Pour Some Sugar on Me

Flu and cold season is upon us again and if you are anything like me, a day of 30 coughing kids can make you want to go home and dive into a bath of hand sanitizer. Helping students understand what germs are and how they spread is essential for the health of you and your students this winter.  A class full of germ-conscious kids who properly wash their hands regularly would be great, right?  Joann and I featured germ-related activities in our posts about germs last year.  Be sure to check them out on our blog archive here and here. 

On a similar note, Halloween traditions can bring up a whole new set of healthy eating teachable moments for your classroom.  As the kids are slowly coming out of the sugar rush of Halloween and building up to the feeding frenzy (more commonly known as Thanksgiving) in America, teachers have a chance to set a good example and teach kids more about the food they are putting into their bodies every day.  I know that I had more than my fair share of added sugar on Halloween, and as I was enjoying it, I started thinking about the added sugar in my diet.  There are lots of nutrition related activities you can implement into your class, but this week I thought sugar would be a timely and appropriate topic.

How much added sugar are we really supposed to be getting anyways?  According to the American Heart Association, women shouldn’t have more than about 5 teaspoons a day (20 grams) and men shouldn’t have more than 9 (36 grams).  Children should be limited to 3 teaspoons (or 12 grams) of added sugar per day.  Most Americans get more than 22 teaspoons, a fact that might surprise some of your students.  These numbers don’t include the sugar naturally founds in food like fruit.  This is the sugar that is added into many foods for extra sweetness.

This fall, I want to help students hunt down the hidden sugar in their diets.  They probably have plenty of Halloween candy to use in this activity, so I plan to ask them to each bring in a few pieces.  If they don’t have candy, they can bring in wrappers and containers from other popular items like yogurt, cereal, soda, and other packaged snacks.  Unfortunately, the nutrition information isn’t on most fun-size candy passed out during trick-or-treating, so you might need to do some online research.  Looking up the information online is a good technology lesson in itself, or you can provide students a list of sugar content in popular candies.  This list is a good starting point.

When looking at ingredients, remember that the sugar content is usually listed under carbohydrates. Sometimes it’s hard for students to figure out which sugar is naturally occurring and which is added, but the numbers will give you a rough idea of the amount of added sugar.  The amounts are generally listed in grams, a weight measurement students might not be familiar with.  They might be more familiar with a volume measurement like a teaspoon.  What does a gram of sugar look like?  The following idea is for an activity that will let students see the amount of sugar in each of their snacks.

For this activity, I will start with 3 baby food jars (or snack size zipper bags) in the front of the classroom, each one representing the maximum amount of daily added sugar that kids and adults should get per day (3, 5, and 9 teaspoons).  After a discussion of added sugars, I will let the kids research their own snacks and create jars or bags of the amount of sugar in each of their snacks. 

For kids old enough to do the math themselves, there is roughly 4 grams of sugar in each teaspoon (this can vary slightly by granularity of the sugar, but it makes for a easy conversion for kids to use).  They can simply divide the number of grams of sugar by 4 to determine the approximate number of teaspoons of sugar in the snack.

I will also make a few examples, so I am sure there is a wide range of snacks.  I will do an example bag for a can of soda, a sweetened yogurt, and a typical serving of a sugary cereal.  Once the kids have created their bags of sugar, I will let them creatively present their results to the class.  It might be a neat exercise to line up the bags with their wrappers in order of how much added sugar they have.  If we do this, we can make a class chart so we can remember and compare our results. 

Here are some more Gateway resources that will help you study added sugars with your class:

Reading Labels: Which Snack is the Best Choice?

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-04-10.9162408692

Put Your Favorite Beverage to the Test

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/32769

Good Snack, Smart Snack

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2007-10-09.8279893203

Sugary cereals

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/9203

Candy bar fractions

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-09-25.6576047958

~ Peggy's Corner - November 1, 2011~

The Dead Zone: The 1918 Flu Pandemic

Pandemics are frightful things – a widespread illness that strikes suddenly and virulently, leaving thousands or even millions in its wake. While horrific pandemics like the Black Death are today largely confined to the pages of history books, modern-day pandemics such as cholera, malaria, and AIDS continue to ravage many parts of the world. One of the most terrifying pandemics occurred nearly 100 years ago, towards the end of World War I. The 1918 flu pandemic swept the globe, killing an estimated 50-100 million people worldwide in the span of two and a half years. In the U.S., the flu struck over a quarter of the population; in a single year, the average life expectancy in the U.S. dropped by 12 years.

