Solar System

After my last post and thinking about my insect project, it reminded me of other projects I did in elementary school at home and was more worried about the presentation of it than the content. Science has never been one of my favorite subjects, and I'm starting to see why!  This is why it is SO important for us, as teachers, to create a fun and positive learning environment for our students.

In third grade, we all completed a solar system at home similar to this one:

I can't remember going to different stores looking for the right material that my teacher wanted.  I also remember my mom talking to other mom's about how to do certain parts because it had to be done in such a particular way.  We all came to school with the same exact project, identically labeled and colored. 

I found this website with some fun solar system ideas they can be done in the classroom 

One of my favorites was this flip book. The students can pull it out as a reference throughout other lessons, and I feel would benefit more with something they can keep forever. 

Outdoor Fun!

Hi from Graham!!

 

 

As the weather is getting cooler, I have been trying to spend as much time outdoors as possible!  I was looking at all that there is to do in our area and thought I should share.  I found the site Nashville Fun for Families.  It has some great ideas for indoor activities, outdoor activities, day trips, and has activities sorted by the holiday and season. 

Even though I want to limit depending on field trips in my classroom, ideas such as these can be printed and placed in their take-home folders.

We could also design our own zoo or park and let our imaginations take over, as seen here.  

 

Insects

This little guy was hanging out outside of my bathroom window as I was getting ready this morning.  It reminded me of the insect project that I did in elementary school.  The dreaded insect project.  We would find bugs, freeze them, and then put them onto a Styrofoam board with a pin and label them in a certain way.  It was another project for the parents. 

 

 

 

So what could we do instead? 

 The first thing that I think of is that this project could have been done in class.  We could use this as a great time to go outside together and explore!  Ms. Bonnie would be proud!  Rather than killing the bugs and putting them on display, we could identify them and watch them in their natural environment.  We could go back to the classroom and chart our favorites and discuss why.  

This site has all kinds of neat bug art projects to do along with an insect lesson.  There are lots of cute insect clothespins that could be created, too, to help display their art.  

Seashells

I'd say we had another fun and successful weekend in our science class!  One of my favorite parts of the weekend was going through the different table activities and stations based around shells.  

I absolutely love the beach.  Any beach!  I lived in Miami, Florida for a year and a half.  My family vacations to Fort Walton, Destin, and Gulf Shores often.  We also go with Ben's family to Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina every July, which is very different from Florida's beaches, but still a beach! :)

My favorite part of our activity was the shell mold.

I did a similar activity when I was teaching school-aged kids in the summer program.  We went on Ben's family's beach trip for a week.  All of my kiddos asked for a souvenir, so I collected shells all week for them.  

Here's the activity that we did when I came back:

1.  I passed around pictures of my trip and we shared vacation stories.

2.  I made a sensory bottle with sand, salt water, and shells from my trip.  They LOVED this.  We kept it in our science center of the classroom, and it was one of the sensory bottles that they would always take turns playing with.

3. We looked at a map of my trip and talked about how long it took to drive and how long it might take to fly or even walk.

4.  We had writing prompts and wrote about shells.

5.  They shared their writing and then picked out their favorite shell to take home.

 

Even throughout a summer program, it is easy to incorporate science (and language arts) activities.  This proves how much fun hands-on group work can be!  Plus, my shells were even cheaper than the Dollar Store :) 

Hands-on Activities

One of my favorite things about ILP has been that you work so closely with your classmates and all become good friends! At the end of the program, you will already know so many people in your area with the same profession and can make some great connections. Pretty awesome! :)

While at the Discovery Center, I was quickly reminded how beneficial hands-on activities can be. It is a great way for kids to get their energy out while enhancing their learning. Our group work during our nature walk reminded me of my sixth grade leaf project. Every year, parents would dread this project because it involved so much of the parents' time. We completed a huge binder with just about every type of leaf imaginable, all in page protector sheets and glued and labeled perfectly. This quick activity showed me that if this project was done in class, each student could have been assigned a different leaf to find and show the class and the same outcome could probably have been achieved. It's all about working together and making it fun!

