science fair

Today we judged the science fair in Elk Point. This was such a neat experience, we got there about noon and were treated with school lunch! yummy :) Then we worked with 5th through 8th graders and I was so impressed with the projects done. This was a very neat experience for all of us. The one I liked best was a 5th grade girl named Madelynne, she was showing the importance of calcium and did so by soaking eggs and and bones in vinegar and after just a few days, the bones started to bend and the egg was see-through and could bounce. The girl had so many great facts and didn't need any notecards, it was so impressive and she said, "if you drink vinegar you will be all jiggly!" She was so cute, and all of the projects were just so interesting, especially for such young kids to do.

semester coming to an end...

Well when I looked at my agenda and saw that we only have 2 and a half weeks left of school I about died! Seriously, I have so much stuff to do! That explains me blogging at 7pm on a Friday night. As far as Science goes, we have our bloggs and discussions, along with our group lesson 3 and a presentation, but only have 4 classes left because next Tuesday we are going to judge the science fair in Beresford, SD. However, I am so excited for Thanksgiving break and the wonderful meal that goes along with it.

lesson plan 2

Megan and I prepared our second lesson plan and we had its theme be on endagered species and we included a book, internet sites, and art work. The lesson incorporated the 5E model and was very in-depth, I am impressed with it, and hopefully can use it in my future classroom. It was nice having a day off this week and we just ended up uploading these papers to D2L and are presenting our last lesson plan instead, so it worked out just fine. I like creating lesson plans because you always get to do fun experiments and stuff.

in class work day!

Today was an in-class work day, which was well overdue! We are at that point where everything is due and was put on the back burner, but now is boiling over! :) But seriously, we got caught up on our re-do's for the last couple weeks assignments, and got ideas for next weeks lesson plan presentation. It was so nice to get to work with our partners during class because sometimes its hard to find time to get together. This semester is rapping up so quickly, not to mention time is flying in general and this whole semester is going by quicker than ever! If only we had more work time in our classes like we got today....

trying the 5E

Todays class consisted of us looking over the 5E model, which I blogged about yesterday, and we got into groups and tried applying what we knew. We took chunks of potatoes and water and added different amounts of salt to each glass, in the end we realized the more salt in the water caused the potato to float and the less the salt, the potato sank. We used the 5E's while participating and it was a fun observation.

The 5 E model

I think the 5 E model (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate) is a very good model for teachers to use in their instruction. I think it gives a very good structure for teachers to follow. I think using this model gets children involved and interested in the material and are more likely to actually learn and understand that content area. I feel children do need to engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate the material. I think this model forces students to really work with the material and make connections to their own lives.

last day for presentations...

Today we had our final presentations in class, one we got to talk about the seasons, it was fun because we got to make a little color book with each season and we really enjoy doing artwork. We also went outside to shoot off the bottle rockets, this was funny because they actually did go high, but there were a couple that wouldn't go off and we would just wait...i guess you had to be there. After this we went over all the stuff that will be due in the next week, and let me tell you it is a lot. Every semester, after midterms, we can bombarded with stuff, mostly because we procrastinated before, but Dr. E is helping us out so not everything is due at one time.

the presentations are still rolling...

Once again today, we did our mid term presentations, they take a while, because we are just in pairs, so there are a lot of groups. The groups today have actually taught the class, we learned how to make clay, we made tornado's with two bottles of pop, and we judged which part of our tongues taste what types of food. The days fly by when we are doing these projects because so much is going on! I think there are only a couple left, but I really enjoy these so kind of bummed there done, but at the same time I'm ready to get back to regular class learning.

