Day 1 - Marshmallow Challenge

On the first day of school, students participated in a Marshmallow Challenge during their Math/Science block.  Students worked in teams of four and had 18 minutes to build the tallest free standing structure with 20 spaghetti noodles, one meter of tape, and one meter of string.  Teams had to put the marshmallow on the top of their structure.  This activity gave the students a chance to think scientifically and mathematically as an engineer would, and more importantly forced the students to work together to accomplish the goal.  Here are some pictures of the students in action.

Science Test

FYI...On Friday, May 15, students will be taking a science test on the weather unit we have been studying.  Students have a study guide that we went through in class, and they can use this quizlet to study the vocabulary as well.

Ocean Currents

Students spent this last week studying ocean currents.  They learned that warm water is less dense and tends to rise, and cold water is more dense and tends to sink.  This plays a major role in why ocean currents exist.  Below are a few pictures of the students in action.

Local Meteorologist Making a Visit

On Thursday, May 7th, Meteorologist Steve Beylon of Action 2 News will be visiting PCMS to speak with the 6th grade students.  The 6th graders have been studying weather patterns in their Catastrophic Events unit.  Power House students recently completed a weather journal to help them become more familiar with the weather report during the local news.  Many of you probably noticed your son or daughter working on this last week.

Aortic Aneurysm Surgery

Below is a link where students can experience what it is like to be a heart surgeon (kind of).  They meet with a patient, determine whether or not the patient should have surgery, and actually perform the surgery.  Of course this is a simulation and not actual heart surgery, but many of the students will find this interesting.

Heart Surgery Link

Calories

The 6th grade Power House students have been studying the respiratory system the last couple of weeks. In our study of cellular respiration we tried to better understand what is actually meant by a Calorie. Students compared how much heat a marshmallow can produce to how much heat a sunflower seed can produce, and discovered that you can get more energy from a sunflower seed. Here are a few pictures of the students in action.

Math Cafe

To prepare for the Chapter 5 math test, students participated in a Math Cafe activity in which they solved a series of problems on the paper table cloths in front of them. When students finished a particular problem they were able to draw on the table cloth. Here are a few pictures.