Our last two classes, with the focus on project wild, were my favorite of the whole semester. I learned so much and got so many GREAT ideas for the classroom. I love the project wild curriculum and can't wait to implement it in my future classroom! We started out our first class with the twenty questions game. I really liked this idea. I think it would be a great get to know you activity that is more creative and helps get the whole class involved.
After the twenty questions game we did an activity where we went looking for signs of wildlife in Jordan Hall. We were told to take pictures and report back to class. It was crazy to actually look for signs of nature and find all of the bugs and living things that I pass by every day. I know kids would love this activity and it would really push them to think about their surroundings more. We also talked about how we could integrate the lesson with different subjects. You could have them do a creative writing assignment, graph the bugs that they found, make observational sketches, or a map of where you found the signs of living things.
The next part of the class was my favorite and I had a blast! We played the thicket game. In this game there was one person who was the fox and the rest of us were bunnies. The object was to use whatever you could in the classroom to hide from the fox so they could not identify you, but the catch was you had to be able to see the fox. It was hilarious to see our class full of umbrellas and student made forts. I would absolutely use this in my classroom someday! Students would remember it and understand hiding from prey easily.
We also played Muskox Muanuvers where students were assigned to be either a wolf, bull, cow, or baby. Each had different rules and different goals. I thought this would be such a great game to play outside with the kids. It involves strategy and shows children how animals survive in the wild.
I also learned a lot of great things in our last class. We started out with the deer activity where students were either habitat or a deer. We lined up on opposite ends of the room and the deer had to find their corresponding habitat to survive. During the game wolves and humans were added to create prey. I really loved the lesson that this taught and thought it would be great for kids to graph the data and really study what happens in nature with natural predators and when there are too many deer or other factors.
We spent the rest of the class discussing project wild and different resources that we could use in our classrooms. I really liked the idea of a toad hotel, using half of a pot and leaving it in the ground for toads to find. I remember playing with toads as a kid and loved it! I also like the sprout your hands/socks idea. Having plants grow in the classroom that students have had part in always adds to a level of curiosity and extended learning.
I learned so much from project wild and I am so glad I got to participate. Thanks so much Dr. Pangan for an awesome semseter!!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
All About Social Studies
The topic of the day was using primary sources and how to compensate when you can't get them. I learned so much in class and found it extremely useful! The lesson example that we took part in was teaching students from their textbook about Tenochitlan, an ancient city in Mexico. One of the keys to the lesson is that we made up hand motions for the difficult vocabulary words that the students needed to learn. The words were Tenochitlan, Hernando Cortez, Moctizuma etc... These were important people in the story and making up motions for them was a way for the students to remember who they were. Students were asked to come to the front and act out the characters. They were given props as well. One student was a narrator and would read the text book as the student participants and the rest of the class would act out/observe what was actually going on in the story. I thought this was such a great technique! I even learned a lot from what we did and will remember it so much better. The second part to the lesson involves drawing histopics. Histopics are stick figure drawings that recap the story in order of the events so the students have another visual representation and way of remembering what we learned. To finish the lesson have students retell the story to a friend or a parent!
We spent the rest of the class learning about 12 easy ways to use primary resources. Here is what we learned:
1. Gossip Collumn/News - article about the event
2. Histopic - note taking with pictures
3. Walking Timeline - long piece of paper with artifacts
4. Social Studies Songs (SSS) - tons, or make them up
5. Dramatic plays and readings - assign roles and have them carry over the rest of the semester
6. Synectics - compare concept to something different
7. Grafitti groups - chart paper around the room with different questions
8. PBL project based learning - high conflict and innovation
9. ABC Brainstorm - vocabulary or key words
10. Story Board - more professional histopic great computer program
11. Photo journaling - kids take pics of scenes and describe in writing
12. Graphic organizers or flip books
Lastly, we spent the rest of the day at the Benjamin Harrison House. We got a tour of the house and got to participate in an activity that children who visited would experience. It was very educational and cool to get a feel for what it would be like immigrating over here. I learned a lot from the experience!
