequencing and problem-solving.For those interested in video game design, the Minecraft programming station allowed children to use coding skills to quickly build houses in a Minecraft world. Children and families also experimented with different coding blocks and learned how to create using Python code.
At the Scratch programming station, children could learn the basics of coding through interactive games and animations. Scratch cards at each station allowed visitors to create their own stories, games, and animations. This activity taught children the importance of creativity and logical thinking. For those interested in building, the Lego Buildtionary station challenged children to build various structures using Lego bricks. This activity encouraged children to think creatively and experiment with different building techniques.
Finally, the Soundtrap DJ booth allowed children to explore music production by creating their own tracks using digital tools. Innovative DJs could experiment with different beats, loops, and sound effects to create their own unique compositions. Parents took over this station at both events to show off and explore their creativity!
Innovation Showcase Night was an amazing event that offered a fun and engaging way for our school communities to learn about the program, our integrated learning and the profile of a graduate competencies. With a variety of activities ranging from coding and robotics to music production and building, there was something for everyone.
Minecraft engineers used Python code provided at each station to build structures amazingly fast!
Parents and students took over the Soundtrap DJ booth to keep the beat at each showcase enent.
5th Grade Lessons March 2023
5th Graders used collaboration and critical thinking to make sounds with Makey Makey
Makey Makey is an invention kit designed to connect everyday objects to computer keys. The kit includes a small circuit board, alligator clips and a USB cable. Students reinforce their of closed circuits to set up the Makey Makey kit.
Students gained an understanding of some key vocabulary: alligator clip, alligator wire, Makey Makey Board, Earth wire, conductor and non-conductor.
They rotated through stations to learn about materials that are conductors, transfers energy through the closed circuit. Student work collaboratively to set-up their kits. There was a playdough station, where students created playdough keys which could play a piano, bongos, or even connect to a game on Scratch. There was a station with carrots, celery and bananas. Students could create the famous "banana piano". Another station showed students how to use Makey Makey and Scratch. Here students could build their own project in Scratch and use Makey Makey as a controller, rather than the keys on their keyboard. They used critical thinking skills to use the sounds in Scratch or record their own sounds to build code. Lastly, there was a station where students tested conductors to determine which material would complete the circuit and work well with Makey Makey.
Makey Makey is great for classrooms because it's one of the easiest and most affordable technologies that teachers can integrate into learning. The Makey Makey circuit board is effective in helping teachers to relate concepts about electricity, circuits, basic programming, and cause and effect to students of all ages and learning abilities.
Students connect alligator clips to carrots to make a "carrot piano".
5th Grade Lessons February 2023
February was a month filled with exploration, creativity, and artistic expression for the fifth-grade students in the Innovation Lab. Building upon their coding skills, they delved into the world of Scratch programming and also took a break to develop their artistic abilities.
In the Innovation Lab, coding skills were taken to the next level as fifth graders immersed themselves in Scratch programming. They dived into designing and developing their very own maze games, allowing their creativity to shine while deepening their understanding of block-based programming. Through a series of engaging lessons and hands-on activities, the students honed their computational thinking and problem-solving skills. They applied their knowledge of programming concepts, such as loops, conditionals, and event handling to create interactive and challenging maze games.
Exploring Griffpatch's Maze Project
To further expand their coding expertise, the fifth graders embarked on an exciting adventure by watching a tutorial by a renowned YouTuber known as Griffpatch. They learned from his expertise and attempted to recreate his self-generating maze project in Scratch. This challenge pushed their programming skills to new heights as they navigated the complexities of generating mazes dynamically. Throughout this process, the students demonstrated resilience and a growth mindset. They embraced challenges, learned from their mistakes, and iterated on their projects, ultimately gaining a deeper understanding of programming concepts and expanding their problem-solving abilities. Not everyone was able to complete the self generated maze tutorial, but all students showed tenacity in taking on this challenge.
Exploring the Artistic Side: Drawing and Shadows
In addition to coding adventures, the fifth graders took a break from programming to nurture their artistic abilities. Drawing became the focus as they embarked on a journey of self-expression and creativity.
Using colored pencils, the students practiced drawing from still life, paying particular attention to shadows and the interplay of light and dark. They learned techniques for capturing depth and dimensionality by focusing on shading from darker areas to lighter areas. With each stroke of their colored pencils, they brought their drawings to life, expressing their unique perspectives and capturing the essence of their subjects.
Throughout the drawing sessions, the students developed patience, attention to detail, and a keen eye for observation. They honed their fine motor skills and nurtured their artistic sensibilities, discovering new ways to communicate and express themselves through the visual arts.
