Science is out of this world!

In my Science and Technology Methods class we learned a lot about astronomy and how to teach it in a classroom.

The first thing we did was make a collage of space pictures and websites about space for children.
here is the  collage I made using linoit

The second project we did was come up with a word cloud using words related to space, that were commonly found in our all of our websites and articles.
Here is the word cloud I made with my group using tagul

The third project we did was make a timeline about astronomy events using different websites.
here is the timeline I made with my group using timetoast 

There are so many projects and activities that can be done when doing an astronomy unit of study. Students can use lots of different types of technology and projects to enhance their learning. This unit of study is very interesting and easy to make engaging for students.  

trading thoughts about trrade books

Recently in class we created a project about trade books. These are books that can be used to teach about a science topic/unit of study.They are usually informative/fiction books but can sometimes be non fiction books. 

The project that we did was making a book talk and a book trailer about the trade book that we chose. 

I would use this activity in a classroom because it would help the children really understand the book. In order to do this activity the you have to know the book inside and out, so the children would really have to study the book. 

For my trade book I used the book fresh water animals.

If you are interested in learning more about this book:
Here is my book talk 
Here is my book trailer '

 

Explore and Explain about the earth

1. Consider the area of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel most knowledgeable. What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to keep your knowledge current?
   I feel as though I am not that knowledgeable on this topic. If I had to chose one I know  the most about it would be weather. I recently took a geography class, which taught a lot about weather. However, I will have to view articles and websites to gain more knowledge. 
2. Consider the area of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel least knowledgeable. What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to continue to strengthen your knowledge base about this topic?
   I am least knowledgeable
   about the earths surface, I would need to do extensive research to gain enough knowledge to be able to teach this lesson I will look through articles and texts and class reading to help me better understand this topic. As a teacher, I would also go to my collages and ask them for further information on how to teach this topic, what they have done and ideas they have. 
3. What resources are you aware of that will help you be an effective teacher of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather?
   This scholastic website is one good resource for weather, it is an interaactive website for children to use. 
   This website has activities and information for both children an teachers . 
   
   
   This scholastic website has information for teachers about the earth and its surface.
   This website has information, videos and pictures on the earths surface 
   
   
   This national geographic website has a video along with information about the earths atmoshere 
   This website has all different kinds of information about the earths atmosphere for children to use. 
   

   
   

A lot to learn!

Over the last few weeks, we have been working in a 5th grade class.  The children in this class are very rambunctious, because they are in 5th grade, the teachers need to keep the students engaged which is hard to do, or they will lose them very quickly. The teacher candidates have done a good job keeping the children engaged, especially with the activities that they plan.  The only problem is that with some of the activities, the children got too rambunctious and the class got very loud a little out of control. What all of the teacher candidates (including myself) needed to learn is how to allow the students to do an engaging (fun) activity without losing control of the classroom. I feel as though we all did learn how to better control the classroom. 

My groups part of the unit was making model ponds and teaching the students about freshwater ecosystems. I would have to say that both of the lessons that I taught with my group did not go as we planned, but that doesn't mean they went bad. The students really enjoyed our activities.

When designing the lesson plans, there were a lot of parts that had to be included. It was hard to make one lesson plan between the four group members because we all had different ideas and not all of us were able to do the things we wanted to.   

The direct lesson, which was also inquiry because they created their ponds, was a little difficult to design because it was both. it was also difficult because we kept having to change it.  when implementing it into the classroom, we thought that we had all of the parts planned and that we eliminated chaos however, it was still a little bit chaotic. The ponds did get made and everything worked out, and it wasn't out of control. 

The other inquiry lesson was a bit more complicated to design. The activity that we planned was a web quest which alone takes a while to put together. Besides that, there was  more parts to it because we were having the students present their findings from the web quest, with the help of a teacher. When we taught the lesson, the students all seemed to know what to do, but we rushed a little bit.