presentations

Today was a great day for me because I just got to sit back, relax, and watch the other groups perform their presentations! I really enjoyed getting to do the experiments, one we did involved soap, yeast, and water and we put it in bottles and it fuzzed over the bottle like a volcano, very cool, especially for young kids! Then we did one where we mixed water and corn starch and it made a really cool clay-like play dough that would be a solid until you held it, then would turn to a liquid! Very cool! We also shot off rockets in the class! One of the groups showed oil spills by having us dip a bird feather in water and oil to see what happens when birds or other animals get oil on them...and it is not good! Washing the penguin looked so painful but it would save his life. Overall, all the groups have been so creative with coming up with fun lessons.

midterm presentations

I felt today's class went very fast, due to the midterm presentations. Sometimes it's fun to switch roles and we teach eachother and Dr. E is a student, its just a good change of pace. I felt our experiment on mixing water and oil turned out very good, I was even amazed to see how cool it looked when we added food coloring. Everybodies lessons were really creative, and I liked how some of the groups created their own videos, very clever. I am glad to successfully get my teaching out of the way so I can relax and watch everyone else's. This is a good way to have a midterm, instead of a test all the time.

pinnnggg ponnnggg

I am watching the food network channel as I am doing this and now I want a blizzard!! haha ...just a side note, but in todays class, we discussed the chapter 5 and 6 questions for the most part. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point in the semester because everything is starting to pile up, but I'm enjoying it all right now! After we went over the questions in class it was time to experiment! We were giving two small plastic cups, a small funnel, and a ping pong ball and we blew on the ball to make it go into the other cup. This is something you could get really creative with, I liked this activity, and the questions that went along with the activity fit in just perfectly. We do lots of good experiments and activities that we can use as future teachers in this class.

technology day!

I feel that incorporating technology into the classroom, and the activity we did in class yesterday would be great for all grade levels. For those of you who don't know, we did worksheets on safety, we had to click on links for exactly what to do if someone steels from us, or if a predator is talking to us on the computer. These issues are growing daily, so teaching our students about what to do if certain circumstances occur will be very helpful to them, as well as getting practice on the computer! Another thing I enjoyed today was voting on our shirts for judging the science fair, doing something like creating shirts is something that sets us apart from the others at the science fair and gives us another thing to look forward to--so I think it is a great idea! And who can't use another t-shirt (I wear them everyday)! :) ...Anyway there are so many opportunities for teachers to teach using technology, so practicing creative ways will really prepare us for our classrooms.

midterm already!!

Well I cannot believe it is already mid-term! I feel like we literally just started last week, and although it is exciting it is sad because this is my last year. :( In class we are getting a good heads up about what is expected of us on our mid-term project, we got the criteria for what should be on our lesson plan and discussed as partners what we will be doing. We also read over a teachers reflection (story) after a lesson she taught, and we will be doing this as a follow up to our safety lesson to the class. Me and my partner, Megan, have gotten a great start, and we enjoy doing experiments, so we are excited to show the class what we have come up with!

online assignment day!!

Today we had an online assignment, which we all appreciate not having to go to class every once in awhile-- :) The online science experiments were very fun, creative ideas that we can all use in our classes some day! I like having good websites for lesson plans and class examples and stuff, I am thinking I need to start putting them in my portfolio so I always have them. The paper airplane experiment is one I remember doing, and all kids of all ages have fun making air planes. Overall, the website had great ideas for us future teachers.

reflection writing

Todays class involved a lot of discussion about the mid term project, which will be a class presentation invloving a movie show, which I have never done before, so it should be interesting. After discussion we did an interesting lab, using a index card we stabbed a pencil through, we used mirrors to see what we were writing since the index cards were blocking us from seeing our letters. This is kind of hard to explain in words, but it felt like a disability when doing the activity. I was not very good at this activity, everything I tried drawing was backwards, krooked, or sloppy, everything but right, but I really enjoyed the experience and I really think kids of all levels would enjoy!

