My students made shadow sticks to investigate how a shadow changes throughout the day.  They know that it appears the sun is moving across the sky.  They did not know that the sun doesn't move.  (Now they do!) They created a shadow stick to see how a shadow changes size throughout the day based on the position of the sun in the sky.  Morning, longer shadow.  Noon, shorter shadow.  Afternoon, longer shadow.  All of this was fun for them and a good idea, but with every good idea comes challenges.  For the next 2 days, it was cloudy.  We could not see our shadow until after we took our unit assessment.  They were able to take their shadow stick home to investigate over Fall Break.

Week 3 Weather

While blogging, why not use a blog! A blog would be a great way for a community of people or students to become more scientifically literate on natural disasters happening now or ones that have already happened. For the age group that has to do current events, a blog post would be a great way to do this.  Everyone could view it as well as make comments.  I think that for my classroom of 2nd graders, hand building models of each disaster (ones that are buildable) would be more than thrilling for them.  Since the students are so tech savvy now, computer versions would also be cool to them.  They would get a better understanding of each natural disaster.  2nd grade is a young age to teach these devestating effects a natural disasster has on people and the environment.  (So is 9/11/01)  They just cannot seem to grasp the horror in the tragic loss of people and everything that gets (or got) destroyed.  (If anyone has any tips on that, I would love to know!) My husband is part of the GSAR team (Georgia Search and Rescue) for the area and surrrounding area that we live in.  If a major natural disaster hit nearby or depending how big it was, he would be immediately deployed to that area to help. I think allowing the GSAR team to come in and talk about the circumstances in which they are deployed, what they do to help, and other relief teams so as the red cross that are for disaster relief.  As grade levels, students could collect items that would help with disaster relief to send to the town in need.  Not only the displaced people will need supplies, but the people who are helping will need supplies. 

Ask a Scientist

I found this site interesting.  I was unable to get a immediate response from the website.  I have still not recieved an email about my question.  I do think this website is great for my students.  They always have a million questions and some of which I cannot always answer! I did get some answers from my peers in the discussion post.

Web 2.0 pres tools

The presentation tools I researched were Prezi and SlideSix.  I found both presentation tools easy to use.  Prezi was interesting becasue it was good for being very creative.  SlideSix is easy to use beacuse you could upload almost anything to it.  In SlideSix, you can add your voice into a slide as well.  I am interested in trying both as well as showing them to my colleagues.  i would recommend both of these presentation tools to try out.

Week 6 Post

Physical Science
Matter- Comparing Matter

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help/physical_science_second_2nd_grade_science.htm

The following website came from internet 4 classrooms.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/materials/changing_states/play.shtml

"Internet 4 classrooms is a free web portal designed to assist anyone who wants to find high-quality, free Internet resources to use in classroom instruction, developing project ideas, reinforcing specific subject matter areas both in the class and at home and even for online technology tutorials." (internet4classrooms.com)

http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/mnstep/activities/26393.html

This is a good lesson on matter.  the activity on Internet 4 Classrooms could be incorporated into the lesson.

As I shared on one of my discussion posts, I think the Oobleck activity is excellent.  After the students have done the experiement, they could then use a computer to answer questions that have been premade by the teacher as well as write a summary of the experiment.  Almost everything you can think of in todays time is operated by some kind of technology.  The students have to know how to operate computers in order to work these days. 

Cant you take the heat?

I can, it is already in the 80s in south Georgia!

For the heat transfer experiment, I chose tin foil, plastic wrap, a cotton t-shirt, and a ziploc bag. I hypothesized that the tin foil would hold in the most heat.  After heatingt my water on the stove and leaving it for 30 minutes, the temperature was still too hot to measure a difference.  I let it sit for another 20 minutes.  The mug with the tin foil over it did stay the hottest.  If I were to use a different material, I would have used styrofoam.  I had a piece, but it would not fit over the mug all of the way.

SOLAR OVEN!

http://www.seia.org

http://www.she-inc.org/

These were the sites I visited during discussion of week 3.

Guided Inquiry Week 2

This week, I chose the question "How do different surfaces affect the momentum of marbles?"  I tried 5 different surfaces.  Cement proved to provide the marbles to go the farthest, and thick carpet the shortest. I was going to try grass.  I tried it about 5 or 6 times.  With my yard as uneven as it is, nothing worked well! That is when I decided to change it to the asphalt slope coming from the road into the yard.  This was different from my other floor choices seeing how it was sloped and thge rest were flat.  One thing that was a problem for the surfaces inside my house was the objects and amount of space to roll the marble. My students would be able to do this experiement, but being second graders, they would definitely need more specific steps to follow as far as directions go.  (That way there is less confusion and trouble!)
~8-O  
Believe me, second graders like to talk instead of listen and then ask 12 times what they are supposed to do! I think a more guided experiment would be better for them. However, the students would have a much better understanding of momentum and friction by doing the experiment than memorizing definitions.

Falling Bodies and Motion

This week I explored motion in my day to day schedule.  There is a lot of motion, especially with 2nd graders! The falling bodies experiement was a short, easy hands-on activity that would engage the students in learning about motion andhow air affects the speed of a falling object.  Step 1: The loose paper floated down and the book fell straight to the ground.  Step 2: With the paper on top of the book, they fell at the same rate, the paper did not come off the book.  Step 3: The loose ball of paper fell slightly slower than the book.  Step 4: The tightly wadded ball of paper fell at the same rate as the book.

Inquiry Lesson

After implementing the inquiry lesson on heat energy, I reflected on how the lesson went.  The kids loved it!  They really enjoyed "doing the action" instead of just watching.  My students experiemented with heat energy.  The placed a birthday candle in a pan that was on a hot plate.  The candle melted.  They also observed what happened to the candle when heat was removed from the situation.  I have two student work sameples to show.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76695831@N05/

Question 9...Melting Icebergs

A) What happens if he polar ice caps melt?

Based from the following website, http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp,

the polar ice caps are already melting quickly and affecting the lives of those living in the arctic.  This is also having a huge affect on plants and animals of the region as well.  With the ice caps melting, land, people, animals, plants, and other things will be affected.  However, scientists project only a 3 foot rise in sea level by 2100.  For us, this is a long time away! For our children's children, this might become more of an issue! Over a long period of time, sea levels will rise. The more they rise, the more potential for a major disaster.

B) What other questions do you have about this science inquiry experience?

What grade level would this experiment align with?

Week 2 Blog Reflection

When formulating this week's lesson plan, I found it long.  The school where I work, we use the EATS lesson plan format.  It is a lot shorted and to the point. It is more like a guide than so much information.  We do not have to put accomodations/listed questions/differientiation in each lesson. It is expected to still be done, just does not have to be written down.  The 5 E's were somewhat helpful. In a college class I had to take during my professional semesters used this.  She called it a 3E.  Occasionally we had to do a 5E.  It was a long process!

WEEK 1

My name is Elizabeth.  I was recently married over Christmas break.  I teach 2nd grade in South Georgia.  This is also my first year as teacher.Welcome to my blog! Hopefully I can develop it more over week two!