Skype-a-thon!

There's no place like home!

Today in class we participated in international skype week with an 8th grade class from Kansa!  We participated in a game called "mystery skype" in which each of our classes would ask questions in order to determine where we were in the world. The students in the 8th grade class used maps to cross out places after they asked us questions to determine where we were. I thought this was a great idea! This was our first time participating in the skype-a-thon, but this class has had many adventures using skype. One of the girls in the class shared with us that in 6th grade her class worked with a class from Greece and a class from Africa to create water filters because those places do not have clean water. These classes used skype to connect and talk about their creations. Hearing this story was very inspiring and sounded like such a fun adventure and memory for students to have!

The teacher from the class in Kansas shared many wise words with our class. She told us that when we are creating lessons we should create something that will leave a legacy. She explained that by creating a lesson with using skype students will never forget that. Just like the story that the student told us, she will never forget that she helped two other classes from around the world and was able to skype while doing it! She also explained how her principle used to ask her why she participated in international skype week when it has nothing to do with science or history or any other subject. Her response was that it actually does! Just in the activity that we did today where the students had to figure out where we were in the world, her students used cooperative thinking, problem solving, and discussion. There are so many different ways to learn! The teacher also told us that you can skype with many different people including authors, for free!!! Later in the day, the class was going to be skyping with a turtle specialist and she was going to tell them all about turtles and their habitats. 

After each class figured out where each other were from, the teacher let us see how she would close her lesson. The teacher asked her students what they learned, what they observed, what they liked, and what they could improve on. This reminded me of how we close out our lessons! It was so fun to interact with another class from a different state and see how that teacher runs her classroom! I look forward to incorporating skype into my lesson plans one day!

I'll trade you a trade book!

Trade-books are a great tool to use in the classroom. Trade books can be used for almost all subject areas, but can be very helpful in a science classroom. These books may introduce the topic to the class or relate certain facts from the topic. Students may want to read a trade book to learn more about the topic that is being taught. A discussion can even be generated from reading a trade book. 

A mini library of tradebooks may be useful for an older age to research a topic. The teacher may introduce a topic to the students aligned with the standards and the students can use the mini library to research the topic further. Literature and English lessons can be integrated into the lesson as well because the students may use their research and tradebooks to write about it. Students can make a fact book or a whole project based off of it.

In class, we created a tradebook project. I chose a tradebook that related to the unit plan I taught at Sacred Heart Elementary School. I taught two lessons on igneous and sedimentary rocks. However, I was required to make a full unit plan with 2 full MSMC lesson plans and 3 mini-lesson plans. From the tradebook I picked, I created a mini-lesson. My tradebook was called A Rock Is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long. When I went to the library to find my tradebook, I also found many tradebooks that could have been used for this lesson. It would be a great idea to bring several tradebooks into the classroom when focusing on this lesson and unit for the students to read and get a better understanding of what they are learning about. With so many pictures and many fun facts it can help intrigue the students in learning and engage them even more into the lesson.

I chose this book because it related directly with the main part of my lesson plans. I even used this book to pre-asses my students knowledge by showing them the pictures in the book and asking them what they already knew about rocks! This informational book introduces a wide array of facts about rocks. It showcases beautiful illustrations of different kinds of rocks. 

The theme and subjects of this book are: rocks, soil, and minerals. Science teachers can connect this tradebook to the next generation science standard listed below. This book covers a wide range of different kinds of rocks. It showcases how they are made, where they are made, and what different rocks exsists. Many students have different misconceptions about rocks. For example, some students believe that all rocks are the same and that it is hard to tell how they are made. This tradebook can help get rid of these misconceptions because it explains that there are many different kinds of rocks and they are all made in a unique way. Another common misconception that students have is that rocks and minerals are the same. This book will help get rid of this misconception by explainging the difference between a rock and a mineral. Each student will have a better understanding about different kinds of rocks and minerals after reading or listening to this book! This book would be great for introducing an inquiry lesson about the three different types of rocks: igenous, sedimentary, and metamorphic to a class!

ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems

Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather. (5-ESS2-1)

Overall, the book is a great resource of information for students to learn from. I created two projects based on my tradebook. I created a book talk and a book trailer. Here is the link to my book talk!

