Welcome to 5th grade!

Welcome to 5th grade with Mrs. Gibbas!

I am so excited that a new school year is about to begin.  I hope that you have been enjoying your summer.  I'm looking forward to meeting you on August 28th.  During the first week of school we will be engaging in some get-to-know-you and team building activities.  One activity I like to do is to share "Me Bags."  A "Me Bag" is simply a collection of about 5 things that tell your classmates something about you.  Some examples of things that you might include are a picture of your family and pets, souvenirs or pictures from vacation, items that you collect, or an example of a hobby or sport that you enjoy.  We will start sharing our "Me Bags" on the first day of school.  Also please bring in a reusable water bottle to keep at school.  It is important to stay hydrated!

Lastly, you are probably wondering, "What days will we have gym?"  I haven't gotten our schedule yet but I will be sure to post it here when I find out.  Enjoy the rest of your summer.

See you soon,

Mrs. Gibbas 

The Cardboard Challenge

Inspired by the video Caine's Arcade, in which a young boy creates an entire arcade out of cardboard, the Cardboard Challenge has become a beloved 5th grade tradition at Proctor Elementary School.  Students work in groups to build something out of cardboard in the CLIC lab.  Then on the day before Thanksgiving their cardboard creations are put on display for the school staff and students to enjoy.  Every year students unleash their imaginations and problem solving skills to create a fun-filled event.

Welcome to 5G!

Hello incoming fifth graders,
I am so excited that you are here and getting ready to embark on this fifth grade adventure with me!  After teaching 4th grade for 10 years, I decided it was time to make a change and so I moved up to 5th grade.
I am thrilled to be able to share this coming school year with you. Together we will create many new learning experiences and new memories.  I look forward to seeing some of my former 4th grade friends and meeting some new friends on Wednesday, August 31st.  Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!
Warmly,Mrs. Gibbas

Minute to Win It Challenges

On June 9th and 10th fourth graders enjoyed two fun afternoons of Minute to Win It challenges.  One of the challenges was the Oreo Face Slide!  Students were challenged to see if they could get an oreo to slide from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands.  It took a lot of bending, twisting, and facial contorting, but many students were successful!

Northshore Navigator

On Wednesday, June 15th Proctor School cheered on the band as they played The Star Spangled Banner at the start of The Northshore Navigator's baseball game.  Then Proctor students and staff enjoyed watching 6 innings of baseball at Fraser Field in Lynn, MA.

From Ideas to Entrepreneurs

Written by the Team Gibbas fourth graders
Tick tick tick…the author tapped the microphone to see if it was working. It was Monday, May 2nd in the gym when Lowey Bundy Sichol came to our school. Just then we all looked up at her. “Hi my name is Lowey Bundy Sichol," said the author introducing herself. She is the author of the From An Idea To…children's book series and the book Idea Makers 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs.

Lowey Bundy Sichol then asked us what we want to be when we grow up. Kids raised their hands and many were called on. Most kids said that they wanted to be things like bakers, artists, athletes, singers, vets, teachers, and musicians. She told us 19% of people will be entrepreneurs, and roughly 1/5 of the kids in the room would be an entrepreneur. We learned that an entrepreneur is a person who has an idea and turns it into a business.

Next, Lowey Bundy Sichol had us play a game called "Guess The Entrepreneur." This is how the game went, first she would show an entrepreneur and their product or idea, then she would call on one of us to name the entrepreneur. The first entrepreneur was Milton Hershey he had made the Hershey Bar. The second entrepreneur was Steve Jobs he founded Apple. The third entrepreneur was the founder of Lego, Ole Kirk Christiansen. The fourth entrepreneur was Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. The last entrepreneur was Walt Disney and everyone knew what he founded …DISNEY.

Then, she told us about the process of  how she makes her books. ¨First, I start by researching websites I trust, and I start to write after two to three months, after I have become an expert.¨ she explained. ¨It takes about two years from the start to finish of making the book and when it gets published, yet I only spend about six months writing. The rest is revising, editing, and getting it published.”  