We spent the rest of the class learning about 12 easy ways to use primary resources. Here is what we learned:
1. Gossip Collumn/News - article about the event
2. Histopic - note taking with pictures
3. Walking Timeline - long piece of paper with artifacts
4. Social Studies Songs (SSS) - tons, or make them up
5. Dramatic plays and readings - assign roles and have them carry over the rest of the semester
6. Synectics - compare concept to something different
7. Grafitti groups - chart paper around the room with different questions
8. PBL project based learning - high conflict and innovation
9. ABC Brainstorm - vocabulary or key words
10. Story Board - more professional histopic great computer program
11. Photo journaling - kids take pics of scenes and describe in writing
12. Graphic organizers or flip books
Lastly, we spent the rest of the day at the Benjamin Harrison House. We got a tour of the house and got to participate in an activity that children who visited would experience. It was very educational and cool to get a feel for what it would be like immigrating over here. I learned a lot from the experience!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Dino Day
Dino day was yet another fun day at the children's museum. The highlight of my day was touching a 65 million year old triceratops skull! How many people can say that they have done that?
We started the day off by looking at a few pictures and discussing the following:
1. What did you see/notice in the picture?
2. What did you see that makes you say that?
3. What more do you see?
These three questions helped focus the answers and the thinking. Students can use their imagination but have to be able to back up what they say. It follows the scientific method, is a reading strategy, and is student centered. The downsides are if you have hesitant participators, it is not an hands on activity, and it is a spiraling activity.
Since the focus of the day was dinosaurs we got to create our own dinosaur out of play-dough. I loved this activity because I am a very hands on learner. We were given a sheet of different terms such as odo - tooth, ops - eye. We were asked to create a dinosaur and name it based off of the scientific terms like real scientists would do. I thought this was very creative and definitely something I would do with my students!
The rest of the day was spent learning how to make a cast out of plaster of a dinosaur tooth, something kids would love! We also got to hear one of the dinosaur experts in the museum talk about everything he does and what he knows about dinosaurs. Bringing experts into the classroom is a great idea and helps the students gain deeper knowledge!
We started the day off by looking at a few pictures and discussing the following:
1. What did you see/notice in the picture?
2. What did you see that makes you say that?
3. What more do you see?
These three questions helped focus the answers and the thinking. Students can use their imagination but have to be able to back up what they say. It follows the scientific method, is a reading strategy, and is student centered. The downsides are if you have hesitant participators, it is not an hands on activity, and it is a spiraling activity.
Since the focus of the day was dinosaurs we got to create our own dinosaur out of play-dough. I loved this activity because I am a very hands on learner. We were given a sheet of different terms such as odo - tooth, ops - eye. We were asked to create a dinosaur and name it based off of the scientific terms like real scientists would do. I thought this was very creative and definitely something I would do with my students!
The rest of the day was spent learning how to make a cast out of plaster of a dinosaur tooth, something kids would love! We also got to hear one of the dinosaur experts in the museum talk about everything he does and what he knows about dinosaurs. Bringing experts into the classroom is a great idea and helps the students gain deeper knowledge!
Science Exploration - CSI Newsletter
WHAT?
CSI stands for Curious Science Investigators. The students collect data at five different places in the museum: the dock shop, pond, aquarium, water clock, and dinosphere. Our group focused on the aquarium. We investigated the properties of water – temperature, density, volume, and color. Students observed and made inferences based on what they were seeing and doing. We also compared our site to others. They were also trying to discover where the “mystery stain” came from. The mystery stain was something that they had discussed in the pre-visit material.
WHO?
I worked with Samone, Alec, Gage, and Jazzmyn. They were a great group of kids and had a lot of fun! Alec was curious about how dinosaurs become extinct and discovered that a dinosaur he was learning about died from a brain tumor. Samone used the touch screen video in the dinosphere to learn about climate change. Jazzmyn told us, “I bet the crocodile ate Richard and Donna Deer”, when she saw there was a sign with their name on it (for donation purposes). All of the students were excited when they realized that the stain was from the aquarium where we were observing and testing density.
HOW?
