The Eclipse for Back To School

What an amazing opportunity we have for Back To School time this year!!! The Great American Solar Eclipse is only weeks away, and I couldn't be more excited! For me, the event falls on the actual first day of school, and to top it off, we are about a 45 minute drive from the Path of Totality.  Did you know that he last time a total eclipse was visible from coast to coast in the United States was 1918?  This event truly is a rare occurrence, and one you definitely don't want to miss!

 Even though I am teaching at the college level now, the buzz around this event is definitely picking up steam. The university where I work has decided to cancel all morning classes, and will host an Eclipse Party in the quad instead.

As teachers, it is our responsibility to teach something to our students about this once in a lifetime event. I've got a great product in my store currently that can help you do just that. I've worked hard to integrate math and language arts in to this engaging unit. Of course there are also inquiry science activities as well to help your students become pros on eclipses. Check it out here:  

Even if you don't go back to school just yet, I'm sure the eclipse will be fresh on students minds when they return to your classrooms. Use this amazing opportunity to get students excited about science!

Making Learning Relevant for Kids

I attended the American Educational Research Association's national conference recently.  There's some incredible research going on out there, but I often worry that these findings are not making it into the hands of teachers.  So I'm sharing some of what I learned in this post.

One interesting session I attended focused on Utility Statements.  Utility statements are statements that the teacher makes explicitly stating the usefulness for what the students are learning.  I equate this idea to relevance; letting students know that what they are learning will in fact be useful someday.  These perceptions can really increase learning and improve attitude.  What was interesting in one study was that the more teachers used utility statements while teaching, the more clarity students had on the utility for what they were learning.  In another study, middle school students wrote essays that were later coded for perceptions of utility.  What they found was that when teachers used utility statements directed at a specific student, the utility perceptions of that student increased dramatically.

My take away from this session is that we need to make a effort to EXPLICITLY share the usefulness of what students are learning.  Where will they use it? What are some examples?  What are some jobs that might need this skill?

I think the perfect way to teach with this idea of utility is Project Based Learning (PBL).  Students apply all sorts of skills in a useful way to tackle a project.  I've been a big advocate of PBL in previous posts, and I continue to create Project Based Learning products in my store.  The feedback I receive from buyers really shows that students are learning and highly engaged in these projects.

I've combined my current creations into one bundle so you can engage your students in Project Based Learning throughout the year.  Give it a click and see more details on the projects.  Each project is also available individually.

My first Practitioner Article Published!

I wrote last fall about the fun I had teaching in a local 5th grade classroom.  I had crafted an inquiry lesson on matter involving separating a mixture based on properties.  I submitted my lesson to NSTA's Science and Children, and I am happy to report it was accepted and recently published.   The good news is you don't have to be a member of NSTA to access the article along with the linked resources to teach this in your own classroom.  Here's the link and be sure to visit the resource link at the end of the article so that you can download the activity sheets and assessment. 

 http://static.nsta.org/files/sc1708_29.pdf

The students loved it and were really engaged throughout.  I think it can be helpful to read through someone else's experience of teaching a lesson.  Some things worked well, others I learned from.  If you get a chance to teach this lesson, please let me know how it went for you!  

Give Project Based Learning a Try!

It's been a while since I posted; a busy start to 2017 for me!  In an effort to spread the good word of Project Based Learning, I'm sharing a free download so you can give it a try.  Project Based Learning is such an engaging and relevant way for students to practice skills they are learning in school within a real life scenario.  This freebie is just a mini version of what Project Based Learning has to offer, but I thought it would give you an idea of what is involved.

In this particular project, I tried to incorporate a variety of math skills such as basic operations, measurement conversions, and time.

So enjoy, and Happy Valentine's Day!

There's More to a STEM Challenge than Meets the Eye

Engineering standards are a new part of science curriculum.  The Next Generation Science Standards include standards and practices specifically for engineering.  The challenge teachers are facing is teaching their students about engineering when they have not had much experience with engineering themselves.

Many teachers are turning to STEM challenges to get some engineering into their science curriculum. Unfortunately, many of the STEM challenges out there don't teach much about engineering or the engineering design process.

In engineering, there are several key pieces that teachers should consider when designing challenges for their students.  First, engineering addresses a problem.  Clients hire engineers to address a problem by designing something specific to solve a problem.  Clients often have a variety of constraints that must be adhered to.  Some common constraints include budget, materials, and time.  

Once a specific prob;em is identified, engineers go through a specific process called the Engineering Design Process.  This process involves several steps within a cycle.  The first step involves addressing the problem by asking a question.  Next, engineers use their creativity to imagine what a solution to the problem might be.  After they come up with an idea, they make a plan.  Often this step involves drawing or sketching ideas  on paper.  Once ideas are planned, it's time for the engineer to create a model or prototype.  This model or prototype can be tested out and then improved.  The process is cyclical, so engineers often go through several iterations of this process until they have a solution to the problem.  

One of my newest products includes an editable power point that offers background information on what engineering is, different types of engineers, as well as the steps in the engineering design process.  I also include teacher and student pages for 3 different engineering design challenges.  

Check it out:

Cooperative Groups: A Job For Everyone!

Using cooperative groups in the classroom has become more and more popular in recent years. Research supports social interaction as a means to boost conceptual understanding.  We all know that some of the best teachers out there are the students themselves.  They are able to explain things to each other in ways that make sense.  Having the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other is also a benefit to working in cooperative groups.

Of course, we've all experienced the pros and cons of cooperative groups.  Sometimes, strong students end up pulling the weight of the group.  Other times, bossy students take over and don't let everyone contribute.  One solution to these issues is assigning specific jobs to students with detailed duties.  When students have specific roles, everyone is involved in the lesson and has a vested interest in the group.

Check out this freebie from my TpT store.  There are 7 jobs total, so you can pick and choose which ones work best for your particular activity.  One of my personal favorite jobs is Ambassador.  This job allows students to visit other groups to ask questions and see ideas from other groups.  Enjoy!

Teaching 5th Graders: Always an Adventure

I had the opportunity the other day to teach a science lesson to a bunch of 5th graders.  This may not seem like that big of a deal, and it probably wasn't.  But after being away from teaching 5th graders for 4 years, I have a new appreciation for them.  Here's what I can confirm about 5th graders:

1.  They are eager to learn.  

Looking around at the 26 pairs of eyes that were virtually eyes of strangers, I could see that they all had a genuine interest in the activity they were about to partake in.  It may have had something to do with the engaging hands on science activity I was presenting to them, but nevertheless, it was genuine.

2.  They still need their teacher to model what they are expected to do.

I thought my directions were pretty clear for the first part of the activity.  They were to write a list of properties of 4 random objects.  Initially they all just sat around with very little pencil moving going on. I had to walk around and prompt each group with what to do.  If I had it to do over again I would have done the first one with them so that they knew exactly what was expected.

3.  They respond well to probing questions.

This one is true of all learners in my opinion, but I especially appreciated how well they responded to my questions.  Perhaps this is a practice used by their teacher so they are used to it; but not one student balked at my questions, even when I answered their question with another question...one of my favorite sneaky moves.

4.  They occasionally get distracted and like to goof around.

Who doesn't?!!  One thing that helped with this was having the students in a cooperative group with assigned roles.  For this activity one student was the materials manager, another was the task manager, a third was the recorder, and the last was the reporter.

All in all, I had an amazing time!  It really made me realize how much I miss teaching this grade.   That being said, there are many occasions when my college students remind me a lot of fifth graders!