Social Studies Coming Alive and Benjamin Harrison

At Butler:
We learned how to make social studies come alive. Some ways to do this are:
-Have the historical character “email” you and have a special message for your students
-Have students act out characters or words in the text
-For example: For a person, have students say the name and come up with some movement that will help them remember that person. Also designate one student to be that character while reading the text and continue to call them that
-Have dress up items for the student to put on and use when acting the text out
-Use histopics (take notes, but with pictures) after reading or acting out the text to make sure the students comprehended what was read
-Gossip column or newspaper: article about the event
-Walking timeline: long piece of paper with artifacts and students tell what happened
-Social studies songs: on Youtube or make up your own
-Synetics: compare a concept to something totally different (hamburger model)
-Graffiti groups: have chart paper around room and have students write down all of their questions and comments
-Project Approach: high conflict and innovation
-ABC brainstorm: go through each letter of alphabet after reading a text
-Storyboard: use computer programs
-Photo journaling: kids take pictures of scenes and the describe in writing
-Graphic organizers

Check out www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions
Offers great resources for teachers such as lesson plans for different content areas and standards. The lesson plans are very detailed and resources that are needed for each lesson are provided (worksheets, maps, websites, videos, etc.) and different approaches are listed too. The lessons are hands-on and very interactive. I think students would enjoy these lessons because they are fun and can be applied to real life situations for when they get older. I am excited to use some of these lessons in my classroom!

At the Benjamin Harrison house:
We went on a tour of the Benjamin Harrison house where our 23rd President lived. During the tour we learned about his background, family life, and what he had accomplished throughout his time. The house was filled with great artifacts that allowed you to see what life was like back then and could see how things have changed over time. Downstairs we learned about immigrants coming to the United States. They came from all over the world and endured many different hardships. We made our own passport and were assigned a person from the different countries. My person was a laborer from Greece who was looking for a new life. Since there was limited space on the ships that they took to the U.S. we had to come up with a packing list of ten things that were essential and could fit in a medium sized trunk. This task was quite difficult because I was not sure what I really needed and if everything would fit. That activity gave me a perspective of what my person had to go through when he had to pack for America.

Dino Day

On March 30th, we went to the Children’s Museum for Dino Day. We started class off with a read loud where we all took turns reading a page of the book. We all stood in a circle and passed the book around. Next, we looked at some images of dinosaur art and shared our thoughts and feelings about. We then learned about prefixes and suffixes that were used to name dinosaurs. With play doh we created our own dinosaur and named it based on it features using the prefixes and suffixes we had learned. After completing our dinosaurs we had the opportunity to meet with some real paleontologist that work at the museum. The paleontologist taught us about how dinosaurs are discovered when they are dug up. He shared with us some of his experiences. Something that was really interesting was the triceratops skull that was in the lab, which we were actually allowed to touch! After our chat with the paleontologist we then got to make a mold of a dinosaur tooth. By using dental plaster, a dinosaur tooth mold, and water we were able to create them. The dental plaster dried rather quickly and gave us our casting within a few minutes. After the tooth mold, we went to the dinosaur art exhibit in the museum and got to see how the interpretations of dinosaurs have changed over time in art. The structures, colors, and size of dinosaurs have changed and it was interesting to see how different artist perceive dinosaurs.

Teaching Strategies Used:
-Visualization thinking:
What do you see/notice in this picture?
Assessing vocabulary
Student Centered
-Multiple Perspectives:
hands-on
experts
integration
open to unexpected
messy materials
building your own content knowledge
Perspectives:
Scientific
Religious
Historical
Creative

Post Visit at Westlake Elementary

People Density Activity

Today we went to Westlake Elementary School for our post visit, which was wrapping up our CSI experiment at the Children’s Museum. After reading a fun poem about the scientific method to our class, we had them do a people density activity. On the floor, we taped out a boxed and had two students get inside of the box. We had them walk around to show all of the space that they had surrounding them. We added more and more students until they could no longer move. This activity was showing the students that the more people there are the denser it is because they do not have any space to move freely around.