I taught using inquiry-based methods. I asked the students a lot of questions and had them learn by being hands on and trying everything themselves. The classroom management aspect was handled as if we were the only ones there. The students were engaged enough that we did not have trouble with distractions in the museum. We got the data collection done first thing so they had time to walk around and see everything else afterwards. The students used pipettes, a thermometer, and hydrometer to do their data collection. It says in The Integrated Curriculum,” The world is not divided into things scientific and things social. Humans are in constant interaction with the world around them and have been throughout history.” This is what CSI should teach the students. Science is part of their daily lives and connects with all kinds of things.
Standards:
3.1.2 Participate in different types of guided scientific investigations, such as observing objects and events and collecting specimens for analysis.
3.2.4 Appropriately use simple tools such as clamps, rulers, scissors, hand lenses, and other technology, such as calculators and computers, to help solve problems.
ALSO
Adaptations for the group included allowing everyone to use tall of the tools. We only had to have 3 different recordings but each student wanted to try it which was great! I included all students by asking them questions and prompting them to participate in all activities and parts of the data collection. To make sure no one was “left behind” I walked around and talked individually with each student. I monitored their work and made sure they were on task, focused, and understanding what was going on. To accommodate all learning needs I made sure I said the directions, showed them, and wrote it down.
CSI stands for Curious Science Investigators. The students collect data at five different places in the museum: the dock shop, pond, aquarium, water clock, and dinosphere. Our group focused on the aquarium. We investigated the properties of water – temperature, density, volume, and color. Students observed and made inferences based on what they were seeing and doing. We also compared our site to others. They were also trying to discover where the “mystery stain” came from. The mystery stain was something that they had discussed in the pre-visit material.
WHO?
I worked with Samone, Alec, Gage, and Jazzmyn. They were a great group of kids and had a lot of fun! Alec was curious about how dinosaurs become extinct and discovered that a dinosaur he was learning about died from a brain tumor. Samone used the touch screen video in the dinosphere to learn about climate change. Jazzmyn told us, “I bet the crocodile ate Richard and Donna Deer”, when she saw there was a sign with their name on it (for donation purposes). All of the students were excited when they realized that the stain was from the aquarium where we were observing and testing density.
HOW?
I taught using inquiry-based methods. I asked the students a lot of questions and had them learn by being hands on and trying everything themselves. The classroom management aspect was handled as if we were the only ones there. The students were engaged enough that we did not have trouble with distractions in the museum. We got the data collection done first thing so they had time to walk around and see everything else afterwards. The students used pipettes, a thermometer, and hydrometer to do their data collection. It says in The Integrated Curriculum,” The world is not divided into things scientific and things social. Humans are in constant interaction with the world around them and have been throughout history.” This is what CSI should teach the students. Science is part of their daily lives and connects with all kinds of things.
Standards:
3.1.2 Participate in different types of guided scientific investigations, such as observing objects and events and collecting specimens for analysis.
3.2.4 Appropriately use simple tools such as clamps, rulers, scissors, hand lenses, and other technology, such as calculators and computers, to help solve problems.
ALSO
Adaptations for the group included allowing everyone to use tall of the tools. We only had to have 3 different recordings but each student wanted to try it which was great! I included all students by asking them questions and prompting them to participate in all activities and parts of the data collection. To make sure no one was “left behind” I walked around and talked individually with each student. I monitored their work and made sure they were on task, focused, and understanding what was going on. To accommodate all learning needs I made sure I said the directions, showed them, and wrote it down.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
A Great Day at the Indiana State Museum!
Today was a fun and very informative day! We spent the morning at the Indiana State Museum learning about all of the cool things that they have to offer and all of the resources for teachers and students. I gained so much knowledge from the visit and discovered so many ideas and tools that I would love to use in the future. I think it would be an awesome experience to bring students to the museum. There are so many different things that they can learn about there that relate to so many topics. And to top it all of, the Museum provides state standards that certain things meet! They have theatre programs, workshops, and reenactments that students can take part in. One of the really great things that we learned about is the teacher trunks that are available. The trunks are themed and the one that we saw was based off of Abraham Lincoln. The trunks are available to teachers and have lesson ideas and great hands on materials and activities for students to do. I will definitely be using this resource in my future classroom!
