Science, Science, Science

We're already a month into the semester! This has been a month full of course work, assignments, and project planning, but I've already learned so much. This month in science methods we have focused on a lot of things, but the one thing that really stood out to me was the science fair project planning. It seems as if we have already been working on this project for months because our group has been doing a lot of planning and prepping for our experiment. I'm excited to see how it's going to turn out and the group we have works so well together. Our group consists of us that are going to be student teaching together, so it's nice to have the chance to collaborate together and share ideas since we are all so close to taking over a classroom! I'm so proud of the plans that we have made and the progress we have made so far. This has really been a test of our flexibility and willingness to accept change because science is forever changing and not something you can specifically plan for. Our plants are looking great and they will soon be ready for some acid!
My struggles this month would have to be that since we are getting into the swing of things in the classroom and we had to do a lot of testing, science and social studies were pushed to the back burner. I have been talking with my CE and she is encouraging me to use science and social studies as much as I can since we won't be in the middle of so much testing when I take over in January. However, we will be prepping for the EOG so it's going to be crazy. Thankfully, my CE has been providing me with a lot or resources that I can use to teach science and I'm excited to implement them. These will be interesting activities so I think it will be a good relaxer for my students after all the reading passages and math problems. I would say that this brought me the most satisfaction as well. My CE is a great person and I'm so blessed with all the resources that she is giving me to teach in January. This shows me that she does see the importance in all subjects. The sad reality though is that when we are testing, we lose so much instructional time.
My action steps over the next month will be to continue working in my classroom and staying on top of assignments. I also hope to dive more into the science curriculum for 3rd grade to do some more planning on what I hope to do with my students!
This past month, I contributed to the science fair project group by giving ideas. We all work very well together and I know this will continue. It's nice to have other people going through the same thing you are to be there for support and encouragement! We plan to continue this.
My outside learning this month consisted of all of the news after the hurricane hit. This was such a sad thing that hit the coast of NC and I think about all the ways I can implement this event in my classroom. We didn't get hit very hard in this area, but there are so many places just a couple of hours away from us that lost everything. My students don't really see that devastation, but it's real and I think we need to talk about it. This would be a great way to integrate science and social studies because this has changed our history and made a huge impact. I saw a news article that showed an aerial view of all of the pollution that has taken over the oceans from the hurricane and it was crazy. This is a great phenomenon to show my students and learn their thoughts on it. It was one of my TTotW, so it will be added below.
This month I learned that NCTCS Standard 2 when it mentions community it means everyone that lives with or around my students. This consists of the community around my school and the community around my students. It's important for us to reach out to everyone to know what is going on. The more we know about our students, the better we can meet their needs. My school is very big on parent/community involvement, so I'm excited to be a part of this. I'm excited to be able to plan a parent night for 435 and present it to the principal. Who knows, maybe we will use it!
Listed below are screenshots of my TTotW.

This article talks about the gap that is occurring between students and learning in science. It gives ways that we can reverse this gap and ensure that our students are really learning! 

This had to have been one of my all time favorite tweets that I have found. I love virtual field trips after taking social studies and this one takes you on a trip to learn all about cows! (an animal that has a close place in my heart) I have completed some of it and it looks so fun! This would be great for any grade! 

Phenomenon! This would be awesome to just pull up and see what your students say and/or think. 

My last semester of course work!

I have been waiting on this semester for a long time it seems. I can't believe it's finally here. This past month has been great. I have been able to make great relationships with my CE and my students. I truly love what I do and I'm so excited that I get to do this for the rest of my life.
Teaching 3rd grade comes with a lot of challenges. This is the first year that my students will take a summative assessment at the end of the year to determine what they have learned. This can put a lot of pressure on students. We also have to test them a lot at the beginning of the year to see what they need and where they need to grow. This has taught me a lot. There were many times that I felt sorry for always handing them a test because I felt like they never caught a break. This really made me think about how I assess them in the classroom.
We talked a lot about assessment in previous education classes. We learned so many alternatives to assessing our students instead of just testing them. Learning about it is one thing, but seeing it is a whole other. It really opens your eyes and lets you realize that we can't always just test these students because they get enough of that from the state. I had learned many different strategies for assessing learning, so I wanted to take that into action. I am teaching a chapter and lesson in Charlotte's Web this week and I researched ways that I could assess them on this chapter. I found a great assignment where the students can pretend to be a character. This allows them to pretend to be a character, write a persuasive letter, and practice their writing skills. I can't wait to see how it goes!
My learning this month relates to NCTCS Standard 5: Teachers reflect on their practice. Seeing all this testing really made me stop and reflect on what I wanted for my students. I don't want to constantly feel that pressure of being tested. I want them to have fun and learn. I want them to have a wide range of experiences and things they can keep that show what they have learned. Testing is something that has to happen at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, but it doesn't have to be all I do throughout the entire school year. We learn so much from interacting with our students, talking with them, watching them, and listening to them.
In my future classroom, which is now in the near future, I want to make sure I assess my students in ways that truly show their learning and growth. I will strive to find new ways to engage my students in their learning and allow them to have a say in how they show me what they know.