Discovery Center

When starting at MTSU, I knew nothing about the Murfreesboro area. Ben and I moved to Nashville in 2011 and are still finding our way around Nashville, much less Murfreesboro! I drive to class, search for a parking spot, go to class and leave. There could be a Chik-fil-A or Target trip in there, maybe even Starbucks now, thanks to Melina. 

I have loved seeing more about this area through our class work. It was great stepping out of the classroom and exploring the Discovery Center. We'll be going back and taking Graham one day! 

Bonnie presented at my work's conference last year, and it was great getting to spend more time with her. She does a great job! I can't believe all of the useful material we left with! 

 

 

 

 

My Teaching Experience

When I first thought about teaching science, it's a subject that's a little intimidating for me. I guess I see science as never ending with a lot of unknown. When reviewing for the PRAXIS, there was a lot of information that I haven't seen in years. However, after looking through one of my blogs from work, I know more than I realize, which is one of the reasons why I love journaling!

I worked at a preschool for a year and a half before having Graham and was the school-aged director. I had 20 plus elementary students before school, after school, on school holidays and closings, and spring, summer, and fall break. I had control over our schedule and activities and learned so much during this time. It was a blessing to get this job at the beginning of grad school and my big career change. 

As the school-aged director, I was also in charge of keeping the school blog up-to-date . Looking back through my blog, there were many times that I integrated science in my classroom.  

Here are some pictures of my sweet kiddos having some science fun!

Every Friday in the summer was water day. Allowing the kids to play outside lead to all kinds of science learning. 

 

We had two pet fish, Titan and Pinky. We went on a walking field trip to pick out Pinky at the nearby pet store. The students helped keep their tanks clean and took turns feeding the fish. 

 

A lot of times, science can be integrated without instruction with just the kids' imagination, as seen here going on a safari during outside free play. 

 

A daily role was assigned for children to help keep the weather and season up-to-date. 

 

During show and tell, we had some students bring in pets. Here a student is showing a bunny that she rescued. The kids LOVED this!

 

Our outdoor Mentos volcano was a huge hit! They requested to do this experiment more than once.

 

Sensory bottles are a fun way to incorporate a science lesson while also making new things for the classroom. 

 

We had guests come from Mr. Bond and The Science Guys to put on a science show.  

 

The kids got to participate and talked about it all day! (Notice the fun space decor)

 

 

On Earth Day, we used coffee filters and water to make me our own Earths models. I also see our constellation project on the door where one student would place stars on the page and then partner and trade with another student who would use a white crayon to make a shape of their own constellation. 

 

 

Although a camping field trip might be difficult to plan, I planned an indoor "almost camping" day where we used our imaginations to make our camping site. Again, it is so fun to watch their imaginations take off!! 

 

Even though this wasn't during the kids regular school hours, I would find ways to integrate all subject areas in a fun way. I think that it is so important to let your students feel comfortable, and they did some amazing work when realizing they wouldn't be graded and were able to write and talk openly. 

I'm a little less intimidated now realizing how easy and fun planning a science class can be! :)

Science and Graham

Let's start this blog off right with sweet little Graham! We have had a big week with his four-month checkup and rolling over for the first time! I was able to see it and not stuck in some graduate class.  Just kidding :)

Now, to get back to science, I would say that Graham has had lots of "sciencey" adventures in his little life so far.  We live right outside of Brentwood and our backyard is awesome for exploring. We sit outside all the time and watch the deer and other animals that come and go. 

Graham has even been to the beach!  One of the neatest things was watching his reaction to the calming sounds.  It was a real-life version of his sound machine.  He LOVED it!

This is stretching it when it comes to science, but as I was writing this, I noticed that there are lots of animals in his day-to-day life.  His room is zoo animal themed, and all of his mats, seats, and toys seem to be animal related.