We got to tour the museum and brainstorm how to bring the museum to the classroom. There were so many things that sparked my creativity. It would be really neat to do a unit on comparisons of size and weight with students. In one exhibit there were ice age mammals and the teacher could weigh students as a group and then as a whole class and compare that weight to the weight of the animal. You could also compare size of fossils, teeth, and any part of the body. Another idea would be to do life size shadow drawings of the animals on a big piece of paper. All of these ideas help make it a reality to the students showing them the difference between the animals and themselves.
Later in the day we got to take part in a civil war reenactment. This was such a cool experience and something fourth graders would love! Nicole gave us background information on the civil was, showed us what the soldiers wore, how they lived, what they ate, what training was like, and really made us feel like we were in the war. Students would love taking part of this and would learn so much from the hands on activity.
It was a great day at the Museum and I will keep everything I learned in mind for my future students!!
We got to tour the museum and brainstorm how to bring the museum to the classroom. There were so many things that sparked my creativity. It would be really neat to do a unit on comparisons of size and weight with students. In one exhibit there were ice age mammals and the teacher could weigh students as a group and then as a whole class and compare that weight to the weight of the animal. You could also compare size of fossils, teeth, and any part of the body. Another idea would be to do life size shadow drawings of the animals on a big piece of paper. All of these ideas help make it a reality to the students showing them the difference between the animals and themselves.
Later in the day we got to take part in a civil war reenactment. This was such a cool experience and something fourth graders would love! Nicole gave us background information on the civil was, showed us what the soldiers wore, how they lived, what they ate, what training was like, and really made us feel like we were in the war. Students would love taking part of this and would learn so much from the hands on activity.
It was a great day at the Museum and I will keep everything I learned in mind for my future students!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Power of Science
A lot of fun and learning took place in class on march first. We began by discussing the shark dissection that we would be visiting and taking part of later in the week. We discussed the pro's and con's of having a shark dissection and any questions that we had. A shark dissection is great for learning because it is very hands on and works well for visual and kinesthetic learners. It is also something memorable that students can hold on to. The down sides are the possibility of a child passing out, the unpredictable nature of the activity, it can be expensive, and there may be some children who are against the dissection of animals. As a teacher it would be important to be aware of your student's cultures as not to offend them by doing this activity. Also make sure that safety is addressed very thoroughly and there is organization and plenty of prep time!
The next activity was my favorite part of the day. On our tables was a tray full of some kind of white powder. We were told to take a walk around to all the tables and see if everyone had the same powder. Using polleverywhere.com Dr. Pangan asked the question: Is the mystery powder the same at all tables? Yes, No, I'm not sure. Using our phones we all texted our answer and could see the results live on the screen. I thought this was so cool and such a great idea! It was a great way to incorporate technology and it was a very helpful visual. I would definitely use this with older students. Once we came to the conclusion that they were all the same we discussed what we thought the powder was. We observe the powder and made guesses of what we thought it was. Some of the hypothesis' were salt, sugar, and laundry detergent. None of those were right and we finally were told that it is insta-snow, or as we called it insta-polymer. This stuff is found through steve spangler science and is so cool! We poured about 60ml of water into the powder and it soaked up all the water and became puffy and large. We used this experiment with our 5th grade enrichment groups and they thought it was just as cool as we did. What a good lesson to talk about polymers and things soaking up water. We used it to show an example of physical change.
Afterwards we moved on to a cloud activity. As a class we were each given a cotton ball and took a trip outside. We lined up in the "penguin formation". We got shoulder to shoulder in a circle just like penguins would. This works really well with students to keep them organized and in the eye sight of the teacher. We were told to find a cloud and make our cotton ball the shape of the cloud. We did this and then went back inside and showed our groups what we had found. We then discussed the three types of clouds. Cirrus is the first type. They are light looking, wispy, high in the sky, and an example is the contrails that jet planes make. Stratus is the second type. Stratus clouds are flat, gray, sheets that are medium hight in the sky. The last type is cumulus. These are the fluffy, popcorn clouds that everyone loves to look at. They accumulate together in one bunch. After we learned about the types of clouds we determined what type ours was and glued it to a piece of paper in order of the height of the cloud. Then we wrote a description of what each type of cloud was. Finally we were asked in groups to make up some kind of chant or cheer to remember the clouds. I really liked this lesson all together. I thought it incorporated so many different kinds of learning styles and really got to the point of what was trying to be taught. All kinds of students would be engaged with this kind of lesson.