Lesson Resources:
5th Grade Lessons January 2023
5th Graders had the opportunity to design posters for the Arbor Day Poster Contest. The theme this year is "Trees Plant a Cooler Future".
Mrs. Delaye had students think of the many ways trees are cool and how trees help keep us cool. Students discussed this multiple meaning word, went outside to observe trees, looked at pictures of trees, and even practiced drawing trees. Students agreed trees are homes to animals, trees give us food to eat, trees are beautiful to look at, and trees give us shade on a hot day.
Students also learned about respiration, which contributes to trees cooling the Earth. This cooling factor helps students understand the importance of planting trees and protecting trees.
Students sketched out a design for their poster in their Innovation Journals. They included some of their favorite reasons trees are cool in their designs. Students were encouraged to add branches and realistic details to their drawings.
In a second session students took their designs a step further to create posters for the California Releaf 2023 Arbor Day Poster Contest. Students had the choice to work with colored pencils or cut paper designs.
This project gave students an opportunity to choose an artistic medium that they had interest in. It helped them understand how they can help their community by spreading an awareness of how valuable tree sare to their communities.
5th grade students use pictures they took of trees on campus to get ideas for their poster designs..
5th Grade Lessons December 2022
Innovation specialist teachers recently met with trainers from soundtrap to develop new learning for students
This week 5th graders are working on independant software projects, developing podcasts and music in Soundtrap and continuing to develop problem solving skills in robotics.
While 5th grade students in Mr. Pittman's class are continuing to work on their independent projects for the upcoming school arcade build event, students are also getting an introduction to a new piece of audio recording and editing software, Soundtrap.
As we continue to create new ways for students to document their learning, soundtrap also provides an opportunity to allow students to record audio logs of their learning as well as podcasting as a new medium for creating and sharing curricular content. Look for new audio uploads to SeeSaw as students become more familiar with this tool.
Of course during this week's introduction to Soundtrap, most students are enjoying learning to use the multi-track interface and creating their first loops, beats and songs. Mr. Natividad even took Soundtrap into 5th grade math lessons as a guest teacher during week one of this rotation.
Students are also competing their first Innovation data surveys during this two week block of December. Students and teachers are providing feedback to administrators and the Innovation team on what is working well, and what stakeholders would like more of. We hope to use this data to continually improve and refine the program, and look forward to our next survey's in the spring so we can determine our growth and start planning for next year.
5th grade Innovation students joined students from around the district for December 7th's Wonder Wednesday broadcast. Fifth graders met two of Mr. Pittman's former students, Alla and Anwar Muhammad who are now both professional scientists and chemical engineers.
Lesson Resources:
Wonder Wednesday "Measuring Matter" with Anwar and Alla Muhammad.
5th Grade Lessons November 2022
5th graders created the first draft of their project plans.
5th graders have begun work on their independent projects for the student design challenge Arcade project. Each student drafted their plan, captured it on SeeSaw, and created their classroom Scratch account.
5th graders created their first independent project plan drafts this month. They will continue to work on these projects in Scratch though the end of the calendar year. With the approval of funding for the student design challenge in hand, students are now working to create content that will populate the various arcade machines and video players. Students chose to work together in groups or independently.
However students choose to work, the engagement is very high. Classroom management is a great indicator of content engagement, and classes have been operating smoothly and very independently for most students. The high engagement provides an increase in focus and grit that will motivate and propel students through complicated CS tasks that must be practiced over and again to master.
< Note from Mr. Pittman - Students working on CS tasks on software platforms like Scratch or Minecraft EDU's Python interface have been benefitted by alos spending time on hardware programming tasks with Mrs. Delay who's focus for 5th graders has been around independant project choice in early robotics.
5th graders from Rosemary Elementary traveled to Pitchfest at Blackford Elementary to present their project to the judges.
5th Grade lessons that concluded before the Thanksgiving break included developing block based programming skill, applying those skills to introductory robotics programming and a presentation to the Superintendent, Dr. Viramontez.
Fifth graders continue to practice and learn computer science skills as they begin to develop independent projects on scratch that will continue through the end of the calendar year. 5th grade students also continue to work with integrated math content knowledge, such as last week's focus on understanding and using the coordinate plane.
The foundations of coding and computer science create a highly engaging and interesting "hook" for students that can create deep engagement needed for the rigorous study and practice demanded by CS. Student engagement has been high as students choose the skills that they will learn based on theri interests and skills students decide that they will need to know in order to complete their own independent project.
5th Graders on Mr. Natividad's Student Design Challenge team presented their ideas for increasing student stewardship at Rosemary Elementary to Superintendent Dr. Viramontez as well as a board of judges from our community.
