Thumbs Up This Week!

Observe and reflect.

October and November can be a hectic time; in the craziness of this week it hit me that the interaction between my students, lessons and resources was blog worthy.

I have to thank Felix Baumgartner for starting this week on a note of curiosity and wonder for my students. After viewing, we discussed the science behind this historical event.  I also need to thank CNN student news for covering the debate with a neutrality that my students understand; you are keeping our sixth graders informed and interested. Thanks, Felix and Carl.

Density lab with 6th grade

 This week I turned to Kitchen Pantry Science and their app Kid Science for two chemical reaction experiments.  The first was what we called Milky Colors. This was a huge hit with my students and I had to pull them away from their journal entries. The second experiment raised the question, which reaction blows up a balloon the fastest: alka-seltzer + water or baking soda + vinegar. We visited variables and process and the verbal stir this created was thumbs up enough. Technology integration can be done with placing student-taken photos into a blog for reflection. You can also create collages with an app such as Collage Creator. 

I am all about choices in social studies through the building of assessment menus and tic-tac-toe-boards. I heard one student say to another that they liked having choices and another  enthusiastically asked me to affirm that they were getting notebook time this week. It's this kind of student feedback that is the meaningful pat on the back. Examples of arts integration include timeline comic strips, murals that summarize the concepts and student made trading cards. The results are well, blog worthy.

This week ended perfectly with an awesome (epic?) podcast recording. Our podcasts are hosted by sixth graders and feature students from across grade levels K-5 reading student-written works, sharing interests and even a joke. They are becoming more student produced and word is spreading in the community as the weeks progress. 

Next week fifth graders will be looking at the colorful autumn leaves with scientific microscopes. We will be recording observations in the form of watercolor paintings. This activity will kick-off a series of lessons about systems in the body and show students that cells are a trait that every living thing shares. 

Remember to take a moment and stop to recognize your students' feedback with positive words. Also stop to acknowledge your accomplishments in these busy weeks ahead. Be in the moment, reflect, and enjoy.