The final thing that we discussed was how to make a good lesson plan. Dr. Pangan used the hamburger as an example. She explained that a good lesson plan looks like this:
- Guiding question/title
- Description
- Standards
- Materials (website/tools/videos/books)
- Procedure, Time estimate, assessment
- Adaptations
- Closure
- Reflection
It was very helpful to see the hamburger style and give me an example of another way to complete a lesson plan!
This final picture is of the shark dissection. What a fun day! I had a great time at park tutor experiencing it with the students.
The next activity was my favorite part of the day. On our tables was a tray full of some kind of white powder. We were told to take a walk around to all the tables and see if everyone had the same powder. Using polleverywhere.com Dr. Pangan asked the question: Is the mystery powder the same at all tables? Yes, No, I'm not sure. Using our phones we all texted our answer and could see the results live on the screen. I thought this was so cool and such a great idea! It was a great way to incorporate technology and it was a very helpful visual. I would definitely use this with older students. Once we came to the conclusion that they were all the same we discussed what we thought the powder was. We observe the powder and made guesses of what we thought it was. Some of the hypothesis' were salt, sugar, and laundry detergent. None of those were right and we finally were told that it is insta-snow, or as we called it insta-polymer. This stuff is found through steve spangler science and is so cool! We poured about 60ml of water into the powder and it soaked up all the water and became puffy and large. We used this experiment with our 5th grade enrichment groups and they thought it was just as cool as we did. What a good lesson to talk about polymers and things soaking up water. We used it to show an example of physical change.
Afterwards we moved on to a cloud activity. As a class we were each given a cotton ball and took a trip outside. We lined up in the "penguin formation". We got shoulder to shoulder in a circle just like penguins would. This works really well with students to keep them organized and in the eye sight of the teacher. We were told to find a cloud and make our cotton ball the shape of the cloud. We did this and then went back inside and showed our groups what we had found. We then discussed the three types of clouds. Cirrus is the first type. They are light looking, wispy, high in the sky, and an example is the contrails that jet planes make. Stratus is the second type. Stratus clouds are flat, gray, sheets that are medium hight in the sky. The last type is cumulus. These are the fluffy, popcorn clouds that everyone loves to look at. They accumulate together in one bunch. After we learned about the types of clouds we determined what type ours was and glued it to a piece of paper in order of the height of the cloud. Then we wrote a description of what each type of cloud was. Finally we were asked in groups to make up some kind of chant or cheer to remember the clouds. I really liked this lesson all together. I thought it incorporated so many different kinds of learning styles and really got to the point of what was trying to be taught. All kinds of students would be engaged with this kind of lesson.
The final thing that we discussed was how to make a good lesson plan. Dr. Pangan used the hamburger as an example. She explained that a good lesson plan looks like this:
- Guiding question/title
- Description
- Standards
- Materials (website/tools/videos/books)
- Procedure, Time estimate, assessment
- Adaptations
- Closure
- Reflection
It was very helpful to see the hamburger style and give me an example of another way to complete a lesson plan!
This final picture is of the shark dissection. What a fun day! I had a great time at park tutor experiencing it with the students.
Monday, February 21, 2011
We had a fun day in class this week. We did a bunch of experiments and discussed other ones that we could do with students. The first experiment that we did was called a pipette and a penny. All you need for this experiment is a pipette, water, and a penny. The goal is to see how many drops of water you can get on the surface of a penny without the water dripping off. My estimate before I tried the experiment was 20 drops. The two times that I tried it I got 30 and 26 drops. It is crazy how many you can fit on that one little penny! I think this leads to great discussions with kids like what are the variables in this experiment? And how does the penny hold that much water?
The next experiment that we worked on was called sweethearts and water. For this experiment you need candy hearts (big and small sized), a pipette, and water. We predicted which phrase on the candy hearts we thought would come off faster. I predicted that the large one would come off faster and I was right! When we did the experiment we put water on the hearts and the phrase on the large candy heart came off much faster. Then we had the opportunity to have a fun discussion about why would thought this happened.
