Helping Others

Today I attend a work party for this wonderful organization. The group is called New Life for Old Bags. This wonderful organization takes old plastic bags and makes plastic mats and blankets for the homeless. This organization has inspired me to take this project to the classroom.

In my second and fifth grade curriculum we talk about environmental issues. In the second grade classroom we talk about garbage and recycling. In my fifth grade curriculum we talk about the environmental impact and alternative energy.

I thought why not bring this wonderful activity to my students. I had my first meeting with my students at lunch time last week. We brainstormed some great ideas on how to promote the activity.  I plan to meet with my student at lunch time next week to start creating posters, scripts and flyers.

If you want more information on the organization send me an email or make a comment. I'll be adding pictures of my students on my science blog.

Mind Map

Awhile back I the read the book  Mapping Inner Space. It inspired me to use this strategy to assess my students at the end of the year. It was amazing! Since it was successful I incorporated into my science notebooks that I used.

After a few lessons on a specific topic I give my students an informal assessment using this mind mapping strategy. In their notebook I strategically inserted a page (see image below) where the students add big idea in the center of the web and then they branch out ideas from the center.

So for example in the center in my 3rd grade classrooms students wrote the word system. The previous lessons in science have been about the bones, muscles, eyes and ears. Within all of the lessons the underlining idea was systems. I add an example of my own mind map. A mind map however can be done in any form. It could a road with different "stops". I had one student draw a tree with system on the tree trunk and each branch was a sub category. Then on each branch he made a smaller branches with other thoughts. 

In a future blog I'll make reference to websites or programs where you can create your mind map on a computer. 

Main Vocabulary Page

After the students add the key vocabulary word to their mini word wall, students flip to the new page. The new page allows students to draw and show their learning. At the top of the page students add the new word. They also had the English translation of the word or the cognate. We talk about the key vocabulary word and talk about what it might mean. At this point I draw a picture to help define the word. Depending on the word student have the freedom to draw their own idea of the word or a version of my own drawing.

Students then get into the science lesson. All of our science lesson have hands on activities that gear the students to the big idea.

Now that they have had more experience with the word. I ask students to go back to their drawings and  add to it if they want. We work together to define the word and we come up with our own definition. Students are then encourage to use the word in a sentence. For my bilingual students I give them extra support with a sentence frame. I also try to encourage them to share their sentence with the partner, which helps bilingual students with oral language skills.

Notebook Vocabulary Page

ABC Word Wall

Mini Word Wall

When I start my science lessons I have student turn to the ABC word wall page. The page is located behind the front cover. We discussed the word of the day. In the younger classes we talk about the initial sound for the word. Both my older students and my younger students use this page as a reference  and it helps them recall key words.

I plan to have my bilingual students write both the English and the Spanish word on their mini word wall. Maybe even color code the with two different colors. (Ie red Spanish and blue English).

If you would like a copy of this document add a comment and i'll send you the document. I have it in Spanish and English.

First Step

Last year I decided to start incorporating science notebooks in some my science classrooms. I read the books Using Science Notebooks and Teaching Science with Interactive Notebooks. Both books inspired me to improve my format in my first notebook. 

It worked so well that I wanted to try in all 21 of my science classrooms. It was a huge risk to try this at the level that I wanted to try it. I was encourage by my boss at the time and I'm so glad that I took that step. 

The science notebooks have become a routine for my students. They know that when i'm there its an expectation to open their notebook and review their key vocabulary. Its also a place to go back and make connections. 

As well as my notebooks are working this year I still feel that I can make improvements. I feel that I structured it too much. In my next blog i'll attach some of the documents that make up my notebook. I'll explain how I use them too.