al-mofhariz

I have been super busy getting ready for my class this week.  I am so happy to have some amazing live organisms this year.  Meet the Crayfish :  We have 12 crayfish and lots of elodea plants for oxygen and food.  They will also eat bologna and cat food!  The kids will observe them to learn the difference between structural and behavioral adaptations.  And the bess beetles... these guys are super fun because they love to eat wood and leaves.  I found out one of my students loves the woods - so I put him in charge of bringing me in some dead wood and leaves to fill up their habitat right away!  The kids love to spray the habitat with a water bottle to give them the moisture they need. I have another picture that shows what the habitat area looks like, but I am having a hard time inserting it so that it isn't sideways.  I am not sure why??? Anyway...I also wanted to share with you my lessonplan form...When I plan, I plan out the details......

      On Tueday, August 9th,  I am leading a workshop for my county on creating and using science notebooks in grades 3-5 for the upcoming year.  I started on this journey several years ago.  I must admit...the first year, they were a little bit of a mess!  Yet as time goes on, and with several other workshop trainings at NSTA regional and national conferences, I feel like I have a better grip on what I'm doing.  I'd like to share some of my summer planning with you.... First I start by meeting with my team members and coming up with a common pacing guide for the upcoming year. What sequence of units will we teach?  What should we change from last year?  What would we like to do new? What can we do better?  We had already decided to use a black composition notebook this year for our science notebooks.  We prefer them to spirals (tear easily) and construction paper models (get lost easily). Next, I plan how to se...