My book trailer was the second project I made for the tradebook. With this book trailer I used a hook to grasp my audiences attention and persuade them to go and read the book! I used a website called animoto to create my book trailer. This was a great website because it was simple to use and allowed me to include music, pictures and text. I have worked with animoto once before and have always had a great experience with it. I would highly recommend it to others. My book trailer included brief facts about rocks and wonderful pictures and music to go along with it.  Here is the link to my book trailer. A book trailer or story board is a great way to interest students in the classroom into learning a bit about a book and to pull them in to want to read it. I will definitely be using book trailers in my future classroom! I hope you enjoy it!

Let's Talk About The Science Fair!

How Important Is The Science Fair?

Science fairs are an extremely important part of every student's journey through science. Science fairs help students get involved with hands on activities to make new discoveries as scientists. This gives students the opportunity to expand their ideas and create an experiment that interests them. After reading many articles, I have learned so many positive things about why science fairs are actually so important for young scientists!

When I was in middle school I participated in a science fair through my school. I worked with a partner and we conducted an experiment that asked the question: "How does different colored lights effect plant growth?" This was a great experience for me because I was able to collaborate with a partner to create something we were both interested in! While participating in this science fair I wasn't too sure why it was so important, but I knew I was having fun! After reading a few articles, I now understand why science fairs are so important!

In the article Science Fairs: Teaching Students To Think Like Scientists, the author stressed how important it is for students to develop new ideas through science fairs, rather then thinking science is a step by step process in the classroom. Many students think science is about rote memorization, but it is not, it is about an active and live process of discovering science! Students have misconceptions that science is conducted in a cookbook sequence, but Kenyon, a former marine science researcher who teaches 6th grade, is determined to get rid of these misconceptions and help students understand that science is an active and hands on learning process. This article helped me realize how important it is to guide students towards ideas that allow them to become part of the scientific process. A great way to help students create a project that they are interested in is to have them keep a journal of ideas that they have. Each student can "own" the topic they choose and this helps them to be engaged in the science fair project. Science fairs require a lot of commitment, but the results are extremely rewarding to all of the students. 

In the article The Value of a Science Fair Project, I learned about even more benefits of participating in the science fair. Science fairs involve so much more than just science. Not only do students take part in the research and data collection of a science fair project, but they also usually write a paper on their results, which includes reading, writing, and grammar. Students will learn even more skills than just new science skills. Students may use the computer and internet to gather research, which will give students new skills with the use of technology. A science fair also requires students to use time management and planing skills. Science fair projects do not just happen over night, students must create a thorough plan to carry out. Students may also work on their communication skills, because at the science fair students will learn to share with an audience what they have created and discovered. This was my biggest challenge to overcome when I participated in the science fair. I was terrified to speak in front of other people and share my ideas, but after I did it I felt great! I was proud of myself for sharing my ideas and overcoming my fear! 

Clearly, we can see how many benefits a science fair has for young learners. I believe that the biggest benefit is that a science fair gets students out of the classroom and allows them to use their own ideas to conduct an experiment. It allows students to leave behind the books and participate in hands on activities to enhance their learning!

References

Mascarelli, A. L. (2011, October 5). Science fairs: Teaching students to think like scientists.       Retrieved November 27, 2016, from https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/science-fairs-teaching-students-think-scientists 

The Value of a Science Fair Project. (2016). Retrieved November 27, 2016, from http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/scifair_value.shtml 

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Science In The News

We created a Science In The News project this month. At home each student had to research at least 10 articles/videos about science in the news. I decided to use the website Newsela.com in order to find my research articles. I knew that for the week we would be focusing on Space Science, so my articles that I found revolved around Space Articles. Newsela is a great website because it is easy to use and provides many great resources for various different topics in current events. I created a glogster to display the articles that I found and the links to each. I chose each of these articles because I wanted to cover a range of topics related to astronomy and current events. In class we are learning about space science, so doing this project was a great way to learn how to help our students learn about current science events happening in the news! The glogster includes a fun space design and clipart that pertains to the topic. Here is the link to my glogster.

Each article was very interesting to learn about. I love reading about current events because they are changes and advancements that are occurring in our everyday lives and they can greatly affect our present and future! An important aspect of learning about space and the new discoveries is through research of current articles and also through watching the news. I created a glogster to display the links of the various articles I read about astronomical changes in space science. My articles discuss the different planets, different astronomers, and different events that have occurred recently. I think it would be great for students to look through articles in class and discover more information and current events through Newsela. Each student could create a glogster, just like we did!

