Before heading off to the Grade 5 field trip to Nature’s Classroom, Mrs. Bemis’ and Mrs. Chiari’s classes played a game where students had to guess words that matched the teacher’s unspoken rule. The sentence on the board began, “I went to Nature’s Classroom and I brought a(n)…” Mrs. Bemis put the first word on the board to give students a baseline for their next guesses. The word was “octopus.”
“Can I bring an octagon on the trip?” one student inquired.
“Yes, you can bring an octagon on my trip.” replied Mrs. Bemis. More replies included words that started “O” until Mrs. Bemis gave students a clue that the rule was not that the word has to start with “O.”
After a brief pause, a student asked, “can I bring an airplane on the trip?”
“How about an elephant?” someone else chimed in. The students seemed to have uncovered the mystery.
“What is my rule?” asked Mrs. Bemis.
“The word has to start with a vowel!” several students answered.
This fun game of recognizing patterns, teamwork, and problem-solving primes fifth-graders as they gear up for their overnight trip to Nature’s Classroom, an environmental education program in Groton, MA. Students will explore science and team-building activities in the great outdoors! At DCD, experiential learning is central to how students use their academic understanding in real-world circumstances. As the fifth grade year is one for enhanced academic, social, and personal growth, students build a solid foundation for the approaching step into middle school. We are excited to hear all of the transformative stories when fifth graders return later this week!
