Project Learning Tree

This weekend MSMC offered a FREE hands on Pre K-Grade 8 Science/Interdisciplinary Workshop! I attended the workshop and gained so much knowledge I cannot wait to use in my classroom one day. We started the morning off playing an "ice breaker" bingo activity. We had to go around the room trying to find someone who matched a space on our bingo board. The catch to this game was each space was related to nature in some way. On each game board I was able to sign off for having a tree house! I thought this was cool because I seemed to be the only one with one. This was a great way to get to know the people we would be spending the day with and their personal takes on nature.

Immediately after the ice breaker we jumped into a new activity involving tree cookies. A tree cookie is a piece of the tree that has been cut off from either the trunk or branch of the tree.We learned how to tell how old the tree is from counting the rings on the cookie and also learned different parts of the cookie. The instructors then linked it to literacy as we drew our own tree cookie based on our lives so far. If you had a really great year in your life you made the space between each ring larger because that meant you flourished and had great growth at that point in your life. I thought this was a great way students can plan  what they are writing based on their drawing of their tree cookie. It is a great way to brainstorm and organize thoughts and ideas before writing. This activity can also be linked to social studies in which you can create a tree cookie for a country to show the years they flourished as to they years they did not. A tree cookie is like natures own timeline!


Another activity we did was creating tree "fashion." Each group used a brown paper bag to represent the trunk of the tree filled with different parts of the tree inside. This was a great way for us to really get to know the different parts of a tree and expand our knowledge. We then wore our vests and hats for the rest of the group to see.

My favorite activity from the workshop was the "Peppermint Beetle." The Peppermint Beetle encourages students to use their sense of smell and other techniques to find the beetle. This activity can be done with any strong scent you wish. All you have to do is place the scent on different objects around the yard leading up to the hidden beetle.

All in all today was a very successful workshop. I enjoyed all of the activities we participated in and will be sure to use them in my classroom one day. I think it's amazing how science can be connected to all different subjects in all kinds of ways. The free book we received will be an excellent resource as well.

The Future of Educational Technology

If I had to pick one thing that I learned this semester and cal it the most important thing I learned in this class it would be educational technology. Nowadays all students use technology in someway or another. As teachers it is important we incorporate technology into our classrooms. We must conform with the new fads which now and its not going anywhere is technology. I was introduced to many new different online educational tools this semester. A few of my favorite educational technological tools include ThingLink, Kahoot! and Glogster.

ThingLink has been my favorite tool to use this semester. With each preceding ThingLink I created it it got better than the last. ThingLink is a create tool to use as a study guide. You can include the key concepts from a unit and add videos as well as images that correspond. It is a way to save paper and students can access it from home which gives them no excuse not to study! ThingLink is also a great way for students to present a project especially a group project. ThingLink can have many editors that way more than one person can work at the same time. At the same time the students work, the teacher is able to add commentary.

Kahoot! is another tool I enjoyed using this semester. I had seen Kahoot! in the past, but was always too nervous to give it a try until now. Kahoot! is an online tool to create fun learning games such as surveys, quizzes and discussions! Everyone in the classroom is able to respond at the same time at their own pace, but it can get competitive. Kahoot! times how quickly you answer the question and ranks you based on your speed. This is a great way to create a positive attitude towards quizzes as well as create friendly competition within the classroom. The best part about Kahoot! is it's FREE!!!

The third tool i enjoyed using this semester is Glogster. Glogster is an online tool that allows you to create interactive posters, complete with text, images, graphics, audio and video. Glogs can be used to present lessons complete with links to outside resources, with audio and videos related to the subject and topic. Glogs support and meet the needs of special education, general education and ELL students. Glogs are a fun way to learn and engage students in learning. Glogs can sustain the students' attention for longer periods of time and stimulate creativity.