The 20^th century saw two flu pandemics in addition to the 1918 outbreak. The 1957 and 1968 outbreaks were relatively mild, with the global death toll reaching about 2 million and 1 million, respectively.  In 1918, governments worldwide instituted strict rules to try to prevent the spread of infection. In the U.S., stores were forbidden to hold sales, and face masks were required to be worn in public. Public gatherings such as funerals and weddings were limited to 15 minutes, and those who violated the flu mandates were required to pay heavy fines. Medical supplies and caskets were in short supply, and many communities lacked enough manpower to bury their dead in a timely fashion.  For many people, the horrors of war had been replaced by the even greater horrors of disease. Finally, at the end of 1920, the flu seemed to burn itself out, and life slowly returned to normal.

The 1918 flu pandemic offers rich primary source material for students to investigate; there are many photographs, personal letters, and news accounts online. For younger students, the advent of cold and flu season is a good time to revisit hand washing techniques and lessons on how germs are spread. Older students can explore how viruses work and mutate, and discuss how pandemics affect communities, the economy, and public health policies. This week, I’ve selected three resources on the flu for various grade levels.  I’ll also be featuring several new lessons and resources on this topic each day throughout the week on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so be sure to check those pages regularly.

Let's Learn the Flu FACTS

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-10-10.2852513394

Subjects: Health, Science

Grade: 1-3

In this lesson, students will learn the difference between a cold and the flu, including the symptoms they each present. Students also learn some precautions they can take to avoid getting sick. This lesson was produced by Scholastic, a leading children’s publishing, education, and media company.

Pandemic

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2008-12-30.0957862802

Subjects: Science, World History

Grade: 7-8

The focus of this teaching unit is to broaden students understanding of infectious diseases what they are, what causes them, how they are spread, and what can be done to prevent widespread transmission of these communicable diseases. Students will participate in a simulated outbreak and will also study the events of a historic epidemic that occurred locally. Given what they have learned, students will then be asked to predict whether such a widespread transmission of an infectious disease could happen today. This unit is a product of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, which offers educational TV, radio, and other media to the public.

Cold and Flu

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-10-10.1998814543

Subjects:  Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Health

Grade: ESL Intermediate

This lesson, for intermediate ELL students, focuses on vocabulary and reading comprehension related to colds and the flu. Students will engage in pre-reading activities, read a passage about colds and flu, and check their understanding in post-reading activities. Along the way, students will also learn about how to tell the difference between a cold and the flu, and how to treat the illnesses. This lesson was created by English-to-Go, part of the Developing Teacher web site for language teachers. The site offers web hosting for language classes and courses, as well as teaching tips, newsletters, lesson plans, and training courses.

~ Joann's Picks - November 1, 2011 ~

A Slow Burn

In the 1920s, French fashion designer Coco Chanel inadvertently started a trend when she was photographed with a suntan. Previously dismissed as the badge of farmers and laborers, suntans suddenly became the emblem of luxury and leisure, and everyone wanted one. Nearly a century later, tanning is still popular. Despite all the research linking sun overexposure to skin cancer, the tanning industry continues to grow, and grosses about $5 billion annually. What’s wrong with this picture?

Overexposure to ultraviolet radiation, or UV rays, is associated with the development of cataracts, premature aging of the skin, suppression of the immune system, and the development of skin cancer. Experts state that the best protection against developing any of these conditions is to practice basic sun safety – wear sunscreen, avoid intense sunlight between the peak hours of 10am and 4pm, wear appropriate clothing such as sunglasses, hats, and long-sleeved clothing, and avoid sunburns. Australia instituted a public health campaign several decades ago entitled “Slip, Slop, Slap” to encourage residents to slip on a shirt, slop on sunblock, and slap on a hat. The campaign has been very successful, and has been adopted by New Zealand and some Canadian provinces.

Sunlight, in moderation, is good for human health. It’s still the best way to absorb vitamin D; the nutrient is necessary for many health benefits, and is believed to inhibit some forms of cancer. Yet the vast majority of people engage in suntanning not for any type of health benefit, but for purely cosmetic reasons – they like the way it looks. Teens are particularly vulnerable to the allure of tans, as many of the “celebrities” that they take an interest in, such as the Kardashian sisters and the cast of reality show “Jersey Shore”, strut around bronzed and oiled. As educators, how do we get the message across that tanning really is dangerous to your health?