mystery box activity

Today's class was a lot of fun, I really enjoy getting to do group work. This class always seems to go by fast because we do more than just lectures. The mystery box activity is something I really think young kids would enjoy, it reminded me of when I was younger and we had to smell into a bag and predict what the smell was. It really get kids minds flowing, as well as ours, when we can't see something. It almost gives a sense of being blind, having to just feel and listen to try to find out what something is. During the experiment I thought is seemed like they were all marbles, and they were, but I also noticed them not sounding the same when hitting all sides but I didn't know what it was. After we got to discuss it and look inside it was fun to see if our predictions were true. Another thing I liked was the fact that we got to draw our ideas on poster boards, children like getting to doodle and such, instead of just writing their observations on paper as usual, so that was a great idea I will take with me.

online assignment

So...what ever happened to class just being canceled, it seems like within the last two years of college that if class gets canceled then we have an even bigger homework assignment to make up. I don't know if it was just me but those questions took me like three hours to do, but the reading took up that time as well. However now that I am finished I am glad I did it because I learned a lot with reading about other teachers experiences with case studies. Taking time to answer quesions is time consuming, but it helps me to acutally obtain the information, so in the end it was probably a good idea to get some knowledge out of the classroom setting. :)

web seminar

That was the first web seminar I have ever been in and I thought it was really neat. It was cool how so many people could learn at the same time, make comments and questions and give input all together. I feel this could be the future of schools. I was really glad to be a part of this particular seminar is because I love stars a lot and always have. The lady that talked the most knew so much about them and went through the slides well. We learned that hydrogen is what makes up stars, as well as being how to predict how old they are, as well as predict when they will die. Most stars have names and they are all accounted for, which is crazy with how many stars are out there! I would love to learn this same information in an imax theatre, 3-D! How cool would that be! Overall it was a great experience to be able to say I have participated in a web seminar now.

fizzzzzzzzz

Today went so fast in class, I think is because the experiment kept us busy, and you know what they say, "time flies when you're having fun!" So today we did a lab, and one thing I liked, as a teacher stand point, is how Dr. E had all materials ready when we got to class so we could just get started right away. There were a lot of ingredients for today's experiment, and we started by mixing different forms of liquid to baking soda to see how it reacted. The vinegar really fizzed and caused lots of pressure to the syringe. Another one that reacted well was the lime juice, in fact this one made the syringe rise to the top because of all the fizzing pressure. We concluded, the more acid in the juice, the more reaction it causes. This was very interesting even for us to see, so I know younget students would have fun with this lab. Next, we tested chunks of fruit, this didn't cause nearly as much of a reaction because it wasn't as concentrated as the juices and had more surface area, so it didn't have much room to react. As for the fruit chunks, the lemon reacted the best to the baking soda because of its acid content. Overall this was a very interactive and fun learning experience and I will definately do this in my class one day.

frustrated

I understand that I am a senior in college and should really think for myself, but I am so confused with this new D2L. I can't get my url to go onto the page it is assigned to, I registered for the seminar on the 25th but then couldn't find how to sign up, and there is just way too many links. One thing I do like though are the chapters to the book being on here and so I am going to start reading them, but if any of you read this let me know what you did! Thanks :)

fun day

hey fellow classmates!
So I don't know about the rest of you, but I loved class today, Tuesday the 16th. I really enjoy getting to play games, and my biggest stress buster is coloring. My group and I were talking and we said this is one reason we knew we wanted to become teachers because we love to do art work and be creative with stuff like today's project. That is also a great way to get students to learn about science, allowing our students to play games, and feel important by getting safety licences will really help them enjoy the class. Overall, I enjoyed the class a lot today and I hope to use this project in my classroom someday!

class #1

I am finally starting to figure out this whole D2L thing! I think once I get the hang of it I will enjoy it, because when I first started the WebCT, I was just as confused, but of course once we got the hang of it they changed it...but we will be okay. I really enjoy the science methods classes because I enjoy doing our work hands on and get to do experiments, instead of strait lecture and tests. As for the temperature lab, it was neat to see the diagram of the temperature rising, getting to use the different types of technology is a great lesson all in its own. Overall, I enjoyed working as a group and seeing temperature change overtime.