The Science Lab

I sit here comfortably seated on my armchair as I type this, looking forward to the two weeks break ahead of me. It's been quite a hectic week. We had a Science fair on Tuesday and an Athletics Gala on Thursday.

I knew right away when I found out we were indeed going ahead with the Science fair that I didn't want my students to be showcasing what I term as the "over-experimented experiments". I did not want to see another volcano or a mentos and coke experiment.

When we began our Science unit, we watched lots of Steve Spangler clips and my teaching partner, Felicity and I, knew we wanted to conduct Science experiments using common household items, that were simple and fun.

We began our Science Inquiry unit, looking at different scientists and their contributions. This resource by Christine Statzel was so useful. I love craft activities and Christine's resource had the scientists and the craft/literacy activities to go with each scientist. Below are some of the activities that I used in my classroom.

All About Einstein

Mona Lisa as drawn by my Picassos

As mentioned before, I knew I would scream if my students did another Mentos and Coke experiment, so we thought along the lines of creating a similar "wow" factor when one watches Steve Spangler on Ellen. Well, at least we tried to...

These were some of the experiments that we tried out in the classroom and then decided to showcase it at our Science Fair.

This is one of my favourite experiments - "Leakproof Bag". Students had to use a sharpened pencil to poke through the zip-lock bag and the faces on the Prep kids were just priceless when they saw the pencil go through the other end without any leaks. Of course, we still needed to be prepared for the occasional mishap.

 

We had the students write about the experiments that we had done in the classroom in their Inquiry books and displayed those books during the Science Fair.

 

 

 

"Who done it?" - Having a closer look at the patterns on fingerprints

YM and CE showcasing their lung capacity in Soda Can Jump

 

 It was an exciting day for the students and as exhausted as I was by the end of it all, when KP, a student of mine told me "This was such a fun day!", it made it all worth while. The kids had fun, the parents got to do the experiments and we all learnt something at the end of the day. But for now...I'll go back to putting my legs up and just enjoying the 14 days of bliss that I have ahead of me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



  



And So...

There has been this immense pressure lately with this blog. It's a pressure that I have placed upon myself. See, this blog came about because I felt I had something to offer. I felt that if I had a blog like everyone else, I would be this teacher that had all these awesome ideas, could make all these awesome resources and be able to do all these awesome things in my classroom that I could share with the rest of this world.

Except...the more blogs I read, the more I felt like I wasn't so awesome. I'm beginning to think I don't have it in me to keep this going. I keep thinking I'm not like these great teachers out there who are really making a difference but ... wait a minute...isn't that my tagline? Making a difference one class at a time. Oh boy...I might have to change that.

I've decided on one thing. Perhaps, I should let this blog be about me as a teacher. Not me in competition with the rest of the teacher bloggers and perhaps, if it was just me blogging about my experiences with my students and what I was doing to change their lives, to inspire them to go forth and achieve their dreams...perhaps, just perhaps...I might actually feel I wasn't so bad after all. (I'm assuming that's what all the other teacher bloggers are doing anyway...) So I'm going to give this another go. And if by chance, you are reading this...please come back. I will have something to offer soon. A comment or two, is always great as well.