al-mofhariz

Do your kids know how to wonder? Ah...the joy of wondering without having to have a right or wrong answer...My sons and I have spent many wonderful afternoons laying in the grass and wondering about nature. You know...so many of our kids don't spend much time outside, much less talking about what they see with an adult. So I have tried to "fake it" by adding it into my classroom. I started this winter with some picture images that they could "write" about for morning work. One of my blogstalkers suggested I turn it into a powerpoint...which I thought was an excellent idea. Now, I can pop it on the screen and we can chat about it over several days - one slide a day works great. We look at a picture and make several predictions and give our own opinions about what is going on. This picture of the boys is one of my new favorites...after I show many pictures of nature including flowers, bees, bunnies, rain, pollen, etc... I end with this picture and state ...

When I was in graduate school at Lesley University (online program in science education rocks!) we spent a lot of time focussing on questioning.  These are some of my favorite question prompts that came from an article that we read within Wynne Harlen's book.  By the way, if you haven't read this book - I highly recommend it!  I use these questions in all areas of my classroom.  They fit into math, reading, and social studies.  Just yesterday we had a great discussion about the revolutionary war based on a painting and questioning was the key to it all.  Questioning Strategies from “ The Right Question at the Right Time” by Jos Elstgeest   in Primary Science: Taking the Plunge by Wynne Harlen 1.   Attention Focusing questions:             'What is it?' 'What does it do?' 'What does it show about itself?'           'What happens?' 'What do I find inside ...

100th post Wow I can't believe this is my 100th post...I have had so much fun blogging over the past six months! Not only do I blog here at Science Gal, but I also have my Virginia Studies Blog....blog on Critters in the Classroom, the Lesson Cloud and now Classroom Freebies, Too. I know I am not the most well known or successful blogger out there, but I think I may be catching on. To thank you all for being my faithful followers, stalkers and friends I made up a new powerpoint with wondering questions. The last one I made seems to be really popular on TeachersPayTeachers. This one is provokes our wondering about scientists...I tried to include pictures of women, men and minorities to be inclusive in many  different fields.  Scientists at a lab, at NASA, in the classroom, as doctors and even habitat scientists... I hope you will find it thought provoking for your students this week.   Happy 100th Post!  http://www.slideshare.net/LeslieLausten/what-do-you-wonder-...

I just love to look at the clouds....laying on my back and staring overhead for hours at the shapes in the sky....One of my favorite books is It Looked Like Spilt Milk  .  This book take the imagination route of looking at white shapes and imagining they are a birthday cake, a tree, a bunny...but all in all they are just a cloud in the sky.  This book is a great hook at any age! With my Seeds of Science Weather and Water unit, we spend a lot of time looking at cloud cover and analyzing what type of precipitation they create.  We learn where these cloud form in the sky and how much humidity is involved in each one. But eventually, we need to learn the official names of the clouds for our Virginia SOLS.  So I created a matching game where the kids have to match the picture and name to the description of the cloud. You can download it for FREE in the Google Docs page. Also, one of my "fans" took the what do you wonder about weather and turned it into a PowerPoint....

Sorry I have been a little inactive, but I have been having a blast with my family for Thanksgiving, my friends at our VAST conference and my students...but now, I am ready to blog again!  So as I sit by my computer today, I am thinking about wondering... Do you wonder? Do you ask your students to wonder? Scientists wouldn't be anywhere without that magic word.  This magical time of year is the perfect time to wonder in your classroom, too.  I have created several wonder sheets that are available for FREE on my Teachers Pay Teachers website that will help you implement wondering in your classroom.  This first packet will be the wonderings of weather and winter.  I have used photos to spark the creativity in us all.  You can use these as warm ups, morning work, and even homework.  Check them out:   http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/What-do-you-wonder-about-winter-weather Also, I am really curious as to what you are wondering about ...