So the water we made was really dirty!  We came up with a bunch of technologies we could use to clean it, and then we made a plan to get that water clean again!  From coffee filters, to collanders, we are trying to make that water clean again.

We're starting to wonder the following:

• This water is REALLY hard to clean.  How do they really do it?
• How do they get the really small stuff out?
• How do they get the chemicals or other liquids out?  They go through every hole we have available!
• Is there something with really, really, really small holes?

 So we've figured out where the water goes after the sewer:  to the Wastewater Treatment Facility!  We know where ours is located here in Chicago, and we're certainly curious what happens there.

So the students suggested we take a field trip, and sadly they're not old enough to go to our local WWTF (you have to be 12).  But with some creative brainstorming, suggesting various investigations we could do to figure out how the water is possibly cleaned, we decided to:

MAKE AND ATTEMPT TO CLEAN THE WATER OURSELVES!  

We thought of things we could put into the water in our classroom that were similar to what we know ends up in the sewers from our drains.  We had chocolate chips for poop, actual toilet paper, household materials like salt and sugar, and even chemicals like vinegar (some folks use this to clean and it's safe for school purposes).  We spent two whole days making the dirty water, documenting what we saw happen. 

After figuring out where the pipes lead to (the sewer), we wanted to figure out naturally where the sewers led to.  With some maps and diagrams, we discovered that the sewer water leads to this building called a wastewater treatment facility. We're not quite sure where the other path takes us, but we have some ideas:  the ocean, another building, a river, a lake, or it may even continue on in the sewer forever.

Looking at some real maps provided by the US EPA, we began trying to find where our own water is cleaned, since we had a TON of questions about that.  By typing in our school's address and using a legend to find major wastewater treatment facilities, we saw this:

We've got a whole bunch of questions about what goes on there, especially since it seems to be located near a body of water (in our case here in Chicago, the Chicago River, and not Lake Michigan like many of us thought).  We see these giant pools of what looks like water from high up above.

We really want to go there, but 5th graders aren't old enough, but Mrs. Brinza found some neat videos of places that seem to look like this place and they treat, or take care of dirty water.  We're wondering how maybe we could figure out what they do in those places to clean the dirty water since we can't go in ourselves!

Many students wanted to figure out where the water goes once it goes down the drain, so we agreed to start there.  While they wanted to figure out where the pipes led to by using a camera or knocking down the walls themselves were INTERESTING investigation ideas, they just weren't feasible or safe.  So we turned to the web and found some pretty good still shots of videos some plumbers made for us:

We developed some newer models based on the evidence the plumber provided us:

And it got us thinking that maybe the videos were kind of limited in showing us where the pipes go, so Mrs. Brinza found some great pictures and diagrams for us since we couldn't go down the pipes ourselves!  We noticed a lot and wondered a lot more from these...

Some BIG things we noticed were:
1. Many pipes connect to one larger pipe.
2.  That larger pipe leads to the sewer.
3. Even outside drains (like by a house or the street) lead to the sewer, too!  That's pipes from bathtubs, toilets, since, outside drains, businesses, you name it, it goes to the sewer!
4.  The water goes to this place called the wastewater treatment facility.

We're wondering a LOT about that place (and we had a lot of initial questions about how the dirty water is cleaned).  Check back soon!

With all of those questions on the Driving Question Board, we might as well figure out how we're going to answer them!  With the sky's the limit, fifth graders certainly took this and ran with it, and now Mrs. Brinza has a lot of HW to think about.  How can she possibly honor all their investigation ideas!?!?!  Check out their AWESOME thinking!

Coming to consensus on what we know so far about where our clean water comes from and where it goes once it's dirty was super helpful yesterday. It allowed us to see the ideas we shared in common, but also to identify things that we didn't agree upon or know just yet.  This means we've got some questions! 

Each class generated a list of questions, using our similarities and differences chart as a springboard.  Any boy, did we come up with some GREAT questions!  Both classes are off to a great start!  Over the weekend, students will be generating ideas for possible investigations we can do to answer our questions!

So after our shared "dish-washing experience" yesterday, we agreed that we should probably try to think about what all of related phenomena share in common.  There's some sort of clean water and dirty water in each situation, so we developed our initial models around this idea. Check out some of the 5th graders' ideas:

After individual students shared out, we discussed what our models shared in common and how they differed.

We agreed that there was some sort of thing that the clean water came out of (and that the water came from pipes), it got dirty somehow, and  went down a drain into some pipes.  

This set the stage to come to consensus on what we all knew so far, and we drew this model together to establish our Driving Question for the Unit:  Where does my clean water come from and where does it go once we make it dirty?  

So things are always a little hectic at the beginning of the year, right?  

Mrs. Brinza needed some help, and the fifth graders seemed like they really wanted to offer assistance, so she took them up on it!  With a whole bunch of dirty stuff from the classroom and her house, students took to the bathrooms and did a whole bunch of cleaning.  From dirty dishes to filthy containers, students were dumping stuff in the trash and the toilets before taking them to the sinks. Using soap, scrub brushes, and sponges, the objects got super clean!  Thank you 5th grade!

After everyone came back from the bathrooms, we shared out what they actually did to get the stuff clean, and we compared cleaning methods.  Most people just used the sink, but a couple people dumped stuff in the toilets first before they used the soap to scrub away!

We then began brainstorming some related phenomena, and here's what we came up with between the two classes:

Since everyone is new to each other, we decided to practice using the norms we built together by doing some team work activities!  We used a special scientific tool to build and break down cup towers, and we also investigated a "Mystery Tube" with our groups, creating our first model with a partner, trying to figure out what the inside of the tube looks like without peeling back the duct tape.

We had our first "Scientist Circle," too, practicing talking like a scientist while in a large-group setting.  We're off to a great start in fifth grade!

At the start of the school year, we spend what seems like too much time setting norms for our classroom, but boy, is it worth it!  Both fifth grade classes set up their own class set of norms, starting with what a typical science classroom behaves like as individuals, then as a table group, and then finally as a class. Through a detailed discussion, we came to consensus, or a shared agreement for what should happen.  We publicly posted our norms, so at any point in the year if we need to revisit them, we can.  Great start to the school year 5th grade!