In social studies, students have been learning about the colony of Jamestown. Students learned that the original colonists that settled in Jamestown had a difficult time sustaining the colony. Almost half of the settlers died due to poor choices in settlement location, management of resources, and quarrels with Powhatan Indians. In groups, students were given the task of establishing an online colony in the New World. They made decisions as a group for their colony about where the location of the colony should be, how they would get food, and how they would protect themselves from attackers. Students even had the opportunity to ask fellow colonists and Native Americans for advice. They quickly learned that some advice is better than others. Students then wrote a summary about the decisions they made for their colony and the consequences, good or bad. Finally, the groups created a map to represent their colony and their choices. Students were excited to see how one decision could impact their colony in many ways. For example, building a fort provided a good defense for their colony but it created a poor health situation for their colonists. To see if you can make better decisions than the colonists of Jamestown, visit:
www.historyglobe.com/jamestown
Will your colony survive?
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Robison and Mr. Paul Bradshaw visited North Strabane Intermediate School to teach all of the fifth grade students about bees. Each of the presenters raises honey bees as a hobby. The presenters brought in all of their equipment and let the students try on the outfit and identify the beekeeper's tools. Also, information was shared about the importance of pollination to growing healthy crops. The students made lip balm from beeswax, viewed a live observation hive, and enjoyed a slide presentation on how our economy is affected by bees. Here are some pictures of our fun day when we learned about honey bees.
Keep watching our blog for an update on our Plant Unit!
