Entry 5 - 811



I will now never forget to dial 811 or what to do when I smell something funky in my house. This actually reminded me of something I did with my little brother at Kirkpatrick Elementary School. My little brother wanted to learn about the presidents last year, so we read many books and learned that President Taft got stuck in the bath tub. Every time I saw him, I would ask, “which president got stuck in the bath tub?” He could never remember, but finally started naming the president towards the end of the year. The first time I saw him this year, I asked him the same question, and he said, “President Taft!” He then proceeded to take me down the hallway to a book display, and said, “look, President Taft is stuck in the tub!” President Taft was on the cover of the book and stuck in the bath tub. Mr. Cliff Swoape was absolutely amazing! This was a very memorable experience, and one that I would love for my students to witness one day!

Entry 4 - Bring back the sun! Or did it go anywhere?

So.........it's that time of year again. My days of coming home from work and washing my car in t-shirt and shorts, hanging by the pool, or just going for a long outdoors walk are going to be on pause for a while. It's staying darker longer and will be getting colder and colder. Don't worry, put another log on the fire and listen to the youtube link below and you'll feel chipper again!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxoijqbnqoA

 

Is it working for you? Ahhhh, well I gave it a shot. But, why does it have to get cold?! Well, being where we are in the Northern Hemisphere, we are tilted away from the sun, therefore, the bitter temperatures come until we rotate back on our axis and no longer have our back to the sun. I've listed a few illustrations below, some for educational purposes, and some to illustrate how I personally feel in the winter. I think the one with the purple aliens would be fantastic for elementary students. It keeps the whole complexity of this very simple, and who doesn't think aliens are cool? I found it surprising that the earth is actally closer to the sun, but we don't feel that warmth because we are tilted away. This 23 degree tilt also effects the length of daylight in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Entry 3 - Annotated Bibliographies

Sea Horses are born by males?

Issac Newton discovered theory of gravity by an apple falling from an apple tree onto his head?

Butterflies hatch from a chrysalis and not a cacoon?

I didn't realize how much general knowledge of Science I've lost over the years, along with a few misconceptions I'm still holding onto. I've seen many butterflies since elementary school and jumped up and down, but never thought about a chrysalis or gravity. I finished my tenth annotated bibliography today and now feel like I could win on the show, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Well, on second thought, maybe I need to finish the next fifteen, and go from there. However, I am fascinated with all the wonders of the world. Solar system, grasshoppers, bogs, and dinosaurs are just a few of the really neat things I've read about. Yes, these books are mostly pictures, and range from 25-50 pages, but they can be wonderful introductory books for a variety of topics. I like having to think about how I would incorporate each book into my lesson plan. Some of them have great opportunities for a semester long experiment, like watching a caterpillar grow to a butterfly. Others, such as all the wonders of the ocean, could be illustrated with a beautiful drawing, or maybe making a colorful coral reef using play doh. I'm very excited to continue doing these annotated bibliographies, and thinking of ways to incorporate the books and activities into future lesson plans.