The next class we were engaged in an inquiry lesson by Dr. Smirnova. On eclass was a Class powerpoint that included the different planets and some galaxies. Each student had to access the powerpoint and pick a planet to research. I picked Earth as my planet! Here is the link to the classes slideshow! It was interesting to learn so many details and facts about the planet we live on, Earth! I did not know that only 14% of species on Earth have been discovered and identified. My powerpoint slides included brief, but important facts about Earth. Below are pictures of my slides! 

After completing our slides in the powerpoint, we had to work in groups to create a type of wordart. The various websites we used to do this were: Worlde, Tagul, Tagcrowd, ABCya, wordart and Tagxedo. My group decided to use Tagul to create a word cloud including a list of important words from all of our articles combined. This was a great tool to use becuase it allowed us to insert all of our words and design them into any shape with any colors we wanted. A word cloud is a great to tool to use for pre-assessing students knowledge. You can ask your students if they recognize any of the words or identify any of them.

After creating out word cloud we moved onto creating a timeline of specific events complied from the articles that we chose as a group. To create this timeline we used timetoast. This was another great tool that was simple and easy to use! We were able to insert different events with pictures and captions. In this timeline we included events such as: Kepler observing a supernova, Galileo observing the moon, and a more recent event, which was a group of university students found a cluster in space so unique that it has no name. Here is the link to the timeline that we created as a group! I hope you enjoy it!

Overall, I enjoyed this project and really wish that we had more time to complete it. I feel that most groups felt their wasn't enough time, but if there was we could have created much more visibly interesting presentations and projects. However, I think that we all did a great job. This project was good because it allowed us to experiment with even more technological tools that can be used in the classroom to engage students in learning. In addition, it gave us students a chance to experience an inquiry lesson ourselves. I liked learning about current events and I definitely think that they should be incorporated into a classroom environment because they are events that are happening right now in the world we live in and they can interest many students in reading and learning about science (or any subject). Overall, I enjoyed learning about the advancements that are being made in space science currently and in making these projects and working with my classmates!

Why Does Static Cling?

For my research article review I decided to read Why Static Clings by Laurie Naab and David Henry. The authors felt it was important to conduct this study, and write this article because they wanted to address common student misconceptions about static electricity and magnetism. The main purpose of this article/study is to address students misconceptions and help students change their misconceptions through hands on activities and discoveries independently. Many teachers teach students about static electricity by rubbing a balloon on their head as an example, but the real question the authors are asking is do the students know WHY exactly this static electricity occurs.

This article explains possible misconceptions of students and lessons that can be used to help students get rid of these misconceptions about static electricity. Using the 5E learning-cycle, teachers will be able to help their students understand why static clings. Students were encouraged to make predictions within their investigation and also to make observations. Hopefully, throughout this experience, students will become aware of their misconceptions that they might have had, and eventually learn the right information to correct them. Its also important that students explain there predictions and how their thoughts changed based on their observations and what they learned through the lesson. 

This article provides many ideas for four days of engaging students in learning about static electricity. It is suggested that day 1 is used to engage the students with static electricity and to find out any misconceptions the students may have about static electricity and magnetism. The common balloon can be used to bring up these misconceptions. Many students believe that static and magnetism are the same. This article suggested that the students explore deeper into this topic with the use of tape and eventually magnets. The students went through a series of investigations to make new discoveries about static electricity and magnetism. The final steps include evaluating the students to understand what they found out by asking the original question. By evaluating the students, the teacher will be able to see the progress the students have made by the changes in their answers. These lessons were inquiry based lessons. They were successful because the students were able to create their own understanding about static electricity through observations. They were able to get rid of their misconceptions and create a more accurate model of static electricity in their heads. These students were also able to follow the scientific method by gathering information, making hypotheses, recording data, and debating evidence. They were able to create new ideas throughout their journey by making observations. 

I enjoyed reading this article because tons of information about a specific science phenomenon and it addressed the misconceptions that most students have about it. Before I read this article I did not have a clear understanding as to why static actually clung, but this article helped me to understand it and even get rid of some of my own misconceptions.  This article also included some fun and engaging lessons to include in the classroom to teach students how static clings. Research articles are great to use in the classroom as a resource because it provides the students with a brief overview of information on one topic. Students will find it interesting to read a research article because it discusses one topic and focuses on that area. Research articles also provide interesting information to further each students learning. They also incorporate literacy into the subject of science because it helps students with their reading and writing skills. Students can create a project or write a response to the research article about the important parts or the misconceptions that have been cleared for them. This is great for practicing writing skills. Teachers can benefit from research articles because they provide a lot of information about a topic to use during a lesson and in the classroom. Research articles are a great tool to use and can be found almost anywhere, including online!

