Let's Take a Trip to Mars (Soil Investigation)

We started this project this past week, and the kids are loving it!  The Friday before we started it, I introduced the "hook".  A "hook" (in PBL) is something that gets the students really excited about what they are going to learn about. It could be a field trip, a Skype or GH (Google Hangout) session, or even guest speakers.  I decided to go with an edible experiment about the layers of soil. Who doesn't like yummy experiments!?  

This activity is included in Kristen Vibas' "Soil" file that can be found on TpT. The students loved learning about the different layers of soil with some of their favorite snacks!  

The following week, the students were placed in cooperative learning groups, and they were introduced to their task.  They were also assigned a job within their groups.  The jobs are project manager, communications manager, time and materials manager, workshop manager, and technology manager.  

Months ago, I reached out to Kevin Honeycutt and Ginger Lewman via Twitter to get some ideas about our upcoming unit in science, soil.  Kevin Honeycutt came up with the picture seen above, and I knew that I had to give this experience to my students!  We spent the first day working on "What Do We Know...What Do We Need To Know".  I expressed to them that their "needs to know" would help to drive any future workshops that we have with this project.  This is the first time that I have used workshops during a PBL project, and I am regretting that I have never used them before.  One of the "needs to know" that I knew I wanted to address was their interest in martian soil.  

At a recent conference, TCEA, I attended a session led by Jaime Donally, and she introduced me to Nearpod VR experiences.  I reached out to my Instructional Technology Director, and she got me a district account with Nearpod. I could not wait to develop a lesson!  The first workshop that I conducted with my workshop managers was a Nearpod lesson with VR experiences.  The students were going to get to experience Mars!!

And what an experience it was!!! The conversations that evolved from this experience were incredible.  You could see the excitement and authentic interest in the topic of Mars and soil.  With some of these conversations came questions that I did not have the answers for.  So what did we do?  We found the experts by using Twitter!  We reached out to Scott Kelly and Kevin Honeycutt!  Scott Kelly is currently on the International Space Station, and we are still hoping for a Twitter connection.  Mr. Honeycutt got us in touch with Cosmosphere, a Smithsonian-inspired museum dedicated to inspiring innovation through science education and honoring the history of space exploration.  This wonderful museum responded to our questions all day, and we are now working on getting a Skype or GH session with them!  We love the power of Twitter!!

The students are working hard on learning more about what they need to create a self-sustaining garden for their 5-year stay on Mars.  This will do more for them than any worksheet about soil will ever do!  Stay tuned in!!

Decompose..Decompose (To the Tune of "Let it Go"!)!!

This is one of my favorite videos to show during our fraction unit!  The kids start off moaning and groaning when they realize that it is set to the tune of "Let it Go", but by the middle of the video they are singing loud and clear for all to hear!  They BEG to listen to it each day!

Here is a sneak peek of my kids singing along!

Speaking of fun videos, have you heard of Flocabulary?  My campus just started a free 60-day trial, and we cannot get enough of it!  My friend, Zoe, said, "Whoever made this site, is a genius!".  I could not agree more!  It is educational hip-hop that leads to increased achievement!  Check it out!

TCEA-Totally Awesome Technology Conference!

I recently attended TCEA, in Austin, Texas.  Each time that I attend this conference, I leave rejuvenated and inspired.  This year did not disappoint!  I wanted to share some of the highlights of this trip, and to also shine a light on educators and innovators who inspire me daily!

We arrived in Austin on a Tuesday, and started our day at Le Cafe Crepe.  It was the perfect place to start our day!

I attended a few sessions on that day, but one session stood out for me!  The session was titled "The New, The Old, the NOT-so-Obselete", and it was led by Lauren Kallail and Brandon Hunter.  In this session, they introduced a tool called Touchcast.  With Touchcast, teachers are able to use broadcasting tools to present information.  It also fosters creativity and collaboration amongst the students.  Check out this video about Touchcast!  Can't wait to use it with my kids!