Fire Drill

We then divided the students into small groups and they traveled to three different stations regarding density and the scientific method. At my station, Camille and I reviewed how to measure density. When went over what a hydrometer is, how to use it, and what makes a liquid more and less dense. We also asked questions about the different ingredients in our liquids: coke, diet coke, and minute maid lemonade. The students pleasantly surprised us with remembering how to use the hydrometer, what it does, and what affects density. Each group was different and needed different accommodations, but it taught us how to adapt to these different groups. I also learned how to manage my time better. During the middle of our stations, a fire drill went off that made us adjust what we did the rest of our time and had to adapt in order to get everything done.

Comparing Coke to Water

After all of the stations were completed, we had the students turn to a neighbor and share something new they learned today and all of the students were eager to do this. They were excited to share what they had experienced at a certain station and were making connections to their visit at the Children’s Museum.

A Morning at the Indiana State Museum

Today we spent the morning at the Indiana State Museum that offers lots of resources for teachers. Before we explored the museum, we were told of all the resources that are offered to teachers such as: field trip programs, workshops, and trunks full of teaching materials that can be used to teach Social Studies. Also, the museum has lots of historic locations throughout Indiana that have resources for classrooms or offer field trip experiences.

The museum is filled with lots of Indiana facts and history. You begin at the pre-historic ages and continue up to the modern era to see how time has changed within the Hoosier state. The way the information and artifacts were displayed helped me get a sense of how I can arrange work and themes within my classroom. There were many hands-on areas that allowed children to get a good idea of how something worked or was. One of my favorite exhibits was the Odd Indiana exhibit. This featured many unusual objects and artifacts from different eras. There was a piece of art that were flowers made from real hair, dresses that you could try on that enhanced your bottom, and then there were the sixed toed kittens. It was a very odd array of objects, but interesting to explore and learn about.

After our tour, we got to participate in a Civil War reenactment. Someone from our class got to try on a soldier’s uniform and then we all taught how to march. We learned about how the soldiers survived by receiving bags full of the types of food and items they would receive. We also got to set up a tent that four soldiers would have to snuggly fit into. This reenactment would be great for students because they would get to compare the clothes, food, and shelter to today’s world. It would help them visualize how difficult times were back then and how technology and such has advanced. It also allows them to be hands-on and up and moving.

March 1st: Insta-Snow, Clouds, and Cheeseburger Model

Adding water to the mystery poweder

Insta-snow!

We started off class with trying to identify a mystery powder. As a table, we all made a guess and then we got up and compared our powder to the other tables’ powder. All of the powders looked the same. Then, we logged onto polleverywhere.com (a website that allows you to vote and see instant results by texting on your phone) and texted our answers. Some of the guesses were detergent and cleaning supplies. We discovered none of those answers were correct so we guessed again. This time the guesses were plant food, salt, medication, and instant snow. After submitting our guesses we got to add water to the mystery powder and discovered that it was instant snow after our powder became snow-like (you can but the insta-snow from stevespanglerscience.com). This lesson teaches about the scientific method and changes.
Next, we did a lesson on clouds. We were all given a cotton ball and headed outside to form a cloud that we saw in the sky. Once we were back in the classroom we went over the different types of clouds and their characteristics. Some ways to do this is to create a flipbook, make up a song, or take notes. Each table had to create a song and dance to go with the three major types of clouds: cirrus, stratus, and cumulus. Each group came up with a unique way for remembering the clouds and their characteristics.

Our clouds

The last part of class was spent on lesson planning and how to go about it. We used a cheeseburger diagram to get a visual of what planning looks like and all the different factors that play a role in the process. The top bun represents the title/guiding question followed by the lettuce, which is the description of the lesson. Next, the cheese is the standards, which can be a variety and just the right amount. The tomato is the materials used such as websites, videos, books, tools, and etc. The hamburger represents the procedure and the ketchup consists of the adaptations that may be needed. The bottom bun is closure and the plate that holds the cheeseburger is the reflection of the lesson. This cheeseburger model is an example of synectics, which are models, diagrams, and metaphors.

