Elementary Science Newsletter
December 18, 2014
Important Dates
- Fund for Teachers Travel Grants- opens October 1
- Summer workshop in New Orleans for 5th grade teachers- applications open January 15
- Fordham Street Foundation Grant- due January 15
- Ag in the Classroom grants- due January 30
- NEA Grants- due February 1
- Inasmuch Foundation Grants- due February 1/August 1
- OERB workshop- February 21
- Fluor Foundation Grants- rolling deadline
- OneOk Grants- rolling deadline
Updates from the Science Curriculum Office
In the coming weeks, various textbook representatives will be visiting the district to present the materials they are offering for adoption. Be watching for invitations to those presentations.
Join the ExplorOlogy® at the Sam Noble Museum for an innovative professional development experience!
WHO: Public, private or home school K-12 teachers. (Oklahoma residents.)
WHAT: During this innovative professional development experience, teachers will conduct scientific investigations with Museum and University scientists to build a deeper understanding of content, inquiry and the nature of science. This 4-day science investigation is geared towards teachers who want to incorporate science more effectively into their classroom.
WHEN: July 20 to 23, 2015
WHERE: Based at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman, some research groups may embark on day-trips to local field sites.
COST: This program is funded though the Sam Noble Museum and there is no cost to participants. A stipend, lodging and most meals will be provided.
HOW: Apply now!
More information is available at http://explorology.snomnh.ou.edu/science-institute
This is an invitation to participate in a three-week professional development opportunity for K–12 educators: From Mesa Verde to Santa Fe: Pueblo Identity in the Southwest. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and hosted by Crow Canyon, this NEH Summer Institute is an intensive study of Pueblo culture, history, and diversity.
The ancestral Pueblo Indians of the central Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado met world-altering challenges. They departed their ancestral homeland at the end of the 13th century, migrated into the northern Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, and redefined themselves in the context of other Pueblo communities, only to be confronted by Spanish conquistadors, missionaries, and colonists. Guided by Crow Canyon archaeologists, educators, and American Indian scholars, NEH Summer Institute scholars will examine this little-known history by piecing together the data and perspectives of archaeology, ethnohistory, and oral history. The institute will be based at Crow Canyon; scholars will spend several days each at Mesa Verde National Park and at historic Pueblo and Spanish colonial communities in northern New Mexico. The workshop focuses on:
- Pueblo culture, history, and identity
- An in-depth exploration of Mesa Verde National Park
- Migration, colonization, and revolution in the context of Pueblo history
- Approaches to understanding the past: archaeology, oral history, and ethnohistory
The institute takes place June 28–July 18, 2015. Crow Canyon will select 25 K–12 teachers (including three graduate students studying K–12 education) from throughout the United States to participate. We welcome applications from all interested participants; previous anthropology or archaeology experience is not required. Each NEH scholar receives a $2,700 stipend to help cover expenses. For program details and application instructions, visit our website. The application deadline is March 2, 2015 (postmark). For information about all 2015 NEH Summer Institutes and Workshops, visit the NEH website. Questions? E-mail us or call 800.422.8975, ext. 146.
Cool tool of the week: Sam Noble Museum of Natural History Loaner Kits
Instructional Strategy of the Week: Bellwork
One of my favorite teaching mottos is "Teach the well from bell to bell". Doing this means keeping students actively engaged from the moment they enter your classroom until they leave. This is often hard to do, especially in those first few minutes of class when teachers are busy with housekeeping tasks such as taking attendance or conferencing privately with students.
For this reason, many teachers turn to bell work (aka bellringers, warm ups) to get the class started on the right foot. Bell work can take many forms, as illustrated by the examples at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/bell-ringer-exercises-todd-finley.
Many teachers of OCCT/EOI grades like to use bell work time as a way to give students a little bit of test prep each day. They select items that are similar to the OCCTs/EOIs, and have students answer those questions. Then, the teacher walks students through the process of answering the question, because often students need this skill modeled for them.
Here's a tip: When you use bell work for test prep purposes, use a random picker tool to choose a student to respond. The student can respond by either telling the class what the correct answer is AND why, OR the student can choose to point out why one of the distractors is not a proper answer for the question. The random selection helps to make sure that all students complete the task, while allowing students to choose how to respond allows them to have some ownership over the learning environment.
Click here for more instructional strategies.
Need resources?
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)
- Elementary Science Safety Notebook (R:\01 Elementary Resources\5th Grade\Science\Elementary Science Safety)
- Review all documents in R:\01 Elementary Resources\5th Grade\Science\Elementary Science Safety
If you have any questions at all regarding safety in the science classroom, please contact me.