The resources that I’ve selected this week all highlight the dangers of sun overexposure using hands-on experiments or activities.  Younger students can use solar beads to detect UV rays and watch them turn color as they are exposed to sunlight, while older students research skin cancer risk factors, sunscreen effectiveness, and create public service announcements for their peers, alerting them to the risks of UV light exposure in tanning. Skin cancers are largely preventable, and the persistent trend in tanning via sun exposure and tanning beds is distressing. Educating students of all ages about the risks of tanning is time well spent, and may one day save their lives.

Exploring Solar Beads

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-06-24.4239683649

Subjects: Science

Grade: K-6

This activity uses solar beads to detect ultraviolet light and radiation. This is a good activity to help teach kids about the harmful effect of UV light and possible melanoma. This activity was created by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which offers energy-related stories, lesson plans, research articles, and other activities for teachers.

Lesson Plan: Skin Cancer Prevention  http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-06-24.4230764504

Subjects: Health, Biology, Social Studies

Grade: 6-8

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S. and Canada. In this lesson, students will research and identify skin cancer risk factors, identify causes of melanoma and preventative measures to avoid it, and explain the dangers of overexposure to ultraviolet sun rays. Students will then create public service announcements directed at youth audiences. This resource was produced by CNN, which offers student news and education resources in addition to global news.

Protect the Skin You’re In

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-06-24.8731089270

Subjects: Health, Biology, Social Studies

Grade: 9-12

This lesson is designed for a high school biology, anatomy, or health class to explore the importance of sun safety in relationship to skin cancer prevention. Students will begin with an inquiry based lab regarding sunscreen effectiveness. After analyzing the relationship between lab results and common student practices regarding sun screen use, students will administer and analyze a simple survey to their peers. This lesson will culminate with students developing and implementing a public service campaign designed to increase student use of sunscreen and sun safety awareness. In order for these activities to be most effective, the students should have prior knowledge of skin cancer. This lesson is a product of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which offers up-to-the-minute health information and lots of resources for teachers and students.


~Joann's Picks - July 7, 2011~

Movies on my Mind

Movie day!  Students love to be entertained, and teachers love the chance to sit back and breathe a sigh of relief (or tackle that giant pile of grading).  No lectures to take notes on, just a passive viewing of a movie in a nice, dark, cool classroom, right?  I hope not.  I hope we can find simple ways to use movies in class as more than just entertainment.  Instead, movies can engage students and inspire thoughtful, critical thinking about current classroom topics.

Teachers have used movies and filmstrips in the classroom for many years.  At the most basic level, movies can serve as tools to support and reinforce concepts taught in class.  Science classes can watch science films, history classes can watch historical documentaries, and English classes can watch the film versions of books they read in class.  Movies can also serve as the backbone for emergency sub plans in place in case of unforeseen absences.  Some teachers stretch the use of movies even further by watching popular movies that share some link to the material they have taught in class.  For example, a biology class might watch Outbreak or Osmosis Jones, or a history class might watch Shindler’s List following units on related topics. 

In some classrooms, movies are used as a special treat for students, with no apparent link to the curriculum at all.  In this way, movies become more of a babysitter than an educational tool.  My daughter’s first grade class watches a movie every Friday while teachers scramble to catch up with their grading and planning.  I know this is a much needed work time for teachers, but I can’t help but feel that some important learning time is being sacrificed. 

No matter what kind of movie you are showing in class, most students find movie days to be a nice change of pace from the daily grind.  Joann’s Picks this week bring a fun twist to using movies in the classroom by introducing ways to use the movies kids WANT to watch to strengthen their understanding of topics they are learning in class.  As teachers, we can come up with creative ways to link popular kids’ movies to the important topics we are teaching.  With some planning, we can promote active participation and creative thinking on movie days, and we can feel good that our students are getting the most out of their school day. 

If you have a popular movie in mind, contemplate the math, science, English, and history concepts you can tie to it.  Create your own connections and assignments, or search the Gateway to see if someone has already begun the process for you!  I searched for examples of creative uses for movies in the classroom.  I hope this short list can help you find ways to incorporate popular films in your classes.  If you have ideas you have used in the past, please share on our blog, Facebook, or Twitter pages.

Movie possibilities are abundant for history teachers.  The History in Film series of lesson plans takes a traditional approach to using movies in the classroom.  Each film on the site includes an outline, timeline of events, and homework questions related to the movie.

ReadWriteThink has lots of activities that connect popular movies to concepts in the language arts classroom.  Decoding The Matrix: Exploring Dystopian Characteristics through Film uses The Matrix to help high school students compare and contrast different types of societies.  Exploring Satire with Shrek is a fun way to use the children’s film to study satire.  Cover to Cover: Comparing Books to Movies is a great tool for language arts students to analyze and compare books and he movies that are based on them. 