On March 3rd, we helped the 5th graders at Park Tudor dissect sharks.

Shark Dissection with the 5th graders at Park Tudor

We found an octopus in one of the shark's belly!

Ideas from the Children's Museum and More Fun Experiments

Getting ideas for my future classroom

Today we had class again at the Children’s Museum. The Children’s Museum is a place for all ages and everyone can learn something new.

While exploring the museum I noticed some things that could be incorporated into my classroom:
-Having a hands-on area (Barbie exhibit – dress up, design clothing)
-An art area with supplies (Barbie – create outfits on paper and then use fabric)
-Small circle rugs; get enough for all students and that could be their “spot” when sitting on the floor (Dora exhibit – used for decoration)
-Cultural art and displays; also use languages, smells, etc. (Dora)
-Parade (Dora, had kids follow the main guy and sang and danced)
-Giant map of the World (Egypt exhibit)
-Have an open space to put post-it notes with responses, questions, and ideas

Some new things that I learned while exploring the museum were:
-Ahlan Wa Sahlan = Welcome in Arabic
-$10 USD = 57 Egyptian pounds
-Most Egyptians are Muslim, Coptic Christian, Protestant, Baha’is and Jewish
-Egypt sphinxes stood for strength and power, could also portray a god
-Qahwah = coffeehouse
-Ma’as salaama = goodbye
-Welcome a new baby with a parade and loud noises

Our class with "Anne Frank"

Before leaving we got to watch two short performances about Ruby Bridges and Anne Frank. For the Ruby Bridges performance, we got to become apart of the class that Ruby would have been in. Her ‘teacher” walks in and gives us details about Ruby’s ups and downs and allows us to get a deeper meaning of that part of history. For the Anne Frank performance, we are welcomed to Anne storming in and reading a diary entry. After she finishes, she goes on about how he life had changed and what she had to deal with. It felt as if we were there with her because we could see what the room looked like and the bookcase that hid her from the Nazis. Both performances made those parts of history come to life, which could help students understand what those people dealt with.

Ruby Bridges' classroom

                                          New Experiments:

-Drops of water on a Penny: Have students take a guess of how many drops of water will fit on a penny. Have them use pipettes to drop water on a penny and see if their guess was close. Do one more time to compare results. Why would the results be different?
-Sweethearts and H2O: Use big and small sweethearts and have students drop water on each to see which message will disappear first. Why does this happen?
-Coke v. Diet Coke v. Minute Maid Lemonade: Have students read the ingredients on a can of coke, diet coke and minute maid lemonade. Then, place each can in a pitcher of water and see which ones float or sink. Have students figure out why and teach about density.
-Ivory v. Dial Soap: See which soaps float and teach about density
-Layered Liquids: Use dish soap, Kayro Syrup, Alcohol, water with food coloring, and oil and put in a clear cup or container. See what each ingredient does within their layer. Why do certain ingredients do certain things?

Feb. 8th: Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is a fun holiday that can be celebrated while teaching across the curriculum. Here are some different lessons and activities that can be used.

Health:
-Dissect a heart and learn about how the heart works
-Learn how to take pulse and blood pressure
-Toss Kisses in a bucket (Kinesthetic)
-Jump Rope for Heart
-Make a heart out of gym equipment and have students run through pretending to be blodd cells

                                                      Geography:

-Pin the ___________on the map
Example: Pin the cupid on Valentine, NE

Reading and Writing:
-Read a Sweetheart for Valentine and write all of the characters on hearts and pass out to students. Whenever that student hears their character mentioned they must stand and then sit back down. (Gets students moving and having to pay attention)

                                         -Use conversation hearts to make sentences
                                         -Learn about Mythology

Science:
-Using pipettes, see how many drops of vinegar it takes to erase the message on a conversation heart. Why does this happen?
-Floating M experiment (described it on a previous blog)

Art:
-Make paper flowers
-Decorate valentine cards holders