Back at it again! Headed for Home!

Wow, I can’t believe it’s actually here. I student teach in January. I have already met my students that will be in my class. I’ve already been in the classroom where I will take over. It’s all beginning to feel so real. Blogging through this journey has been interesting. It has allowed me time to reflect on the week and what I experienced. It’s a time to let out my feelings, think and talk through some things that I got to see. It’s been a time for me to get to know my classmates on another level. There were weeks where I had so much going on that I dreaded blogging, but looking back, it’s been so beneficial.

The first full week of classes at Gardner-Webb is now complete and the first full week of school is complete as well. I am tired, but it’s a good tired. Going into Science Methods for the first time, I was excited. Teaching students about science is always so much fun. There is so much to do with them and it’s so hands-on. They truly learn so much more that way. I couldn’t wait to learn ways to teach them. One of my favorite things about this class so far is that we are actually having the opportunity to be the student again. We learn by doing, so why shouldn’t we take part in the same activities that we will have our students do? We began building our ecocolumns this week and it brought me back to 5th grade. I completed this same project as a student and now I am completing the project again, but with a different purpose in mind. How can I use this in MY classroom to teach MY students?

One of my struggles this week came with being in the classroom first-hand actually taking a part in the student’s learning and realizing that science and social studies are often times pushed to the side if time doesn’t permit. That’s why integration is SO important. If we see that our students needed more time on their reading chapter, or more time on their math, we have to accommodate that. That’s why it’s so important to integrate social studies and science into math and reading to know at the end of the day that my students got a well-rounded curriculum.

This next week I want to look at what resources my teacher has for teaching science. I want to see if she is given any at the beginning of the school year or if she has accumulated some over her teaching years. I hope to use some of her resources when planning. If I find some that are really helpful, I hope to share those with my colleagues so that they may use them in their classroom. Sharing is caring.

One of things that I learned outside the classroom this week is that the school where I am placed gets Scholastic Monthly Readers for the students to use. These are newspapers with articles relating to science and social studies. These are a great resource, but I wonder if they are enough. I wonder if the students are actually getting something out of them. This is something that I want to discuss with my CE and get her thoughts on it.

My learning this week relates to NCTCS Standard 3. A part of standard 3 states that Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines. Realizing that there might not be enough time in the day for science/social studies was hard for me to grasp. However, it's a reality that I'm going to have to face. It's so crucial for me to connect science and social studies to math and reading. My students need all 4 subjects and I can't eliminate one just because I don't have time.

Twitter has become a great resource for me. It’s a cool way to interact with other educators. I can go on there to find inspiration if I’m having a bad day, a resource/strategy for teaching math, language arts, science or social studies, keep up with the current events in the education world and so much more. Here are three tweets relating to science education that I found this week.

This first tweet was amazing to me. This is a robotic arm that was invented that allows scientists to work on Mars without ever leaving the lab. Crazy right?! The video attached to the tweet is awesome to watch. Technology has improved so much that we can work on other planets without even leaving earth! 

I love watching children learn and experiment. It's so fun to watch their faces when they figure something out or learn something new. This is a tweet from Discovery Education all about young scientists. This is a group of students that has worked on a science project this summer and what they did. Looking at all the student's science projects reminded me of the science project we are completing in science methods.

Another crazy invention! These sensors are built to mimic real organs and perform the same functions that they would. For example, they have created a sensor that mimics the lungs, so it transfers oxygen from the air into the bloodstream. Mind-blowing!