Wednesday brought an abundance of information and inspiration!  The first session that I attended was about project-based learning.  It was led by Wendy Dickerson.  I am in my second year as PBL facilitator, and this session gave me so many great ideas on organizing and supporting these lessons!  Here is the presentation link.  My biggest take-aways from this session, were the additions of workshops into the PBL topics/units and the "hook"!  We are starting a new PBL project tomorrow, and it is all about soil.  I will post the hook soon!  Kevin Honeycutt was a huge help in developing an idea for this topic!

@kevinhoneycutt

Another session I attended, was lead by Janet Corder and Joan Gore, J2!  I never miss a session led by these two wonderfully hilarious educators!  This session was titled "BYOD Activities That Work".  One tool that was shared was Quizizz.  As soon as they introduced it, I emailed my staff, and shared it!  It is that good!  Quizizz is pretty similar to Kahoot, with a couple of exceptions. Students can work at their own pace, and the questions appear on their devices. It is awesome! Another cool one was Bingo Baker!  Check it out here!

Tammy Worcester Tang is another leader that I never miss!  She always shares the coolest tips and tricks!  She shared how you can use your lightening cable and Quicktime to share your iPad or iPhone screen!  Crazy how I never knew that you could do that!  Here is a quick tutorial on it!

Thursday was a day at TCEA that I was totally looking forward to!  I was finally going to get to meet and listen to George Couros.  I have been following him on Twitter since I met and connected with Kayla Delzer.  He truly is an inspiring and innovative educator with a heart for students and authentic learning experiences!

Every word...every single word inspired me!  Here are some of the quotes from that session that have stuck with me since.

"If students leave school less curious than when they started, we have failed them." @gcouros

"What would you want to spend the whole day learning in your own classroom?" @gcouros

"Are kids doing this because of school or in spite of school?" @gcouros

"Innovation often begins and ends with empathy." @gcouros

"We need to make the positives so loud that the negatives are almost impossible to hear." WOW, right!? @gcouros

And my absolute favorite-"Kids often defy expectations when you give them the opportunity." @gcouros

Doesn't all of that just make you want to change the world!?  Check out his book, The Innovator's Mindset.  I can't wait to read it!!

Another person that I could not wait to meet on this day was Jaime Donally.  I recently participated in #digcitathon and Edcamp Global, and she was a huge part in both!

Her session was about virtual reality!  VR is something that I have been excited about since Google Cardboard came out!  I have a class set, and the students love to take virtual field trips!

I had no idea that Nearpod had virtual experiences that you can add into the lessons!  So exciting!  She also talked about Augthat and Google Spotlight Stories.  I have plans to GH (Google Hangout) with the creator of Augthat this upcoming week!  So many great things shared in this session, and I was so excited to finally meet her!  Can't wait to reconnect soon!

TCEA is a conference that I look forward to each and every school year!  I hope to one day be able to present at it!!!  You should make plans to be there on February 6-10 next year!!

Divide and Conquer!

We have spent MANY days working on division strategies and problem solving. We then took a 2 week break, and it almost felt like we were starting back over! I was up for the challenge, and I wanted to make a difference!

@FamousinFirst

This year, I have been challenging myself to "gamify" more of my lessons.  My students, and I'm sure many other students, truly respond to lessons when they are turned into a game.  On Monday afternoon I began to research ways to make problem solving more engaging and meaningful, and I came across a blog post from Karla Baldonado (Life and Pancakes).  In this post titled, "Make Math Fun: Word Problem Scavenger Hunt", she spoke of using a collaborative game to motivate and excite them!  I love collaboration, and use it as often as possible.  As she says in her post, "If you're a teacher, whether in a regular classroom or if you homeschool, there is true value in interaction." Although I loved her lesson, I changed it a bit to better serve my students.  I also included some Duck Dynasty Questions!  You heard me right-Duck Dynasty!  Most of my kids are huge fans of the show, and when I found these task cards on TpT, I knew I had to have them!