Severe Storms

Hurricanes, Floods, Blizzards, Tornadoes, Thunderstorms

This week we created mini lesson plans in groups on topics related to earth science.  My group decided that we knew the least about weather, so we chose the topic of severe storms.  We used glogster to create a virtual poster board.  This was my first time using glogster and I had a great time creating this poster to share with the class. I think this is a great tool to use in the classroom because students can collaborate and communicate with their peers to create a virtual poster board to share with the class. 

We put a picture of each weather disaster that we taught about on the poster as well as a fact about that storm. Then each member of our group chose a topic to explain to the class. To pre-assess our students knowledge we asked questions verbally before we started to see what our students knew about severe storms. Throughout the lesson we stopped to check for understanding to make sure that the class was understanding the material.  At the end of our lesson we used a kahoot quiz to close our lesson and to see what our students learned and what they still needed to work on understanding.  Kahoot is a great tool to use in the classroom because it is extremely engaging for the students. Every student gets to participate individually. Although it is a quiz, to students it seems like a game because you are using technology.  I had a good experience creating this mini lesson plan.  I did think it was a little challenging because instead of planning a lesson that takes up 50 minutes we had to create a lesson that would fit into 10 minutes.  This was hard because you have to choose the most important material to share with the class during this time. Overall, we covered each topic with the most important material and used different types of technology to engage the class. I had fun working with my group members and I am looking forward to creating more mini lesson plans. 

Time to Reflect!

It is time to reflect on my journey through teaching science in the 6th grade class at Sacred Heart Elementary School!

For the past four weeks I have spent my time teaching and observing in a science classroom. This experience has been wonderful and has offered me so many different learning opportunities. At first I was very apprehensive about teaching in front of 40+ people, but after my first time doing it and seeing how fun it truly was I believe I have conquered my fear. Teaching an entire class for the first time will always give me butterflies, but through this experience I have learned how great the feeling of accomplishment is after the fact and how rewarding it feels when your students grasp the content. The children of Sacred Heart's 6th grade science class have inspired me to be the best teacher I can be and I hope that one day I can inspire my students as well. I learned how to handle stressful situations and to always be prepared for the unexpected. I also learned how to accommodate and work with students of varying levels. This experience was very beneficial to my improvement. I am very thankful that Dr. Smirnova gave us this wonderful opportunity to teach a whole 6th grade science class. 

The first lesson we taught was direct instruction. From watching the group before me I learned how important time management, behavior management, and inclusion of every student is. For this lesson we taught about igneous and sedimentary rocks.  A direct instruction lesson is teacher-centered rather than student-centered. During this lesson, the teachers instruct the students and teach them the key information with limited student interruption. We decided to teach our lesson using a powerpoint. (Our powerpoint is attached here.) We started by pre-assessing our students knowledge by sharing with them pictures from the book A Rock is Lively and asking them if they could share any knowledge they had about rocks. This helped us to understand what knowledge the students already had about rocks and any misconceptions they may have. This part of the lesson also helps to engage the students for the rest of the time. During our instruction we failed to provide our students with a note packet to follow along with, which is an improvement that we can make for the next time. Our powerpoint was filled with pictures and colors to keep the students attention. In a direct instruction lesson it is very important to include check points for understanding to make sure that the students are getting the content of the lesson. Throughout the lesson we verbally asked questions to the students and asked them to respond on his or her dry erase board that they had at their desks and to simply hold it up in the air. The children loved this because they were able to use markers on their boards. At the end of the powerpoint we included a guided practice. As our guided practice we held up a rock for the class to see and asked each student to observe the rock silently and write down on their board whether they believed it was igneous or sedimentary and hold it up in the air when they are finished for us to see. Then, we would share with the class what type of rock it actually was. To close our lesson, we passed out a sticky note to each student and asked them to write down one new fact that they learned during the lesson and to place it on the poster board in the back of the classroom on their way out. The last part of our lesson was an independent practice activity in which each student was to finish their rock drawing that they created on the first day we met and write one to two sentences on what type of rock it is and why. This independent practice was to be done independently. This independent practice allowed us as teachers to understand what our students had learned from the lesson.  After reading through our students responses I could tell that they had a great understanding of the material. 