5th grade students who joined Mr. Natividad's Student Design Challenge team also presented at the Pitchpalooza on November 9th. Mr. Natividad's students were among the most independent presenters, and did not share the presentation stage with their teachers, demonstrating their capability to both understand and clearly present their own ideas for improving school stewardship and leadership for 5th graders. These students developed their ideas through their roles in student government, so they are serving both as leaders of creative problem solving as well as communicating with and representing their peers ideas and input throughout the project.
Lesson Resources:
Download and view/ print Independent student project planning page
Download, view/ print ALL of the Scratch Tutorials and ideas
5th Grade Lessons October 2022
During these 5th grade bi-weekly lessons in Innovation Lab, students learned about the CUSD Student Design Challenge, practiced coding, and continued in their investigation into the properties of matter (supporting with this month's Twig Science lessons).
The student design challenge is an opportunity for teams of students and teachers to work together to create solutions for their school community. Teams are encouraged to use the design thinking cycle to uncover and respond to needs in their school community.
Each of the innovation lab teachers, along with teachers all over the district, are working to build teams of students and staff to respond to the design challenge. Among our projects are ideas to help create more positive social community, an arcade for computer science learning and 5th grade student counsel leadership activities.
5th graders began with an introduction to the coordinate plane, a 5th grade math concept that will blend well with video game design. Students used Scratch, MIT's free learn-to-code platform for younger learners, to practice using the x and y axises. students used the built in library and then practiced creating dynamic instructions for the computer to move the objects using both x and y coordinates and coordinate plane concepts.
5th Graders gained some practice and experience using the coordinate plane by programming movement of "sprites" in Scratch. Using the coordinate plane is an important math performance expectation for 5th graders.
< Note from Mr. Pittman - Students and staff from all CUSD schools will be applying or "pitching" their school community improvement projects at Pitchfest November 9th. I am hoping to work with teams at Rosemary and Blackford schools to pitch creating spaces for CS learning in the innovation labs.
5th graders are using iPads to photograph "Wow work" that they are proud of. They then record a few words about how their work, growth and progress.
This week innovation teachers meet with students in small groups in their classrooms to help each student create their digital portfolios.
Mrs. Delaye and Mr. Pittman met with students in small groups and helped each student log into Seesaw and create the first post in their personal journals.
Student’s posts included images, voice recording, video, text, and other digital graphics and highlights. Students and classroom teachers identified work that students felt represents “Wow Work” or writing, art, or video that is an artifact of challenging learning activities that resulted in growth.
Our goal is to support classrooms in developing the habit of collecting WOW work and work that demonstrated progress in digital student journals, and to use those journals in reflecting on learning as well as planning future growth.
< Note from Mr. Pittman - Students at every grade level created their first post, so it was remarkable for the innovation team to observe and facilitate the spectrum of elementary performance expectations across each grade especially in language arts and math. It is a unique tool to leverage as a “specialist” teacher in any role that works with all elementary grades throughout weekly rotations.
Lesson Resources:
Download and view/ print animate a character Scratch sprite practice Activity cards
Download and view/ print animate a name Scratch sprite practice Activity cards
SeeSaw's Youtube video to help student select "Wow work"
Download and view/ print our Digital portfolio introductory slides
5th Grade Lessons September 2022
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In general, during build time, my focus is on encouraging students to work together and share ideas by working in sub-group teams of two to quickly build and try things out. My challenge then is, "As soon as your team finds something that works or is interesting, show it to the team and share how it was built." I carry a camera connected to the classroom screen or projector to take pictures of student work and share student examples with the class on the fly-to help spread ideas among teams and keep the collaborating moving and productive.
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Extension challenges are to create a three-wheeled vehicle, sometimes with additional materials like carboard tubes, CD-roms, foam circles, sticky foam, knitting needles, and adding in string to replace the tape. Punch holes in the cardboard or corrugated plastic sheets with a golf tee to "sew" parts together with string.
5th graders engaged in three independent centers this week as part of their experience in Innovation Lab. Students had just about 8 minutes with the warm-up using "Build-tionary" (a repeat favorite from last week), to communicate their interests in upcoming lessons. Teams brainstormed about fun activities that would help them learn about art, engineering, computer science, biology, physics and math. Then, teams chose their favorite activity and built a prototype to communicate to the the innovation teachers about their learning interests.
5th Graders also used rapid prototyping tools to share their interests in how they would like to learn in Innovation Lab.
The first of the new centers this week was a challenge to build a car with wheels that roll. Also using unique up-cycled building materials from RAFT, this independant center for student teams is based on this RAFT kit and lesson.
