Model Lesson

Our model lesson was called "Renewable or Not?" and covered the content of renewable and non-renewable resources, sustainability, and how the Earth and its people must preserve the resources!

We used popcorn to be our resource and allowed students to take bit by bit. Soon enough, everything was gone! It teaches the students to learn to take only what is needed and to help save parts of the Earth for all the inhabitants, present and future.

vocabulary

the popcorn activity
and a poster of renewable vs. non-renewable resources

We also got a copy of the Project Learning Tree lesson plan book! It is such an AMAZING resource, I can't wait to use it!

Fullerton Arboretum

A way to assess students is looking through their notebooks.
Students' science notebooks will provide a glimpse of their thought processes and will highlight what they find interesting.

Last week, from our trip at the Fullerton Arboretum,
we were able to walk around and observe the environment around us.
We were asked to bring blank pieces of paper and colored pencils to draw specific trees that we saw which became part of our science notebook!

the redwood tree

my drawing of the redwood
and parts of the tree

the Redwood tree

information on the Redwood!

NASA

Today, during our 548 class, we had a guest speaker from NASA!
Her name was Sandy and she used to be an elementary school teacher as well :)

We learned a lot of cool facts about the solar system and the planets, but also how to incorporate the materials and activities into our lessons.

What I loved about today was the fact that we made gliders and propellers! It directly relates to the science kit that I will be presenting at Rio Vista's Family Science Night.

Brittany playing with  propellers

the same model we are going to use for
Family Science Night!

Tonight made me more excited for the Science Fair and it made me wonder if we could use these models as well as the ones provided in the kit. I want to explore and find new paper plane models!

Moving Beyond the Science Kit

Chapter 10 of our textbook and today's class session was strongly related.
As the chapter talks about science kits and projects, Block 23 got the opportunity to look through the science kits for Rio Vista's Family Science Night.

Mr. Eddie asked us to becoming mediators and facilitators for the students and their families instead of directly telling them what to do. It is similar to the classroom stories in the textbook, how the teachers try to prompt the students to think, question, explore, and learn.

A good question to ask is:
"How can I use this kit to create a meaningful learning experience for my students?"

It's important to understand the science and the standards behind the activity. Mr. Eddie told us that although the activities are great and fun, it's the lesson and the learning that really counts. While the students and their families are having a blast with the activities, it's easy for the learning to get lost. It's essential that the science is taught and understood.

Even as Block 23 was so intrigued by the chick-a-dee today, it would have been easy to simply play with the toy instead of trying to understand how and why the chick chirps. It is the same way with children.

Science kits are used to prompt the students' thinking and to engage them in their learning, but instead of using the materials in kits as the primary lesson, we must learn to "move beyond the science kit" and encourage active and critical thinking.

Diaper Day & Flower Power

Today's class session was SO much fun!
I'm still amazed at all the fun I'm having during a Science class! It's different, but I love it!


We started off with an experiment with a DIAPER.

we were asked to hypothesize how much water a diaper can hold.
my group and I though "2 water bottles= 24 ounces"

so then we started to pour cups of water onto our diaper

soon it started getting REALLY heavy...
and surprisingly held about 5 whole cups! 

and we learned about the absorbent material in the diapers!

and had an inquiry based activity with a little chick-a-dee!

We learned about circuits and I cannot wait to own a little chick of my own!

Then,

Miss M, Mrs Campos, and I taught our final lesson on flowers and the life cycle~

in our flower hats and flowery clothes

upon entering the classroom, we were impressed by our students' drawings of a plant

and we were excited to see some growth in their seeds!

Our lesson went quite well, I think it's OK to say that it was a little chaotic at moments...
I'm happy to say that Mrs. Flores enjoyed our lesson and our use of technology.
We presented a SmartBoard flipchart and even improvised some clicker activity.
I guess you have to roll with the punches sometimes :)


SCIENCE ROCKS!

Paper Planes

During today's class, we had the chance to look over the multiple kits that we will be presenting during Rio Vista's Science Family Night!

I must say, I am pretty excited. I can't wait to see the students & their families being actively engaged in scientific learning together! Brittany and I have the paper planes station! Hopefully we'll learn how to fold the paper planes like pros eventually...

I'm excited to see how the other stations will turn out. I was so excited to see what the kits contained and what the science was behind all the materials and experiments so I'm sure that the kids and their families will be too!

:)

Chapter 12

Reading through Chapter 12 made me realize how important it is for teachers to know what they are talking about. Not only to know but to understand.
We can present and teach lessons, but we need to have the background knowledge to further explain concepts to students if they have questions or are curious about a specific science subject.

This chapter also provided some information about developing a unit plan which was helpful for our assignment!
The elements of a unit plan are:
-the science ideas behind the unit
-the activities included in the unit
-the lesson plans for the unit