The next lesson that we taught was an inquiry lesson. Inquiry-based learning starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The students will identify and research issues and questions to develop their knowledge or solutions. Inquiry lessons support and develop problem solving and critical thinking. Inquiry based learning is based on the 5Es and the scientific method. The 5E's are engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Students use their prior knowledge to come up with explanations for their experiences. They are able to explore the through facts and materials. They have opportunities to represent their developing understanding, by remaining actively engaged in the learning process. Finally, they are able to elaborate and explain the information that they have discovered. In addition, the scientific method is used in which students follow 5 mains steps. These steps are: ask a question, form a hypothesis, conduct an experiment, analyze results, and make a conclusion. We reviewed the scientific method with the students in order for it to be fresh in their minds while they were solving the problem we introduced to them. To begin our lesson we used a word cloud to pre-assess our students knowledge. We asked the students if they recognized any of these words and if they could define any of them. 

For our inquiry lesson plan we gave each student Play Doh and asked them to each make a rock; they could decide whether they wanted to make it igneous or sedimentary. Before we started, as a class we came up with the question that we would be solving, which was: "Is this rock igneous or sedimentary?" Each student created their rock and then wrote a clue on an index card to leave at their desk for their peers to use while figuring out what type of rock it was. When the students were done making their rocks we used numbered popsicle sticks to reveal which rock the student would be observing. Once the student chose his or her popsicle stick each student carefully moved to the rock that they would be observing. Each student filled out the rock tracking sheet that we provided for them with his or her hypothesis, analyzation results, and conclusions.  Throughout our lesson we used a powerpoint as a visual for the students to follow the steps we were taking through inquiry. At each table there was also a small book that we made that consisted of the word cloud, directions to follow, and the steps of inquiry. To close our lesson, we had each student share with the class what type of rock they created and the student who observed it was to check whether they observed what type of rock it was correctly. As teachers we encouraged our students to share their conclusions and discoveries with the class. As an independent practice, we had each student answer a few questions on what type of rock they created and write a short summary on his or her journey through the inquiry process of solving the problem. Overall, I think the class really enjoyed this lesson. They were able to use Play Doh to create their own rocks and act as scientists to solve the problem we presented them with. It gave them an opportunity to use the skills of the scientific method and the inquiry process. (Our inquiry lesson powerpoint is attached here.)

Overall, this experience has helped me in becoming a better teacher. I learned how important it is to make a lesson engaging and interesting for each student in the class in order to keep them on task and focused. We learned during our first lesson to keep the writing on each slide to a minimum and make the writing 24 pt. font. We also learned that we should have more check points for understanding that engage or students and keep track of the progress that they are making. During our inquiry lesson plan we learned to leave more time for each student to give a better explanation as to why they created the rock that they did. It was great to receive feedback from our peers and Dr. Smirnova because it allowed us to improve on our teaching skills. I believe that next time we should give ourselves more time in planning and preparing so we can provide the best lesson possible for each of our students. I learned how to support and adapt instruction for all learners. I also learned how important it is to move around the classroom while instructing in order to support interaction during instruction. We each made sure that we circulated around the room during both lessons in order to provide the best instruction for each of our students. 

I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to work with my group members in creating two lesson plans for our 6th grade students. We all worked together to provide the best instruction possible for each student in order for them to reach their goals. We collaborated with one another as well as empowered each other to be the best teacher we could be. We learned to successfully teach as a group and did a great job in doing so. Through practice and constructive criticism I know that one day I will be a great teacher and cannot wait for that day to come! I am very excited to continue my journey of becoming a teacher!

Did you say virtual class??

Virtual Class

Due to inclement weather on Thursday, we had class virtually instead of in the regular classroom setting. This was something new to me because I have never had class in a virtual setting before. 

At first, I was uneasy about this virtual class because it was new to me, but after getting logged in and seeing how it was set up I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! 

After being accepted into the chat, I was able to see Dr. Smirnova on the screen and hear her giving directions to the class on what steps to take next. Each student was able to turn their audio and video on, allowing each student's voice to be heard and even his or her face to be shown. Of course, there were ways to mute your microphone and video in order for everyone to have a turn to speak and to allow Dr. Smirnova to teach. Dr. Smirnova made sure that we each knew how to operate the website and felt comfortable in doing so. I think this was a great alternative to having class during bad weather. We were able to have discussions via speaking and typing in a chat group. 

This allowed us to communicate with our peers and ask any questions that we had. 

Dr. Smirnova was even able to record the entire virtual class and leave the link 

on eclass, this way we could go back and view it if we missed something!

I think this decision to have a virtual class was great. It gave us all a new experience with technology and the use of a different classroom setting. I think this is an extremely useful tool and I look forward to using it again or even with my own class one day!