The learning targets here are to help students have a memorable experience creating a working wheel and axle, a friction-free linkage (a free rolling axle), and a friction-fit linkage (A tight fit between the axle and the wheel using only friction.) These few basic concepts will be useful in future lessons when building robots or machines and attaching our lab's up-cycled materials which keep creative problem solving at the forefront of the activities.
Working together, students can build a car in any way they choose, with the criteria that the wheels must roll. Students usually tape a small length of paper straw to a strip of corrugated plastic, and slide the skewer through the straw. Using the golf tee to make a hole in a half-cork, the skewer then friction-fits in the cork and can become a working wheel-and-axle.
The second of the new centers introduced today was to explore forces and motion by building potential energy or stored energy devices . The students used popsicle sticks to create a few designs by "weaving" the sticks together. Once the step-by-step patterns are followed, the assembly of sticks is bursting with potential energy and gives a satisfying pop or explosion of sticks when dropped on the desk. Then students use the same concepts to design their own catapult, and I added rubber bands, plastic spoons, and large bottle caps into their building bins. I have a few pages of step-by-step designs that I offer students if they need help getting a 1st draft catapult design off the ground. (I have attached pdfs of the instructions for building the potential energy shapes.)
< Note from Mr. Pittman - "Build-tionary" is a spin-off of Pictionary, and our last post (scroll down to the entry below) you can find a description of the activity as well as a set of build-tionary cards that you can print and play with at home or in the classroom.
< Also, most of the kit items can be found around the house, and part of the reason we use these "up-cycled" materials is to build habits around responsible use of resources, so I'm only including the link here to illustrate what the "cars" might look like, and share some of the learning targets.
< Note from Mr. Pittman - For this challenge, I offered corrugated plastic strips, which are similar to corrugated cardboard, but plastic. If you're following along at home, cutting strips of cardboard will work perfectly. I also provide wooden skewers, paper straws, and corks that have been cut in half to use as wheels.
For the stored energy devices, I offer students start with coffee stir sized sticks to practice the "weaving" patterns before attempting to build with shorter popsicle sticks. We also try building on the carpet to use the sponginess to make it easier to lift stubborn sticks.
A "Build-tionary" Science Lab
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These "up-cycled" materials are low cost and present welcome learning challenges in building that we can use to give students practice with several valuable skills. These materials are great in practicing creative problem solving, visual communications, abstract expression, and in engineering linkages that meet certain functions. Many Campbell teachers have the RAFT Makerspace-in-a-box in their classroom or schools, but there are many similar objects that can be collected around the classroom or at home and used in the same way. Clean natural materials like wood, cork, cardboard, boxes, plastic bottles, sand and fabric scraps are great items to save and use in art and engineering practice.
Our first week of learning in the new innovation lab, was as exciting for the innovation teacher team as it was for students. We feel the positive energy every day on campus, and it felt like a positive and productive start. We began with lab safety, exploring the new lab spaces and the new resources, internet and online tool safety, team work and collaboration, and began to explore modeling and prototyping with our unique up-cycled building materials.
During the lessons this week, students opened with a quick greeting and getting-to-know-your-team activity. Then students were invited to explore the classroom and pick out elements of the classroom that they would like to explore. Students chose an interesting tool, display or resource in the room to explore and ultimately demonstrate to the class how to use properly and safely.
Next we moved on to an activity that called "Build-tionary." An obvious riff on Pictionary, students begin to learn the rapid prototyping process by drawing a card that has printed a word, always a common noun, and a simple line art image that illustrates the word. Student teams then try to "build" the word/ image on the card with their team. Students use increasingly challenging "building materials" such as corks, wooden blocks, small colorful wooden shapes, math manipulative blocks, CD-roms, plastic spoons, cardboard tubes, a sheet of labels, rubber bands, brads and anything I can find that will stack, fold, fit or otherwise link together in interesting ways.
After a few minutes, students compare and try to guess each other's words based on the model they have created. Then shuffle the cards and repeat. The objective is to help students become familiar with and build habits that work well in using the unique materials in the lab. As well we want students to practice working together in small groups to share and test ideas quickly.
At the end of every lesson I ask students to reflect on three questions:
"What is something that was productive, went well or feels satisfying overall from the learning activity?"
"What is something that was challenging or difficult, but led to something productive today?"
"Who would you like to thank or share gratitude with?" (Think of a teammate to thank for great collaboration or sharing an idea or materials...)
< Note from Mr. Pittman - This "Student Guided Tour" of the lab helps students to spend a few minutes with some of the very interesting, but perhaps overly distracting robots, tools, materials terrariums and other exciting things in the lab. We take a few minutes to talk about using each resource safely and effectively before we start using the lab.