We continued with some more density experiments. Coke vs. diet coke was a cool experiment to take part of. We guessed which we thought would float/sink, coke or diet coke? The coke sank and the diet coke floated. Minute maid also sank. So from that experiment we know that coke is more dense than water and diet is less dense than water. I think this would be a great segway into healthy lifestyles as well as discussions about density and what else we think is more or less dense than water.
The next part was the layered liquids experiment. This involves dish soap, kayro syrup, alcohol, water with food coloring, and oil. All you have to do for this experiment is pour the different ingredients in layer by layer and observe which is the most dense and which is the least dense. I really want to try this at home and see what my friends have to say! We also talked about the blubber glove and I remember doing that in school. That is definitely something that I will use with my students in the future.
The last part of our day involved an investigation of the Children's Museum. The first question that we were told to look for was: what are five or more things around the museum that inspire ideas for your own classroom? I found a bunch of things around the museum. I really like the idea of having a classroom "vault" where the item in the vault could be changed around. It would be cool to have a life size plane or ship in the classroom for a specific unit. I also like the idea of bright circle carpet squares and low tables. I think it would be really neat to have smells from a country that you were studying available in your classroom as well.
We also were asked how we would adapt CSI into school without a museum. I think that I would probably use the drinking fountain, sink, hose, and maybe a pond or a fish tank if we had one available. I learned so many things when exploring the museum. I learned that Ahlan Wa Sahlan means "Welcome" in Arabic. I also learned that 43% of Egypt's population lives in cities along the Nile river and that they drink licorice in Egypt. I thought it was interesting that in Egypt the children serve the adults. Another thing I learned was that polar bears have rough furry paws to walk on the ice and that Anne Frank's family lived in Frankfurt Germany where Anne went to Montessori school.
It was a really neat experience to see the live performances of Ruby Bridges and Anne Frank. It really brought me back and put things in my life into perspective. I had a great day at the Children's Museum!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Kitchen Science
In class on Tuesday I learned a lot of important things and made many notes of ideas that I want to remember. We spent most of the day exploring the scientific method with kitchen science. I had a lot of fun and there were so many things that I found useful. We took notes in a superman book. I loved this idea because the students can be involved in making their workbook, it’s fun, and you don’t need staples or tape!
The first activity that we did was the doughnut hole (or apple slice) mystery. I thought this was fun and something kids would really enjoy. We drew the last doughnut that we ate, then were given doughnut holes and sketched them scientifically. I liked this part because everyone has a different doughnut and will have a different type of sketch. It was also useful to have a model for kids to look at and base their drawing off of. I really liked the social studies connection with this experiment because I thought it was really creative to look at the ingredients and plan a lesson based off of where the ingredients are found and exploring ones that aren’t as familiar.
The next activity, the scientific guy/gal, is something that I will definitely use in my classroom! I loved how it was encouraging classroom participation in coming up with rules for participating in science. It was a positive way to show how children should be when doing experiments. Afterwards we learned about observation and hypothesis through the floating M experiment. This was yet again another “cool” thing to see that children will love. I can just see their faces when they see the M floating and trying to figure out why. I love this experiment because it generates curiosity and makes children want to learn about what happened.
In addition, I think the Abe and taco bell data collection activity is very useful and meaningful. We learned so much during that activity, things that I had no idea about. There are so many opportunities for further exploration there and it can be based off of what the children are most interested in. However, I have to admit that making Oobleck was my favorite part of the day! I would love to use it for a creative writing activity as well as for a state of matter lesson.
At the end of the day when we did the get down, get funky, get loose song I really liked it and will definitely use it in the future. I love to sing and do little dances and I think that is a great strategy for getting kids moving in a productive and not disrupting way. I also liked the graffiti tape for a way of giving feedback. Overall it was a very productive and useful day!
