Week 5

This past week I started my trade book unit for reading. We are using the book The Last Safe House. This book includes both fiction and non-fiction portions about slavery and the Underground Railroad.

For this book, my class will spend three days on each chapter. The first day they will read the non-fiction pages to give prior knowledge of the types of events/places that are mentioned in the fiction part of the chapter. The second day, students will read the fiction story of the chapter and discuss the chapter in either groups or as a class. The third day, students will create a slide using powerpoint to summarize a certain aspect of the chapter. (Ex: What important details are in this chapter?)

The great part of the non-fiction pages is the type of information that is included. At first glance, one would not think there would be any science involved in this type of literature. However, I found that to not be true.

In chapter 2, the non-fiction pages talk about how the runaway slaves used stars to navigate. I thought that this would be a great point to focus on. Before my students read the story, I had them complete the following activity.

Activity:
Before class:
Before the day starts, place either cut out circles or stars around the classroom. I put about 40-50 stars around my classrooms in random formations. I also placed the big dipper and little dipper on the walls of my classroom.

During class:
First I asked my students, "How do you think slaves were able to navigate their way north? Instantly I had about 6 students raise their hands. The students said things like, "navigated by stars, moss on a tree, paths, people, etc..."
I then informed students that the slaves did indeed use the stars to navigate their way north. I then asked students, "who else used the stars to navigate?" The students responded by saying sailors did. They learned this during their last social studies unit.
I then asked students, how did the slaves know how to navigate by the stars to find north? After several responses, I stated that by word of mouth, the slaves knew that a star called Polaris would help them find north. So how did they know which star this was? They looked for the big dipper. I then displayed a picture of the big dipper. I asked students if they had seen this constellation before. They all said yes. I then informed students that the slaves would look for this in the sky to help them find the north star. They would use the star on the right side of the pan, go straight from there and find the biggest, brightest star in the sky, Polaris. This star is the tip of the handle on the Little Dipper.

So why use this star? I informed students that the star known as the North Star is directly above our north pole. Stars stay positioned in their spots while our world rotates. The star will always be in the same place. Therefore, the North Star stays at 0 degrees North.



I then asked students to take the piece of paper in front of them and roll it into a telescope. I turned off the lights and asked students to look for the Big Dipper just as the slaves would have. Once students found the Big Dipper, I asked students what they would do next? They answered look off the star on the pan for the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper. They then turned their telescopes towards the Little Dipper and were able to find our North Star in the classroom.

Lastly, I asked students what would they do if there were clouds and they couldn't see the stars? I stated that one of our classmates had already mentioned it. I then asked that student to repeat herself. "They used moss on the trees." I then explained that moss grows on the north side of a tree, so that even if they couldn't see the stars, they were able to still navigate north.

Simple activity? Yes, but it gets students thinking, helps them learn a new concept, and has students learn new information in a different way. Could I have simply just said all the information rather than have the students look for the star and navigate as if they were a slave? Yes, but having students take part in the experience themselves helps to solidify new informtion.

This particular lesson, I was being observed by my professor. What she observed matched with exactly what I saw while I was teaching. The students were engaged, they loved being able to navigate the stars, and they were intrigued to find out how slaves navigated with/without clouds. My students loved the information we talked about. Once the first couple of students gave responses, every other hand shot up. They all wanted to share. When I revealed step by step how to navigate, I would hear "ooh's and ahh's" around the classroom. This seems to be a common thing that happens whenever I integrate STEM materials/activities into a lesson. The students were engaged and excited throughout the entire lesson. So far, there has not been an activity or material that the students did not react positively to.


Please feel free to comment with your feedback, experiences, or activities you may have done in the classroom! 

Week 4

As the end of the first week of state testing begins, a break is in high demand for my students. In order to relax the minds and make an ordinary writing lesson more exciting, I decided to spice up my lesson by integrating science materials into writing.

This past week, I started the opinion writing unit for my class. In order to prepare my students for writing opinion pieces, I had to teach students had to use an opinion organizer. Instead of using the suggested article for students, I decided to pick an article that connected to a topic the class showed interest in, space.

I began by introducing a pro/con organizer to my class. I modeled how to use the organizer by using last weeks article on Beluga Whales. I used this article in order to have students be familiar with the content rather than throwing something new at them after they worked all week on their state assessments.

After modeling how to use the organizer, I had my students pair up and reread the article and search for pros/cons. After searching with a partner, I had students share pros/cons they found in the Beluga Whale article.

The next day, in order to see if they understood how to use a pro/con organizer, I had students work independently to fill in the organizer. This time, I gave students a new article. The article the students read is titled "End of an Era" (http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/05/end-of-an-era/). The article gives a history of the great and not so great things about the space shuttle program. This provided students with an opportunity to read about a topic of interest. It also gave a wealth of information about a topic they may have not experienced first hand like my generation and older generations did. The article itself provided a good amount of pros/cons for students to use in their organizers.

As I walked around to see student progress, I noticed that a lot of students were very engaged in the article. Usually when I give students a assigned reading, they tend to get distracted or simply "stare off into space". The articles usually do not seem to hold the interest of the students. I usually end up having the use focusing tactics to keep students on track with their work. However, as I walked around, 21 out of 23 students were continuously engaged and kept focus on their assignment. It is a great thing to see this not only as a teacher, but a student intern. When that many students are focused and actively showing that they are enjoying an assigned reading, it tells you that you are indeed doing something right.