The movie Contact can help start conversations about how technology interacts with scientific knowledge.  This lesson plan shows how you can use this movie in your classroom. 

P.E. Central has created a set of activities that can be used along with popular movies to encourage physical activity.  These are some original ways to use movies in the P.E. classroom.

One very creative connection between Hollywood and the classroom comes from the University of Southern Mississippi.  In Macroplex Cinema: Polymers Go Hollywood, students learn about the science of polymers and do simple experiments demonstrating how polymers are used in special effects.

This list shows the variety of resources available to help you include movies in your classroom.  We look forward to learning about ways you have used movies with your students.

~Peggy's Corner - 6/24/2011~

Rocket to the Moon

In spite of the unusual weather in many parts of the world, summer really is around the corner. Some of you have already started your summer vacation while others of us are in school for most of June (and searching for fun, educational activities to keep our students from checking out early!). Whether you are looking for lessons to round out this year, ideas to use later, or even activities to do with your own kids at home, Joann’s space shuttle picks could give you a nice variety.

Launching a vessel into space is an intriguing idea for kids and adults alike, and a concept that lends itself well to fun classroom activities. Kids build imaginary rockets and pretend to be on their own space adventures for fun. Space shuttles, rockets, stars, and planets adorn the walls of children’s bedrooms around the world. It’s a logical step to take this fun concept and use it in your teaching. English, math, science, and history lessons can take on an interesting twist when you connect them to the study of space shuttles. Even as the shuttle program officially ends, learning about space shuttles, the space program, and space science can continue to grow in the classroom.

Students have gotten the chance to witness history as they have watched space shuttle launches on TV since the eighties. I will never forget the day we watched the live coverage of the Challenger lifting off in my elementary school classroom. That tragedy presented unique challenges for teachers and a very memorable teachable moment in history. Activities like 5,4,3,2,1 Blast Off! combine a study of this recent history with science and rocket design.

I particularly liked some activities on the Gateway this week that are hands on explorations of the topic. Thirteen Ed Online has a wonderful resource that features a space shuttle simulation. This resource includes multiple activities, allowing students to be part of a simulated shuttle crew that conducts experiments, maps routes, and holds multimedia press releases. For a quick and fun activity, you can have your students design paper rockets attached to film canisters (if you can still find any!). To launch, fill the canister ¾ full of water, drop in ½ of an Alka-Selzer tablet, put on the lid, and POP! You have a homemade rocket to study.

~Peggy's Corner - 6/3/2011~

Renaissance Students

Do you have a polymath in any of your classes? A what?? A polymath is defined as a very learned person with encyclopedic knowledge. A polymath is a person who thinks, explores, and experiments to become an expert in many fields. These are the kind of people who treasure lifelong learning (and people you definitely don’t want to go up against in Jeopardy!). I know I don’t quite fit into this group of experts, although I wish I could say I do. To create a thinker of this caliber is the ultimate goal of many educators.

In an ideal world, students would have an insatiable hunger to learn about the world around them. Teachers would simply be there to guide their learning and provide the resources students need to fulfill their curiosity. The study of art could lead to learning about science. Inquisitiveness could lead to new inventions and discoveries. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way, and it is up to parents and educators to bring the love of learning and exploring new idea to their students so they will have the desire to continue fulfilling their curiosities throughout their lives.

There have been some great renaissance men and women throughout history, and Leonardo da Vinci is a perfect example whose life has been prominent in recent books and movies. Thinking about successful historical figures like da Vinci made me wonder what we can do as teachers to inspire students to embrace learning enough to become well rounded and learned like these people. After all, according to Leon Battista Alberti, “A man can do all things if he will.” How can we encourage this will to do new things?

Although studying the life and learning of da Vinci in your classroom probably won’t create a classroom full of polymaths or renaissance students, it might inspire students to think about the amazing things they could do with their lives. It can also serve as a great theme to tie together lessons from fields including art, science, and math. A perfect example of studying a variety of fields under the umbrella of one theme can be found in the yearly studies and competitions of Academic Decathlon teams. I’ll discuss that more in future columns, but it’s an idea to look into if you work with high school kids.