All the fourth grade students listened, and were very interested in her teachings. ¨Has anybody ever heard of the show, Shark Tank?” Sichol asked. Many fourth graders replied with the answer, ¨Yes!” and there was a lot of commotion. After the sound of the yelling fourth graders died down, she then remarked, ¨Here is a video of the Scrub Daddy being reviewed in Shark Tank.¨  She told us that Scrub Daddy was the most successful product to come out of Shark Tank.  She told us a story of how she had emailed the founder of Scrub Daddy not expecting to hear from him.  But he actually contacted her and offered to give her Scrub Mommies to give to teachers at the schools that she visited if she talked about the Scrub Daddy products.  The teachers were very pleased.

     Finally, Lowey Bundy Sichol told us about the new book that she is writing, and many students said that they want to read it.

     Thank you Mrs. Klipfel for getting Lowey Bundy Sichol to come to our school!  We learned a lot from her.

Can you hear me now?

Students learned that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound.  First, students created paper cup telephones and explored how sound vibrations travel from a cup across string and into another cup.  Then, students tried to make their paper cup telephones better by changing their design. 

Next students created water xylophones and explored how pitch changes with the amount of water in the jar.  Student quickly learned that jars with more water had a lower pitch, and less water produced a higher pitch.

Connected to the Grid

  Change is Simple in the CLIC lab

By Student Blogger Lexie

Have you ever done a Change is Simple project with your class? Well, my class, Mrs. Gibbas’s class did one on Monday, March 28th.

My class, Mrs. Gibbas’s class, went to the CLIC lab down the hall at 9:00am. We were about to do our third Change is Simple project, yet our first time going to the CLIC lab for it, as we have only done Change is Simple in our classroom before. As we entered the room, we were greeted by four Change is Simple workers and all the materials they had brought. One of them stood centered in the front of the room, “Hello!” she said, “Do any of you remember my name?” A classmate of mine, Ryan, raised his hand after about five seconds and the lady called on him, as he was the only one with his hand up. “Is it Kat?” he said. “Correct! I am Kat,” she replied. She then said the names of the other Change Is Simple workers. 

Next, Kat asked us to raise our hand to be a volunteer, but she warned us that we would be made fun of a bit. Many people raised their hands, but Ryan was picked. He went to the front of the room, and was directed to sit next to a doll house.

She then kept turning on some fake electrical things in the house, to show all the electricity that each item used. 

We then all talked about ways we can save electricity. Some of the things were to take a shorter shower, have cereal instead of cooking, just wear a different shirt instead of just washing one, and turning off the lights and just using the light from the window.

Then she asked us what we used to measure electricity, and after a few wrong answers, we came up with WATTS. Then I was called up to try to light up a light bulb by moving a lever. I wasn't able to light it up, other than the two seconds I did. Then Will was called up, and got it on for about five seconds. She then took me back to try another light bulb, and this one lit up almost instantly.

Kat said it was because the first light bulb was 150 WATTS, and the other light bulb took only seven WATTS.

Next, Kat put us into four groups. She gave us each a number, then we held up our number with our fingers. She put each group at a table, and gave us a sheet. The people in my group were me, Jake, Will, and Maci.

With the sheet, we were instructed to choose one item from each of four places they had made, and put a prediction of how many WATTS it used.

Then we went around the room, going to each station, and we used a special WATTS tester to see how many WATTS it used.

In my group, our most crazy outcome was that we predicted the Ipad would be 850 WATTS but was only 7.3 WATTS.

We then ended the Change is Simple project by saying, “CHANGE IS SIMPLE!” all in unison.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Team Gibbas students celebrated Valentine's Day in some fun and creative ways.
First, students created animated valentines for their JDO partners in Northern Ireland using Google slides and talltweets.com.  Thank you Mrs. Klipfel for helping us with this fun project!
Next, some students created unique Valentine's Day boxes and entered a Valentine Box Contest.  Students worked really hard on their boxes and showed an incredible amount of creativity!

Finally, students exchanged valentines with one another.  Even our class hermit crabs, Chip and Sheldon, enjoyed receiving and reading their valentines.

Happy Valentine's Day from Team Gibbas!