I gave each table group a set of 6 cards, but realized pretty quick that my students could've handled a couple more.  They were asked to work as a table to solve each problem, one at a time.  For every correct answer, they received a letter.  I LOVED hearing the students talk through the problems as a table.  I really LOVED watching them work together to solve the problem.  I really, really LOVED witnessing students teach their friends how to use a division strategy. Music to my ears!  

There were 24 letters to pass out; 6 letters per table.  At the end of the game, we added all 24 letters to our SMART Board. The students had to unscramble the letters to form a sentence, or in this case, a question!  I drew out some blanks (like Hangman), and the students started to work as an entire class to solve the mystery phrase.  This part was a ton of fun!!  I wish I would have taken a video of them!  The mystery phrase was:

WHO WANTS ICE CREAM THIS WEEK?

Today was a fun one!!  We will be working with interpreting remainders tomorrow...and brownies!!

Let There Be Light!!

I love being a science teacher!  There are two topics that I love to talk to my students about-Electricity, Conductors, and Insulators and Animals!  Animals is a subject that is taught closer to the end of the year, but we are studying electricity right now.  Last week, I decided to speak very little, and I placed bags of circuit pieces on every table group.  I then challenged them to build a circuit!  One of my favorite parts of this activity was hearing the students talk through the process with each other!  They were so proud when their light(s) came on!  This is what it is all about! 

The very next day, they were asked to build the circuit again.  On this day, they were tasked to test out various objects to determine whether or not they were conductors or insulators.  I used a FREE product from TpT for this activity.  Click the image below to be taken to this download!

Another activity that I really wanted the students to experience in relation to this topic was a cyberhunt (webquest).  I created a cyberhunt titled "Let's Get Plugged In".  For each question or questions, there are QR codes that relate to them.  I also added those direct links to our class website for access as well. The students loved it!  Cyberhunts/webquests are always a hit with my kids! Click the image below to be taken to my TpT store!

         

We just started working on parallel and series circuits!  I will keep you posted...or should I say "plugged in"! :)

Mystery Skype Monday!

After being away from my kids for 4 days last week due to a 3-day PBL training and a trip to Dallas to support my sister for being named Tapherd's Middle School PE Coach of the Year, I was so happy to be reunited with them today!  I had something special planned for them today-our first Mystery Skype of the Year!  To get prepared for this experience, I did some research.  I found a very helpful blog to help get us started!  This blog is titled, "What's Going On In Mr. Solarz' Class".  I strongly suggest that you check it out if you are new to Mystery Skype!  It was so helpful!  The classroom that we were visiting with was located near Tampa, Florida, and her students were referencing individual maps after their questions were asked.  What a great idea!!  It was such a fun experience, and we can't to do it again!!

  

Keep the Mayflower Afloat!

On the last day before Thanksgiving Break, I wanted to do something with the kids that was exciting and brain stimulating!  I did a search on TpT, and came across some really cool Thanksgiving investigations!  One of these investigations stood out, and I knew that my kids would love it!  This investigation was called "An Engineering Challenge: Boat Builders".  The goal of this challenge was for the students to build a boat that could carry the Pilgrims, their livestock and their cargo without sinking.  The supplies that they were able to use were one tub of water (the Atlantic Ocean), one stick of modeling clay (The Mayflower), ten mini marshmallows (the Pilgrims), five Tootsie Roll candies (livestock), and ten pennies (cargo).  The students were tasked to build a boat, place it in the water, and then load it.  Many of the students questioned why they couldn't load it outside of the water and then place it in the water.  We had a great conversation about how boats are loaded in the real world!  This was such a fun and exciting activity.  We decided to video the investigation and share our results on Twitter.  The kids were super excited about making connections throughout the day!!!  Twitter has done so much for my kids.  Check out some of our videos below!