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!