Stimulating Science Simulations

Today students partnered up to work on communication and engineering design skills during a challenge that required one student to give verbal directions to the other in order to replicate a model made from K'Nex.  The partners really rose to this challenge and by the end they were asking each other questions for clarification and being very specific in their directions which resulted in successful rebuilds. We also finished the timeline that was started yesterday and played some more Smartboard games. The morning goes by so quickly!

Today was the first day of summer camp for my students.  This year I am offering 3 weeks for students who were in my homeroom.  I limited it to that group because I am looping up to 5th grade with them and want to offer extra support as we prepare to tackle another year. Each day will be a little different from the others, but there will always be a bit of every subject woven throughout the morning.  For instance, today we began with a team work engineering challenge.  The 5 students who attended camp today worked together to try to build a house of cards.  They found this to be a bit trickier than they had expected.  After many attempts, they were able to figure out a few ways that would work for awhile but none of the housed stayed standing for long.  We'll try this again and see if they get better with practice. Our 2nd challenge today was a red solo cup challenge.  I found this idea on Pinterest and was really pleased with they way that th...

Returning to a self-contained classroom of 24 fourth graders brought plenty of challenges.  How to differentiate for varying levels of spelling proficiency was one of the first things I needed to tackle.  Locating spelling lists at different levels was the first task. There are actually a number of resources available. K12Reader had a list that suited my needs.  This link is for 4th grade but there are lists available for other grade levels as well.  This was great because I had students who needed both easier and more difficult lists. http://www.k12reader.com/fourth-grade-spelling-words/ These lists were easy to download and then add to my class Edmodo library. Edmodo is an awesome learning platform.  With it, I created 3 groups the spelling sleuths, guru's, and spotlight.  Every week I attach the appropriate list and send a link for students to copy their words. At first I used a simple voice recorder app with my cell phone to record the words and ...

Yesterday I noticed a new message from Edmodo.  Did you see it too?  I am one of those people you might characterize as an early adopter so you can probably figure that I immediately tested it out.  Within minutes and I do mean only a few minutes, I had created 2 snapshots: One for reading and One for math.  I had it assigned to my 4th grade class and this morning we gave it a go.  The tool has earned an initial 4 star rating in my book.   Pros: quick, easy, aligned to common core, immediate creation of reports that guide instruction by identifying student mastery levels while also offering individualized data screen where you can select a student and review the questions they answered  -- truly impressive sets of questions that are randomized to avoid cheating Cons: some students got "bumped" out or claimed the screen froze (not sure what user error might have caused that or bug in the system even)  -  even so, easy enough wo...

Mrs. Harris is hosting a science teacher blog hop and of course I joined in.  One of the main goals for my website and blog is to locate and share great STEM ideas with others so I am hoping it grows and we all can find some new blog sources for great ideas. If you found my page through the blog hop, please take time to leave me a message.  If you haven't seen the blog hop then hop on over to Mrs. Harris Teaches and you can find some other great science blogs or even add a link to your own science blog.  

5.L.1.1  Explain why some organisms are capable of surviving as a single cell while others require many cells that are specialized to survive.  What will you find in some pond water?  Pond critters of course. We had already completed an initial lesson in the classroom.  I had scooped a bucket of pond water from my neighborhood and we examined the unicellular and multicellular life of the pond. In fact, this lesson was taught almost two months ago but then we had some signs of spring.  The rains came and with it, outdoor recess became a festival of science!  My kiddos found a puddle and were completely enthralled with the life of a puddle.  They begged me to bring out the microscopes and slides for RECESS!! Of course, being the teacher who wants to make the kids happy, I gave them exactly what they wanted.  Combined with a little mobile technology and we were identifying the organisms in the puddle in no time.  We found that one of the ...

Alright, I admit it.  I have been chomping at the bit for the April Currently to surface. I thought, this month I am going to move up in the links.  No more linking up as #100+ So what happened?  While I was busy finishing a paper for my current doctoral course, Farley decided to get a jump on April.  I think I still caught the wave earlier than usual but definitely not as close to the top as I wanted to be. Silly - I know.  Maybe next time.  For now, here is the April Currently.  If you want to join in, check out Allow me to elaborate.  I have been listening to the movie that my kids are watching.  Yes it is late, but hey ... we're all on Spring Break!  Which is exactly what I am LOVING!!  We often head to the beach for spring break, but this year we did not.  I'm thinking it would be nice to spend at least a day or two at the beach before returning to school, so I am stalking our vacation points re...