Science Fair Fun

Each year Bishop Dunn Memorial School hosts a science fair for their students grades 5-8 and this semester I was able to be a part of it! Dr. Smirnova told us she and Doc Love, the science teacher at BDMS, wanted our class to take part in the science fair this semester to show the students examples of really good experiments. I was excited to start brain storming my ideas of what I wanted to do for a project. I decided I wanted to correlate my science fair project with the topic I taught the students in the after school program: Energy. After exploring the internet for different "energy" related science fair projects I finally came up with one. My question was "Can the color of your house reduce your energy footprint?" In other words can the color of your house save you money? Once you have a question the next step in the scientific method is to research your question. After researching different sites and articles it was time to make a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess. Our students are familiar with making hypotheses because of their practice within our inquiry lessons this semester. My hypothesis was "If your house is painted a dark color, then the inside of your house will be warmer and reduce your energy footprint." I continued on with the scientific method by conducting an experiment. To test my hypothesis I used four shoe boxes all the same size and painted each one a different color (black, grey and white). Inside each box I placed a thermometer and outside the boxes was a heat lamp. The heat lamp represented the sun and the boxes represented the houses. After recording my data I was able to draw the conclusion that proved my hypothesis to be true. This project was interesting because I haven't done anything like it in which I had to follow the scientific method step-by-step. I always wanted to participate in a science fair and now I had the chance!

Our students from the after school program loved seeing our projects on display and were eager to show us theirs. One project that stood out from the rest was done by a 4th grade student Daniel. I met Daniel this semester in the after school program and I could instantly tell he had a love for science. Although Daniel was not required to enter the science fair because he's only in 4th grade, he chose to because he wanted to express his findings. Daniel's project was all about dark matter. Before talking with Daniel about his project I had no clue what dark matter was, but he quickly informed me. Speaking with Daniel I could tell he was very passionate about his project and findings from various research he has done. He had three different models to represent dark matter each one explaining it in a different way to help his audience understand. I was truly inspired by Daniel's hard work and efforts with his project and I hope that I can help make my students have the same love Daniel has for science.

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!

Last but certainly not least group four presented today! Bravo to group four on mastering teaching the after school program! Group four did their lesson on pollution and it was great! After watching all of the other groups go, group four was able to take what they learned and turn it into a wonderful lesson. To start group four placed a piece of "litter" on each student's desk and announced that they had been visited by the liter bug and it was their job to recycle the litter into the correct bins. This was a great to get the students up and moving to get any left over energy from that day out! Immediately after they finished sorting the litter, group four went over the rules and expectations for the class. My colleague Allison did a wonderful job explaining the behaviors she wanted to see and introduced a game they would be playing. The game is called students vs. teachers. The object of the game is to beat your opponent by demonstrating good behaviors during the lesson, when the students did this, they earned a point, but when they did not, the teachers received the point. This was a great way to have students want to behave in order to beat their opponent.

I really enjoyed listening to group four teach their direct lesson. They included a acronym (P.A.W.L) to allow students to remember the 3 different types of pollution which include air, water and land. For each different kind of pollution group four briefly explained what it is, what causes it and what the effects are. I think that this was very short and to the point which made it easier for students to remember. Another thing group four did differently was that for each review question they had they included a political cartoon pertaining to the type of pollution they were reviewing. This was a very unique way to review and I will be sure to use this idea in the future. After teaching the different types of pollution the group gave the solution to pollution which is to reduce, reuse and recycle showing students how they too can help save our Earth from pollution. I think group four did the best job yet teaching their direct instruction and I was excited for the inquiry.

Group four introduced their problem using "Fred the fish," an adventurous freshwater fish who is going to swim downstream, but is scared of the obstacles he may face because of recent increase in pollution in the area. The students were asked to help Fred see what he may or may not face as he travels. The students were then reminded of the inquiry process and soon began to work on their experiments to see what would happen to Fred (a sponge in the shape of a fish) as a result of different forms of water pollution. This activity was very interesting and engaging as each group was interested in helping their friend Fred travel safely. Watching my colleagues work with the students I could see how intrigued each group was in their process. Congrats group four on your excellent work!