The first activity that we did was the doughnut hole (or apple slice) mystery. I thought this was fun and something kids would really enjoy. We drew the last doughnut that we ate, then were given doughnut holes and sketched them scientifically. I liked this part because everyone has a different doughnut and will have a different type of sketch. It was also useful to have a model for kids to look at and base their drawing off of. I really liked the social studies connection with this experiment because I thought it was really creative to look at the ingredients and plan a lesson based off of where the ingredients are found and exploring ones that aren’t as familiar.
The next activity, the scientific guy/gal, is something that I will definitely use in my classroom! I loved how it was encouraging classroom participation in coming up with rules for participating in science. It was a positive way to show how children should be when doing experiments. Afterwards we learned about observation and hypothesis through the floating M experiment. This was yet again another “cool” thing to see that children will love. I can just see their faces when they see the M floating and trying to figure out why. I love this experiment because it generates curiosity and makes children want to learn about what happened.
In addition, I think the Abe and taco bell data collection activity is very useful and meaningful. We learned so much during that activity, things that I had no idea about. There are so many opportunities for further exploration there and it can be based off of what the children are most interested in. However, I have to admit that making Oobleck was my favorite part of the day! I would love to use it for a creative writing activity as well as for a state of matter lesson.
At the end of the day when we did the get down, get funky, get loose song I really liked it and will definitely use it in the future. I love to sing and do little dances and I think that is a great strategy for getting kids moving in a productive and not disrupting way. I also liked the graffiti tape for a way of giving feedback. Overall it was a very productive and useful day!
Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles
Today in class (ED 418/317) we had a full day of first day activities as we got to know each other. We started off the class as Dr. Pangan presented a me bag as an introduction activity. I have seen this idea before and always like it as a way to get to know the teacher and students. I think it is a great way to share a little bit about yourself without getting too personal and it is a fairly comfortable activity for the first day.
The next thing that was did was an observation and inference activity. At first I was a little bit confused about what the purpose was for this activity. I am not a huge fan of science and thinking scientifically is not something that I am used to. My brain is more wired towards English and social studies. But once we got started with the activity I understood why it was so useful and would be a really great teaching tool. It was cool to think about all of the ways the science is present in our daily lives. It made me excited to explore this idea further this semester.
After observing and inferring about what was in front of us we were asked to reach in and grab what was inside though we couldn’t see anything through the clear water. When we grabbed the invisicubes out of the water it was really shocking and fun to see. I can’t wait to try this idea with children and see their reaction. The next step to the activity was walking around, getting toe to toe with a partner, and sharing what we thought was a good metaphor for what we just did. I wasn’t as big of a fan of this part but I could see how it would work and be useful in a classroom. Anything that gets children up and moving is great. After toe to toe some students were asked to stand up and make a live model of a polymer. I thought it was a great visual and something that I will definitely use in a future classroom. The human polymer allowed me to see what was actually happening and remember it better.
When this activity was over the class took some time to introduce ourselves. Though it was a tradition pattern of sharing about yourself I really liked that Dr. Pangan had us stand up in pairs of two. In this class most of us know each other so we are already comfortable but on the first day of school with children this most likely will not be the case. Allowing children to stand up and share in pairs or bigger groups gives them a comfort level and does not make them feel alone.
After introducing ourselves we got to my favorite part of the day, Bubble-ology. We were split up into 10 stations, which excited me because I always loved stations as a child. I think they give you the opportunity to move around and do hands on activities. Being a hands on learner I always remembered those kind of activities. Each group was asked to become experts on their station before we began to rotate. Hannah and I were assigned to the make a stand bubble station. We started out by attaching a pipe cleaner to a clothespin and making a circle on the top of the pip cleaner so we could blow a bubble into it. Then we dipped it in bubble solution, took a straw and did the same, and began to blow a bubble on the stand. I liked this activity because it is very fun and active but it is also a great tool to teach students about surface tension and other scientific ideas. It could even work for social studies. After presenting our station we had the chance to try every station. My favorite one was where we were told to blow a huge bubble with “special solution”. I liked this station so much because it shows the power of the mind and positive thinking. The solution was really the same but we thought it was better and therefore blew a bigger bubble. I want my students in my classroom to feel like they can blow a huge bubble in terms of learning, that they can accomplish anything! Overall it was a great first day and I am very excited to see what this semester has to hold.
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