I collected the students organizers to check for understanding and completion. Every student, which is hard to say most of the time, understood how to use a pro/con organizer and were able to provide detailed pros/cons to support their opinion statement. This is great because from here on out, students will be able to continue with the writing process and start drafting an introductory paragraph for their opinion pieces.

At the end of this lesson, I had students complete an exit survey. Every once in a while, I plan to do this in order to gather student feedback to support my theory of STEM materials. After reading the surveys, what I observed about student engagement seems to be consisted in the opinions of the students. Below are a few examples of student responses.

Q: "Did you like reading an article about science and space rather than an article that was not about science. Why?"

A:
"I think science articles are better because I like science a lot. I think it is fascinating."

"Yes because I learned a lot more than I would and I thought it was really exciting."

"Yes, I am interested in space and wanted to know why they stopped launching space shuttles."

"I liked it because I feel like having a variety is a good thing than sticking with 1 subject."

Week 3

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This past week, I implemented STEM materials into my writing lessons.

During the middle of the week, we finished up our poetry unit and started to move into opinion writing. Our first lesson was on how to write a hook. In order to learn how to write about hooks, I first modeled four different types of hooks (question, fact, quote, and short story) using science or technology articles I had read.

After showing my examples, I had students read on article on whether or not Beluga Whales should be put in zoos or aquariums(http://www.timeforkids.com/news/debate/80636). Now I know you’re probably think how does that relate to science? Many people when they think of science only think about space or chemistry. There is another part of science that is often overlooked, biology. Children at this age love to learn about various animals and their habitats. I took that interest and geared it toward an article that questions whether they think beluga whales should be put in zoos and aquariums.

The next day, as a small group of students were finishing up their poem books, I had a large group sit with me in the front of the class on the floor and go over the hooks we created after reading the article on Beluga Whales. I read aloud a random selection of hooks (keeping the names of the students anonymous) and had students gauge with their thumbs whether is was great (thumbs up), okay but needs a little work (thumb to the side), and eh needs a lot of work (thumbs down). The students were eager to hear the hooks they created and give their feedback as to what could make it a better hook. I noticed that most students picked the fact hook. To me this is great because it is cementing information into student’s minds about a science topic (biology). The information that we tend to remember is information that we enjoyed or were fascinated about when we learned it.

After the group review of our hooks, I had students conduct a writer’s workshop. In this particular writers workshop, students looked at four images that I found on NASA’s Image of the Day (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html). In order to give students a little background information, I went through each of the four pictures. As I went through each picture I first asked students what they could tell or what they knew about what was going on in the picture. I then gave information as to what was going on in each picture. By having these two components (student shared information and teacher shared information), students built background knowledge that helped them to complete their task for today. The task I had for this particular writers workshop is as follows:

“Look at the four images displayed around the classroom. Pick 1 image and write about what is going on in the image in either a poem style, narrative style, or other writing style we have learned about this year. If you finish, choose another image and a different writing style.”

The results were amazing! As I introduced each picture there were a lot of “ooo’s” and “ahh’s” from the students. The loved the various images that I brought. They were fascinated by the images and what they were. Students were eager to start as I went through each of the images. When I sent the students on their way to write about the image of their choice, students had excited expressions upon their faces. Throughout the next 20 minutes, the students were silent and deeply engaged in their writing. Seeing this as an intern made me both proud and excited. I love when I see my students so engaged in a topic to the point where everyone is deeply involved in their work. The students wrote excellent pieces about their images (examples below). At the end of class, I had to stop the students because they were deeply engaged in the activity. This is usually not the normal. Students will usually finish and start talking to their friends because they simply just want to “get it done”. Observing the increased engagement of my students today supports my idea that STEM materials and activities that increase engagement in the class.

As I read the students poems, I realized how much the images really captured them. The poems and stories the students wrote were excellent. They really captured what was going on in the image, used the background knowledge to create their writing, and were able to do so in a way that hooked me into their pieces. They showed me their curiosity for what was going on in the images. My opinion is that if you find materials that really interest and capture student’s attention like these images that I obtained from NASA did, then you have the ability to produce fascinating, attention grabbing, excellent writers.

***All students are kept anonymous for the protection of privacy.

Laser

Laser up

            Up

                Up

Keep going to space

Until you come back

I’ll be waiting

Even though now you want be a laser

You’ll be a shuttle

Earth in Space

Earth in space is really amazing

But everyday and every night,

All our electricity is just wasting.

You are bright and even unused,

And you even have the nerve to get everyone else accused.

Even though your hair may be curled,

There’s no excuse for hurting our world.

Rocket Launch

Flames shoot through the end,

Of a rocket,

As it takes off into space.

SHOOOO!

Flying up, up, up!

To see the sun, the moon,

The stars.

Stars

Stars

Clusters of them

Shining, gleaming

In another Galaxy

Are there lots?

Are there little?

Are they strong?

Are they brittle?

Discovered by NASA

Not all though

There are still some hidden

To and fro

Stars Stars

Stars, Stars

How Bright You Shine.

Leading All To A Galaxy.

Millions upon zillions

In a pile you shape.

Waiting to be discovered

You sit still wondering.

How far is the moon from here?