Math might seem a lot more interesting to students when it is presented within the theme of Leonardo da Vinci’s artwork. Drawing in perspective can be a lot more relevant to students when they can see how it has been done throughout history. There are a lot of well-made lessons on The Gateway to help you bring Leonardo da Vinci and his discoveries and studies into your classroom. The Boston Museum of Science did a wonderful job creating a science-based approach to studying the life and times of da Vinci. Browse through their site to see some ideas for incorporating this theme into your teaching. The lessons were designed for 4th through 8th grade students, but are adaptable to many levels. Here is a sample of what the Museum of Science has to offer:

Inventor’s Toolbox: An interactive site to explore the elements of simple machines with a game using three simple machines. This activity can be done online or as a classroom activity

Using Leonardo’s Window: A lesson in creating proper perspective in a drawing using a Renaissance technique of drawing a scene on a glass window.


How Far? How Small? A measurement activity where students measure the change of the apparent size of an object as it moves away from them.


Leonardo: Right to Left : An activity for students to experiment with writing in reverse.

~Peggy's Corner - February 4, 2010~

Inclusion

In 1975, the U.S. Congress enacted Public Law 94-142, or the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This landmark law required all publicly-funded schools to provide evaluations and equal access to education to physically and mentally disabled children. The Act was revised and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990. Other countries, such as Sweden, had already recognized the importance of promoting educational equality among students of varying intellectual capabilities, and soon other nations began to follow suit with new legislation to address special education.

When I was in elementary school, special education students were present, but not much seen. Their classrooms were located in another part of the school, tucked away in a wing near the gymnasium. They seemed a bit mysterious, and our only glimpses of them were during lunch or at recess. The segregation started to fade in middle school, when special education students started increasingly appearing in mainstream classrooms, sometimes trailing aides, sometimes not. Now, of course, inclusive classrooms are the norm in many school districts. As a result, the typical classroom teacher now encounters children with a wide range of abilities, including those with special needs. Despite the challenges raised by their disabilities, special needs students can, and often do, thrive in the inclusive classroom. Lessons may need to be modified for their needs, and learning disabled students generally need more time to complete tasks.

Inclusive education can present significant challenges to teachers, particularly if they lack the presence of a special education teacher or aide in the classroom. Communication between the regular classroom teacher, special education teachers, and parents is key in order to ensure that everyone has the same expectations for the student and his/her learning environment. Most studies point out the benefits of inclusive classrooms to both special needs students and regular students, particularly regarding improvements in social skills, compassion, and tolerance.

My selections this week all focus on lessons or activities to be used with special needs students with varying abilities. Throughout the week, we’ll be featuring many more lessons and other special needs resources on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so please be sure to check in.


Connecting Letters and Memory
Subject: Language Arts
Grade: 1-6 Special Ed
This lesson plan is for those students who have difficulty in recognizing the oral letter to the visual letter. Some students may know the alphabet song but still may not know the letters by sight. This lesson is offered by Teachers.net, which offers lesson plans, job postings, and other resources for teachers.

Water, Weather, and the World
Subjects: Language Arts, Math, Science, Life skills
Grade: 1-12 Special Ed
This is a multi-sensory thematic unit which closely examines water and its properties; pollution and conservation; weather and safety; and water’s impact on the earth through hands-on scientific exploration and experimentation. This unit is intended for low functioning students with special needs, however, teachers for kindergarten through second grade may find this information appropriate for their students. This integrated curriculum unit will span many subject areas such as math, language arts, daily living skills, and art. This unit is a product of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, an educational partnership between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools designed to strengthen teaching and learning in local schools and, by example, in schools across the country.

Real Estate Project
Subjects: Writing, Reading, Math, Life skills
Grade: 6-8 Special Ed
This unit on real estate is intended for special education students in grades 6-8, but can be used with regular education students as well. The unit addresses reading, writing, math, technology, and life skills. This resource was produced by the Regional Educational Media Center (REMC) Association of Michigan, which provides media and technology resources to educators in Michigan.

~Joann's Picks - 1/13/2011~

Off Key: Using Music in the Classroom

I love to read success stories like the one Joann shared about the new music teacher at her school. It’s wonderful to see a music teacher step out of their comfort zone to bring the love of music to students, but what about schools like the ones in my town that don’t have a music program at all? How far does a regular classroom teacher have to step out of their comfort zone to successfully bring some kind of music education into an already-crowded curriculum?

There’s nothing like walking into a kindergarten class and hearing the kids sing “My Uncle’s Ukelele” with abandon. You don’t know that one? I bet you learned songs about phonics, weather, and everything in between when you were in the primary grades, too. Primary teachers often have a special gift of being silly and singing with their students. In these younger grades, students really appreciate the silliness as they jump and dance to the tunes, getting out some energy and learning at the same time. As students get older, there is less time available for music with so much class time needed to prepare for tests and meet the standards required for each grade. With some creativity, you might be surprised at the small amount of time it will take you to integrate music into your lessons. Music may help your students prepare those tests and meet those standards instead of just taking up valuable class time.

