Science by Mail
Mr. Trembly is our new enrichment teacher. He is hosting the 5th grade Science by Mail program. Science by Mail is a special science program. Originally, kids would have to send letters to a pen-pal scientist, but that part was too expensive and the scientists had to cut the link. However the school still has enough materials to continue the program.
Our first unit is about living on Mars. In this unit we are talking about all the things needed to live (food, oxygen, water, and proper temperature), and how we'd have to live on Mars. We are also learning how estimating is more than just a guess. We guessed how many pounds of food we need for 1 year. Then we collected info by taking the weights of regular foods and "created" meals. Then we used the info to make an estimate.
Now, we are learning about how to re-generate leftover foods by composting. We are going to watch food decompose over time inside a plastic bag. We will be recording
information about its texture, color, smells and it's general appearance every week.
Later this year, we will be doing a unit on chemistry and a unit on flight.
Science by Mail is a fun program because you are able to learn a lot about things that you normally wouldn't learn as much about.
Ms. Dunnack, the new Interest Center intern teaches one Science by Mail class and Mr. Trembly teaches three.
Article by Nishang Gupta and Anirvan Mukherjee