Science Fair

Why Do a Science Fair Project?

 

There are many benefits to participating in science fair projects. Now you may be doing a science fair project because it's an assignment, it's a school expectation, or you may get the opportunity to do a project by choice. Either way, it may motivate your students to know and understand the scientific method and it can be FUN!

 

Your students may discover something amazing!  Real research is done for science fairs, sometimes resulting in important inventions and discoveries. Even if your project isn't earth-shattering, you'll almost certainly learn something you didn't know before you started.

 

Students will become better at science. However, they will also become more confident, more mature, more disciplined, and more skilled.

 

Scientific Method:

Ask a Question

Background Research

Construct a Hypothesis

Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment

Analyze Your Data

Draw a Conclusion

Results

To support our 5th grade students who were required to complete a project, each class did their own science fair project! All the classes did a WONDERFUL job on their projects....here are some examples:

Vocabulary Instruction That Works!

Vocabulary is more than a definition, it is knowing: parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, suffixes, related, words, and using words in content. Students should be interacting and manipulating vocabulary words on a daily basis. When students know what words mean, they have a greater chance of understanding the meaning of the text. With a better understanding of text students will be able to be critical readers. Vocabulary alone may not help master Common Core ELA standards, however it will give them a stronger foundation for reading comprehension. Vocabulary awareness and knowledge gives students access to the text and knowledge is the key!

Exemplary Vocabulary Strategies to use are:

• Word Maps
• Frayer Graphic Model
• Word Sorts
• Word Walls
• Cloze Sentences
• Shades of Meaning

Students will learn about 2000-3000 new vocabulary words each year. Out of those 400 should be directly taught. Remember, only after students have had time to hear and read the word correctly many times should they be expected to compose something original with the word.

Marzano's Six Steps for Vocabulary Instruction include:

1. Description (with picture if possible)
2. Restate in kid friendly terms
3. Drawing
4. Activities
5. Discussion
6. Games

Word Map

(K) Word Wall

Primary Word Wall with Color Coded Content Words

Synonyms

Shades of Meaning

December Reading Strategy Focus

For the months of December and January our Reading Strategy Focus will be on Inferences.

Inferences requires students to pull from personal experience as well as what information was stated in the text. Inferring requires students to use more reasoning skills than recall. Inferences should be spiraled throughout every lesson by using questioning techniques.

Key Words: infer, guess, probably, happened, clues, judging, referring, describe, think, feel, determined, reason, conclusion.

Tips:
-          Making inferences means making a guess.
-          Prior knowledge and details are needed for inferences.
-          If an author does not state all the details, you have to infer or make them up.
-          You can use context clues to infer meaning.

 Attached are a few graphic organizers that you may want to use with your class.

 Some additional resources to use are pictures and clips of commercials.

 

Here is a website with some useful tips, a song, and some activities:

http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/inferring/index.html

 

 

 

Easy Transitions into the Common Core

The Common Core Standards, addresses the specific goals of helping students actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews." Drs. Irene C. Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell

As some are teaching the Common Core Way and others are soon transitioning here are a few simple strategies that you can easily make in the classroom now:

• Asking "So What?" when summarizing a non-fiction text.
• Ask for text-based evidence to support their justifications.
• Students should be reading and rereading to analyze the author's choice of  words. Asking students to dig deeper and ponder "why do you think the author include this or decided to leave this out."
• Teaching Text to Text Connections
• Real World Connections: How is this relevant to My Life?
• Analysis and Close reading of the standards to see what has changed (by quarter) to make adjustments.
• Lead High-Level, Text-Based Discussions
• Focus on the Process not just the Content
• Teach Argument rather than Persuasion
• Increase Text Complexity

 

 

Writing Fix ~ Website

Writing Fix is a wonderful website dedicated to helping reluctant writers and teachers that teach writing. You will find lessons with mentor text, lesson plans, and student models. This site also offers: writing prompts, 6 trait materials, interactive ideas, writing genres, and writing across the curriculum resources.

http://writingfix.com/index.htm#

Common Core Tips

Common Core Tips from the Florida Department of Education.

English Language Arts

Elementary School

• Students in first grade should know and use various text features such as headings, tables of content, glossaries, electronic menus, and icons to locate key facts or information in a text.
• Kindergarten students should show understanding of text that has been read aloud or information shared orally or through audio/video by asking and answering questions about key details and asking further questions if something is not understood.

 

English Language Learners

• Concepts and terms like caption, excerpt, index, passage, quotation, paragraph, section, tables of contents, glossaries, and electronic menus, may be unfamiliar.  To help English learners, teach these concepts and terms explicitly in learning activities such as highlighting text sections in different colors, underlining or circling different features, or using brackets to outline a paragraph.
• Explain and point out specific examples of how authors use various formats and media such as visual, oral, numeric, charts, or graphs to help readers understand the information presented in a passage.

Students with Disabilities 

• Students may need explicit instruction and support to be able to recognize and locate key information, main ideas, and author’s purpose. This can be done through teaching students how to highlight pertinent passages, use post-it notes, pointing, reading trackers, graphic organizers, etc. These supports should be phased out slowly as students show they are able to locate relevant information independently.

• To help students understand key information in the lesson, list three to seven statements related to the content of the lesson you are presenting. Prompt students to agree or disagree with the statements. After the lesson, ask students to share their statements in small groups or with a peer and change their responses based on what they learned.

 

Mathematics

 

Elementary School

• Fourth grade students should be able to measure angles in whole-number degrees using a protractor and sketch angles of a specified measure.
• First grade students should solve word problems with equations involving one unknown quantity. For example, students should be able to find the unknown number in each of the following equations:  8 +? = 11 / 5 =? – 3 / 6 + 6 =?

English Language Learners

• Provide visual representations of mathematical concepts like squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, and cones as well as universal shapes that are clearly understood regardless of the student’s language ability or home language.

• Provide specific examples of the expressions and vocabulary related to math, such as word problems, equations, quantity, expressions, linear equations, variables, and coefficients.

Students with Disabilities

• When introducing new concepts related to angles, teachers should provide written/visual reminders to reference as they work.

• Students with disabilities who are not yet fluent with basic math calculations should be allowed to use a calculator when solving for unknown variables. This should be based on the individual needs of the student and the accommodations included in their Individual Education Plan (IEP).

 

Scare Cancer Away Kickoff Luncheon / Halloween

For Halloween, Hernando decided to Scare Cancer Away with a Spaghetti Luncheon sponsored by the Admin Team! For a small donation, staff could feast on spaghetti, bread, salad, and an assortment of desserts.

 

 

Students around the building were engaged in a variety of activities. Kindergarten students came dressed as cowboys and cowgirls to get a feel of what a rodeo is like. They got to eat popcorn, have pony races, learn how to lasso, and for fun blow some bubbles. A real cowboy came by to visit with his horse! Some second grade students were creatively decorating pumpkins. While some fourth grade students were making Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cookies, following directions to make witch cupcakes, and listening to stories relating to Fall / Halloween. Students were making inferences, talking about story elements, using measurement, and comprehension strategies throughout the fun activities their teachers had planned for them.