Sensory triggers like sights, sounds, and smells can prompt emotions in students that help them remember facts and scientific processes in a fun way. Maybe you are not the type to sing or play an instrument in front of your class. Luckily, kids seem to appreciate our efforts even when our tone or pich is less than perfect! Thanks to the internet, you are not on your own. Even the least musically-inclined teachers can help their students learn with the help of songs, videos, and activities available for free on the internet.

I grew up with the educational videos of Schoolhouse Rock (Do you remember Conjunction Junction and How a Bill Becomes Law?) You can find lyrics to all of the old Schoolhouse Rock videos along with links to the music videos on YouTube. These videos might seem outdated, but I have to admit that I spent a little more time than I probably should have spent watching them. (It was in the name of research!) These videos have catchy tunes and are a fun and memorable way to introduce concepts to your class. The lessons they teach range from math to social studies to science. If you are looking for more contemporary videos, try They Might Be Giants. Their videos from “Here Comes Science” are very well done, and could be right at home in elementary to high school classrooms. If you search YouTube, you can find videos from their collection. A couple of my personal favorites are the biology song called “Bloodmobile” and chemistry song titled “The Elements.”Check them out…you won’t be sorry, and you might even learn something new!

Adding educational songs like these is one way to integrate music into your curriculum. There are other simple things you can do, even if you aren’t a music expert. History and Social Studies teachers may want to start a unit with popular songs from a particular era. Maybe you can play a different song each day to set the mood as students are coming into your class. Instead of assigning a report at the end of a unit, your students can demonstrate their knowledge by writing new lyrics to a popular song. One teacher challenged her class to make musical instruments from recycled materials for a class competition. This activity challenges students’ creativity as it helps them gain a better understanding of music and how instruments work. Another teacher used music and movement at the beginning of every morning to get her students’ wiggles out for the day. For more ideas about music integration search the hashtags #musedchat #musiced on Twitter.

Sing it loud and sing it proud! Let’s show our students that music can be a part of many different subjects in our lives this week. I will be using the music video “Solid, Liquid, Gas” with an experiment for sure, but if I sing along, I can’t guarantee it will be on key. At least we’ll be having fun!

~Peggy's Corner - 11/4/2010~

Science for All the PEEPS

Many preschool and primary teachers tend to feel intimidated by science. They are responsible for being experts in all different areas, and many of them don’t consider themselves “science people.” Our state standards mandate that we teach science, but they don’t show us how to make it fun. The National Science Education Standards explain the importance of inquiry-based learning as the basis of science education with the following statement: “Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science.” So we are supposed to let them figure out the answers to their own questions? That sounds good to me! Not only is this a very effective way to teach science, it allows teachers who might not be as comfortable with some of the topics to learn right along with their students!

Most people, even those who are not “science people” have fun learning new things about how the world around them works. It can be scary to bring an activity into the classroom when you are not sure of all possible outcomes or how you will explain the results that students find. The beauty of inquiry-based science activities is that you and your students can research unexpected findings together to figure out why they happened. In one kindergarten water activity, the students were trying all different objects in the classroom to see if they could float in a tub of water. When certain items sunk, the kids decided to use a plastic lid as a “boat” to help the items float. When that worked, they tried out other objects to see if they would work as boats (some did and some didn’t). This was their own kind of research to figure out what makes things float or sink. After they got some ideas, some of them even started building boats out of aluminum foil on their own. These discoveries were only minimally directed by me, and students were learning all different science concepts though their own experimentation.

The PEEP and the Big Wide World Explorer's Guide from WGBH and PBS shows us how we can do inquiry-based science lessons in classrooms as early as preschool. The activities and printable worksheets can make bringing science into even the youngest groups much less intimidating. The resource, which is a full unit plan of science activities, could be a useful tool for older classrooms, too. They might not want to admit it, but even my high school chemistry students would have enjoyed some of these science activities as an introduction to a new topic. Many of the topics cover basic physical science knowledge that is the basis of what they need to know to understand much of chemistry and physics.

To make the most of students learning, I think it is very important for them to keep their own science notebooks. These can be as simple as a spiral notebook or some pages of paper folded and stapled together. Each time we do a science activity in class, students can write down their discoveries. Students who can’t write can practice drawing their observations and explaining what they learned to their teacher. Looking back through a science notebook can show students how much they discovered and learned on their own. The importance of this discovery learning was summed up in a statement by Carl Sagan, “When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it.”

