Stimulating Science Simulations

One of the ways I am trying to engage students in science includes linking the learning to the real world.  Greater focus is being geared toward STEM related careers.  If we are going to prepare students for STEM related careers, wouldn't it be important to know what some of those career choices include? Here is a great website from Science Buddies that lists a huge variety of careers in science.  There are tabs with lists that include careers in math, engineering, and technology too! Let me give you an example of how this site can help.  During a physical science unit there are many options for careers that link.  Some you might think of and others you might not.  Instead of just having students build paper airplanes to experiment with force, motion, lift, and drag; challenge students to pretend they are the pilot who needs to fly the plane for a set distance or time in the air. As they modify their paper plane, they will begin to learn about the effe...

I have been using the 5 E Lesson Plan model to teach science. (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate)  To help students understand their role and as a reminder to myself of my role as teacher in each phase, I have developed a set of posters.  You can grab your set from my website .  Click to get your 5 E Posters PDF file. These look really good printed on 8x10 glossy photo paper.

In a recent post, I said that I was creating lesson plan templates for 1st through 5th grade. They are all finished.  You can grab a copy of the grade level you teach and spread the word to other North Carolina Teachers.  The templates are for the entire 2012-2013 school year.  They have the Essential Standard and Clarifying Objectives filled in, as well as Essential Questions. The rest of the template is blank for you to fill in as you see fit. If you use these, I would love for you to leave me a comment about them. Thanks! Click here to get to the templates.

I'm working on some Lesson Plan Templates. My favorite site for creating Lesson Plans is TeacherEase.com All of the Common Core Standards and Essential Standards are already stored in drop down list format eliminating the tedious job of re-typing or cutting and pasting.  You can even customize the lesson plan template which I have found useful since I wanted to use the 5 E model.  I'll be posting about that more soon. Check out their site by clicking the button on my website .

I can hardly wait until the beginning teacher science workshop tomorrow.  We'll be filling the room with a buzz like no other. Balloons loaded with a hex nut spinning over the heads of 130 some beginning teachers will do that. PLUS.... Four lucky beginning teachers will be receiving gift certificates redeemable for $50 worth of Steve Spangler materials.  I decided to use some of my supply money from the Burroughs Wellcome award to jumpstart their science lessons.  I can't wait to do the drawing. I'll come back and update this post with some pictures and perhaps a video response after the drawing. The Winners!!  Lucky Ladies.

Where to begin?  This has been an amazing trip!  My husbands sister and her family live in North Pole, Alaska.  We flew out here on July 6th and planned to stay for one week.  On the way to their house from the airport, we saw a moose crossing the road. They are HUGE! One of the first places we visited was the Alaskan Pipeline. The first three days we had beautiful weather and spent lots of time exploring the great outdoors of the Alaskan Interior.  They have two Rzrs (4 wheel ATVs) that were tons of fun for riding on the trails and playing in the big mud puddles. On one of our rides, we saw moose tracks and we even ran into some firefighters who were getting ready to make a cut line. Of course, I went into teacher mode and conducted an impromptu mini interview on the spot. Day three took a turn for the worse when our oldest son flipped a Rzr on its' side, resulting in a broken humerus and dislocated elbow. Two hours in surgery, two plates, and 8 scr...

    Today was spent experiencing the Niagara Falls Aquarium and the American side of the falls. Over the years, I've spent plenty of time at the falls.  It is always a great place to visit and a nice place to spend time with family. This time I wanted to get some pictures and video that could enhance my science lessons too. I wasn't disappointed.   We spent about an hour in the aquarium. (It isn't very big.) The turtles, anemones, poison frogs, penguins, seahorses and sea lions were a big hit.  I got some great shots that I can definitely use as discussion starters while meeting NC science essential standard   5.L.2 Understand the interdependence of plants and animals with their ecosystem. We headed over to the falls and walked around a little before deciding to splurge on a ride on "The Maid of the Mist."  As many times as I've been to the falls, this is something I have never done.  The pictures and video I got while riding the boat are...