Secondary Science Newsletter
December 18, 2014
Important Dates
- National Middle Level Science Teacher Association award application- due December 31
- National Geographic Grosvener Teacher Fellowship- applications due January 4
- New Orleans summer workshop- application opens January 5
- Fordham Street Foundation Grant- due January 15
- Vernier Engineering Contest- submissions due January 15
- American Physiological Association PD opportunities- application due January 20
- Ag in the Classroom grants- due January 30
- NEA grants- due February 1
- Inasmuch Foundation Grants- due February 1/August 1
- World of 7 Billion Contest- submissions due February 19
- OERB workshop- February 21
- Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) nominations- due April 1
- Fluor Foundation Grants- rolling deadline
- OneOk Grants- rolling deadline
- High school benchmark dates: March 11, May 6 (except biology)
- Middle school benchmark dates: December 19, March 11, May 13 (except 8th grade)
Updates from the Science Curriculum Office
Online Preview Access to Discovery Techbooks
Cool Tech Tool/Site of the Week: The Ultimate STEM Guide for Kids: Newsela
Newsela is a website that features engaging articles about science topics at 5 different reading levels. You choose the level that is right for your students. You can even differentiate and assign different students the same article at different reading levels.
Instructional Strategy of the Week: Cubing and Think Dots
Cubing is an instructional strategy that asks students to consider a concept from a variety of different perspectives. The cubes are six-sided figures that have a different activity on each side of the cube. A student rolls the cube and does the activity that comes up. Cubes can also be used for group tasks as well as individual tasks.
To learn more about cubing visit http://rpdc.mst.edu/media/center/rpdc/documents/Cubing_Jigsawcenters.pdf.
Click here for more instructional strategies.
Need Resources?
And please send me awesome lessons or ideas so that I can share those across the district.
Safety Reminder
Please review the following documents before beginning any activity that may pose a risk to students (directions for locating these resources are in parentheses).
- Science Class Safety Information Sheet (R:\Safety Information\Internal Policies)
- Secondary Science Safety Notebook (R:\03 High School Resources\Science\Secondary Science Safety)
- Review all documents in R:\03 High School Resources\Science\Secondary Science Safety
If you have any questions at all regarding safety in the science classroom, please contact me.