Simple things like letting your students figure out which what happens when you mix oil and water, or how far they can fly a paper airplane, or how they can change the size and shape of shadows can lead to authentic learning, and a desire to continue that learning and investigation at home. Keeping their ideas together in a science notebook can help them remember all the questions and ideas they came up with during class.

Are you having a hard time figuring out what kinds of science units you can use in your class? I went to The Gateway and brought up all the science resources available. When I refined my search to only include units of instruction, I was given a list of over 500. That should be a good start! There are so many ideas and units out there to help encourage all educators to be “science people” and to include science as a fun and engaging part of their curriculum. Search for yourself to see what you can use with your students. After all, according to Albert Einstein, "The only source of knowledge is experience."…A quote students and teachers alike need to take to heart. We’ll never be “science people” if we don’t make science an enjoyable part of our classroom.

~Peggy's Corner - 7/10/2010~

Word to the PEEPs

As most educators and parents know, finding quality TV shows for young children can be quite a challenge. While there are a number of engaging and even educational shows for kids on cable TV, the numerous commercials are often inappropriate for young viewers. This is one of the reasons why I’m a big fan of PBS Kids. It’s a safe haven where children can watch educational television without being exhorted to buy the latest toy or being subjected to trailers for TV shows or films aimed at a much older audience.

PEEP and the Big Wide World, produced by leading public TV station WGBH in Boston, is a show that focuses on science concepts for the preschool through kindergarten set. In my experience, kids always appreciate the humor in the show, as well as the fact that the questions posed by the show’s characters are ones they’d ask themselves. I especially like that the show includes live segments where kids try out different science experiments that are easily replicated at home or in a school setting.

My picks this week are all science-based resources from The PEEP and the Big Wide World Explorer's Guide, a downloadable guide comprised of six units that offer hands-on activities. Each unit features an animated PEEP story and accompanying live action film clips that discuss various science-related methods and concepts. The units also offer Family Science Letters that include additional activity ideas, as well as Web site and book recommendations to further explore the science topic at hand. Another nice feature is that all materials – curriculum units, videos, and Family Science Letters – are available in both English and Spanish.


Shadow Exploration for Young Children
Subjects: Science
Ages: 4-6
This unit is chock full of activities for children to examine and explore shadows in the world around them. There is a variety of animated and live action video clips that offer activities to further explore shadows, from making shadows indoors with flashlights to creating shadow puppets for a performance. One of my favorites is where kids trace their shadows with chalk outdoors, and then note how their shadows “move” throughout the day – a great way to help illustrate the earth’s rotation in relation to the sun.

Ramps and Rolling: Explorations with Young Children
Subjects: Physical science
Ages: 4-6
This unit offers plenty of hands-on activities for kids to learn about motion via ramps and rolling. Outside, kids can explore various types of inclines such as hills and slides, and discover the best surfaces for rolling. Indoors, kids can build ramps to test the movement of objects that roll and slide.

Water Explorations for Young Children
Subjects: Science
Ages: 4-6
In this unit, young children learn about the basic properties of water by engaging in both indoor and outdoor activities. Here, kids can explore objects that float and sink, make boats out of everyday materials, build dams, and learn about evaporation and water currents. These are fun, low-cost activities that effectively illustrate general and physical science properties such as buoyancy and force. Great ideas for those hot summer days!

~Joann's Picks - 7/10/2010~

Teachable Moment: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill

I read a tweet the other day that really got me thinking about what we do as teachers and how we make learning relevant to students’ lives. It was short and to the point. “Gulf Oil Spill…a teachable moment.” It can be a teachable moment, so how are we going to make the most of it? There are important things like this happening in our world every day that shape and mold our students. With a little creativity, we can use these events to make learning more relevant and authentic. There is just something special when we can anchor our teaching to things happening around us right now. Students will see footage on TV, articles in newspapers, and discussions on the Internet as the problems surrounding fishermen who are completely out of work during the crisis and the amount of money it will take to fix the leak. Math teachers can create all different kinds of problems with the numbers in the news about things like the rate of they are learning about it in class. It’s real.

There are many issues surrounding the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Social Studies teachers might want to focus on the history of oil transport and spills, or the history and politics of offshore drilling. Science teachers have lots of options for biology and chemistry activities related to oil, wildlife, and oil-related problems in the ocean and on shore. Economics teachers can explore the leak, the size of the slick, and the amount of time it takes to clean each animal.