Beaver Adaptations

How do beavers adapt to their environment?

Team Gibbas students have been learning how animals have physical structures, or physical adaptations, that help them to survive in their environment.  Animals also have behavioral adaptations, or things that they do, to help them to survive.

On Thursday, students learned about the beaver's adaptations in a fun way.  Students were asked to volunteer to "become a beaver" in front of their classmates.  Nearly every student volunteered and one student was chosen using fair sticks.  As props were placed on this student to show the beaver's adaptations other students filled out a graphic organizer to record their learning.

Thank you Mrs. LaRussa for creating this informative and interactive learning opportunity!

PJ/Camp/Technology Day

Friday, February 11th was PJ/Camp/Technology Day for Team Gibbas students.

Students earned twelve compliments from adults in the building, from November 1st through January 31st. These compliments were earned for being amazingly responsible and kind students.  Students voted and they decided to have a PJ/Camp In/Technology Afternoon to celebrate.

Keep up the great work!

Winter Poetry

Enjoy listening to winter poems being read aloud by Mrs. Gibbas's class!  

Students did a fabulous job reading the poems and creating beautiful watercolor illustrations.

Shout-outs to the teachers that helped with this fun project

.Thank you Mrs. Klipfel for designing the project, recording the students reading, and for putting this all together!  And thank you Ms. Duchak for helping students create the beautiful watercolor and glitter paintings. 

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

How do rocks change in moving water?
On November 19th, Team Gibbas students explored how rocks change in moving water by conducting an inquiry activity on weathering called "Shake, Rattle, and Roll."  Students were given sandstone, water, and three plastic containers.  Students were instructed to shake one container for two minutes, one container for five minutes, and to let one container rest.  Then, students made observations about what the rocks looked like.

Students observed that after shaking the rocks appeared to be smaller and smoother.  And the container that was shaken for five minutes had sand on the bottom!  

2 by 2 multiplication song

Learning something new is easy when the steps become lyrics and dance moves!  This week Team Gibbas students learned how to do 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication by learning a song set to the tune of The Macarena.

Click here to watch the video.

One is a Feast for a Mouse

Please enjoy this read aloud of One is a Feast for a Mouse.  Thank you Mrs. Klipfel for creating this fun activity!

Happy Thanksgiving from Team Gibbas.

 

Playful Exploration

On Friday, November 5th 4th grade students participated in an amazing enrichment opportunity provided by the generosity of TESPTO called Playful Engineers Traveling Maker Space. Each class had an hour and a half workshop led by Jay Mankita students first watched demonstrations of how common materials (e.g. blocks, legos, balls, wooden rods, K-nex) could be transformed into simple machines and chain reaction machines in a Rube Goldberg style.  Next, students were able to explore the materials to create their own chain reaction machines.  Students imagined, created, problem solved, persevered, and collaborated.  And they failed many times.  But in this workshop students experienced the joys of practice leading to progress and failure leading to success. 

Meet Mrs. Gibbas

Drop Everything And Read

This past April 12th would have been author Beverly Cleary's 105th birthday.  Beverly Cleary is the beloved author of many children's books including The Mouse and the Motorcycle and the Ramona series.  Beverly Cleary was a huge supporter of D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything And Read).  To honor Beverly Cleary's memory we enjoyed D.E.A.R. time outside on Tuesday, April 13th.  Students brought in beach towels and read and relaxed outside.

Mapping the United States

On Friday, April 16th students learned a brief history of the United States from "Neal the Map Man."  Neal taught the students a bit of history as he drew a map of the United States from memory.  Students learned many U.S. facts.
Here are a few of the things they learned.

• Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the U.S.
• The largest living things on this planet are trees.
• Death Valley is the lowest point in the country at 282 feet below sea level.
• Iowa is the U.S. state that produces the most corn.
• The first U.S. mail system was the Pony Express which existed from 1860-1861.

At the end of the show Neal asked the students a number of questions and students were able to show what they learned using the clues that Neal had drawn on the map.  It was a fun, interactive learning experience for all!

Trick or Treat

I spy Team Gibbas learning at home on a snowy Halloween Eve.