Joann discussed some excellent resources available on The Gateway on the topic of oil spills. Although most of them are intended for students in 6th-12th grades, I worked with a creative kindergarten teacher who used some of them to create a very fun and meaningful day of learning about oil spills for his class. I was amazed at the interest level in these young kids and how they truly rose to a challenge when they were given the chance. They were having so much fun making their own oil slicks and experimenting with different tools to clean them, I think most of them forgot they were learning! Between Joann’s resources and some other online tools, you should be able to easily take advantage of this teachable moment like he did.

To truly understand the impact of this oil leak, students need to be able to see what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. There is a huge amount of pictures and videos you can find on the web. There is a very nice set of pictures from the Boston Globe with detailed captions. I am working on using online photos and videos to create an Animoto movie that you can use as an introduction to an oil spill lesson. I will post the link on our Facebook and Twitter pages. There is also a nice video on CNN that shows the speed of the leaking oil with an underwater camera. Kudos to Mr. Kruckewitt for leading me to so many great pictures! Here is the link to the Animoto movie.

Now that the students have seen pictures of the disaster, how to we get them to understand the sheer size of the mess it is creating? Paul Radamacher created a tool with Google Earth that compares the spill to different metropolitan areas. You can even type in your own city, and it will superimpose an outline of the spill over it. I thought it was a really neat tool, since students can relate the size to an area they know.

The kindergarteners were especially excited to learn that hair was being used to aid in the cleanup by absorbing the oil. They experimented by cleaning up their own oil slicks with wool, and it worked really well. They are collecting pet in their classroom to send to a company that uses the hair to sop up excess oil. Some of the kids are even holding a bake sale to raise money for the cleanup, and to collect more pet hair. I love the social action in these little kids. Look at LearningToGive.org for more ideas for including social action lessons in world topics like this.

I know some of you are finishing up your school year already, and some of us have a little time left. We are just finishing some standardized testing, so hands-on activities like this are a very welcome addition to the classroom. I hope some of these resources will be useful to you. As always, please let us know what you think as we continue the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

~Peggy's Corner - 5/22/2010~

The Price of Oil

Offshore oil drilling has long been a controversial topic, and the debate ratcheted up a notch when a BP offshore drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last month. At this writing, BP has installed a tube to siphon some of the 210,000 gallons of crude oil that had been spewing into the Gulf each day.

The United States is by far the leading consumer of oil and petroleum products in the world. In 2008, the US consumed about 950 gallons of oil per person. Despite all the discussion over the years of renewable sources of energy, we are still heavily dependent on oil. My picks this week focus on the environmental, social, and economic effects of oil dependency. Many lessons discuss the ecological damage that occurs with each oil spill, as well as the international politics of oil production and consumption. It’s easy, then, for some students to conclude that we should simply reduce our reliance on oil. But what would be the ramifications of drastically reducing our oil consumption? How would we, as a nation and as individuals, fare if there was a sudden shortage of oil? Students need to be able to view both sides of the issue, and wrestle with the complexities presented by the realities of the continued reliance on oil by the US.

The Drill on the Spill: Learning About the Gulf Oil Leak in the Lab
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-05-11.8640498375
Subjects: Ecology, Life Sciences, Economics
Grade: 6-12
In this lesson, students discuss the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and related cleanup efforts. They conduct experiments to learn more about the effects of oil spills, and apply their findings to the coastal communities in the gulf region. Students also explore the economic and political impacts of the oil spill, as well as the technological progress to date toward stopping the leak. This lesson is from The New York Times Learning Network, which offers free lesson plans and other educational materials based on content that appears in the newspaper. Lessons are aligned to national content standards.

Oil Slick Emergency
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-05-11.9056093621
Subjects: Ecology, Life Sciences
Grade: 9-12
In this lesson, students determine how best to address an oil slick through either recovery, removal, or dispersion. Not all oil slicks respond to the same treatment, so students assume various role-play guises as an area committee to learn what types of technologies are available for cleaning up the spill. This lesson is a product of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NOAA’s education service offers online case studies, lesson plans, graphics, discovery kits, and other materials that cover ocean-related science topics.

Oil + Water + Wildlife = A Real Mess
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-05-14.0882216341
Subjects: Ecology, Science, Technology
Grade: 6-8
In 2007, World Without Oil ran an online simulation for students called Oil Crisis: Get Into the Game, where students responded to events caused by a global oil shortage. Although the simulation is over, the lessons still have great relevance. In this lesson, students complete an experiment to show the effects of oil on different animals. What’s neat about this resource is that you can see how your individual state’s standards are addressed in this particular lesson by clicking on the Standards tab and using the pull-down menu.

~Joann's Picks - 5/22/2010~