Energy

I engaged my pupils with this song before I introduced kinetic and gravitational potential energy in my lesson.

Before they viewed the video, I asked to look out answers for these questions:

What are the characteristics of energy?
What are the different forms of energy?

I begin to like " My Love" by Maroon 5.

Seed Dispersal

A few weeks ago, I  planned a supposed to be A+ lesson. Why it was an A+ lesson?

Last year, I attended a Science course. The presenters made some juice with some seeds ( I can't remember the names of the seeds) and let us drink during the lessons. The lesson is about seed dispersal and the seeds are related to some method of seed dispersal. I really enjoyed the lesson so much and I told myself this is the kind of learning experience I would like my pupils to have.

I remember one of my former colleagues, Winnie, shared with me this maple seed origami five years ago. So I went to google and luckily I still could find the links ,
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~jwmills/EDUCATION.NOTEBOOK/origami/origami.html .

So I went to buy some chocolates, Andes® mint wrappers. They are not cheap, cost about $8 for a class.

I was  very happy that after 5 years,  the folding origami maple seed website has evolved to a video .

I practised folding it during March holidays.

On that day of the lesson, I was very excited to implement this A+ lesson, that kind of learning experience every one would yearn to have.

The lesson failed miserably.

The video was not clear in the Science room due to the lighting conditions. The chocolate wrapper was too small and there were many lines of folds that confused the kids. None of them was able to follow and I could not complete my lesson objectives on that day.

I was very very upset because of the time wasted and also the money I spent on the chocolates. And my pupils also complained to me that I shouldnt use chocolate wrapper instead I should use colour paper. My intention was to let them taste the chocolates and enjoy learning and now in return they gave me feedback that the wrappers caused the lesson to fail.

In the end, I told them to bring back the wrapper the next day and those with the torn and crumpled wrapper have to bring a new sheet of paper to continue.

I went home to practise and would do a live demo the next day.

On second day, some pupils brought A4 sized paper. I started to comment that the paper may be too big and too heavy for the maple seed to spin because of the preconception I have. I am quite fixed to my idea and also tend to follow the video and the website.

Nevertheless, we continued and perserved and tested. To my surprise, the A4 sized maple seed spun very well when we threw it from the 4th storey of our classroom. They spun beautifully.

I must say my pupils made me grow , made me experiment and more importantly, open to new suggestions.

Next year, I would use a live demo and a BIGGER sheet of paper, A4 sized. Then the lesson is surely an

lesson.

Photosynthesis

I especially like to infuse Science related songs in my Science lessons. The pupils really adore it. Whenever I stepped into my Science classes, they would always hum the adaptation song " Camel " which I introduced a month ago.

I recently discover musical Intelligence is an under utilized intellectual ability that can be used to enhance learning in our pupils. Pupils with musical intelligence are far more sensitive to pitch, melody, rhythm and tone. When learning involves the use of music, they are able to grasp concepts more easily and remember them well.

I used a photosynthesis song to teach, not to start a lesson. And both of my classes sang loudly after it. I showed the 2 videos as some of my pupils who are weak in listening preferred to see the lyrics. I have to cater to all learners.

I would ask questions regarding the song to check their understanding.

I believe playing appropriate music is one way to set the tone of environment in the class.
Some music picks up pace whereas some others infuse calm or create a welcoming environment. Teachers can also introduce the subject or lesson for the day by using a song that is related to the lesson.

Songs & Raps for Science

Before term closed, I used a rap for P6 lesson and a song for P5.

I was very pleased to see that the P6 class loved this camel adaptation song very much. After the lesson, they also rapped the song and asked me for the links. A number of playful pupils who were not interested in Science actually stayed awake throughout the lesson.  I could see that these pupils are using , musical intelligence, one of the 7 Multiple Intelligences  proposed by Howard Gardner, to learn. Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms.

My younger daughter also liked the rap and did ask me to replay the rap.

I also used a pollination song found in the web for the P5. I created the lyrics using powerpoint and used window live movie maker to arrange the 4 verses with the powerpoint as background.

Adapted from http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/pollination.html

Videos Resources For Adaptation

This is a topic that you you have to use videos. There are so many wonderful videos to show pupils how organisms use adaptations to survive in their habitats. The lessons are much more engaging when videos are used!

I recently bump into a blog http://thesciencedimension.blogspot.sg/. It is created by a teacher in Singapore. The videos are categorised neatly into themes and topics. It is a great blog for movie resources. I used a number of the videos for adaptation. Pupils love them especially the adaptation for catching preys( just for laughs).

When planning for my lessons, I  found some resources from the youtube.

How octopus camouflages

Amazing Video of nature's best camouflages

In the activity book, there is an exercise on sloths. I guess many pupils , like me, have not seen a sloth before. So I googled and found this and I personally think that sloth is an ugly animal.

Lastly, this is a video on animals living in groups. It is great for pupils to see how groups can scare off the fierce predators.

I like to use http://keepvid.com/ to download these video and edit according to my needs for the classes. It is so much better and I don' t need to wait for the streaming of videos while playing. 

Genetic Tree

I did with P5 pupils a genetic tree. It was great to show pupils we are all different.

Genetic Tree

I am quite surprised to see the following conclusions:

A number can roll their tongues

A number have no dimples

A number have no widow's peak

That's interesting!

My Video Clip Of My Toys

Recently, I just learnt a new skill, video editing, from my colleague, Hwee See. I didnt know Window Live Movie Make is so easy to use. I enjoyed editing so much that I didnt realise I have spent too much time on it.  When you enjoy something, you will find time no matter how busy you are.

When I showed this video during assembly, the pupils, including the staff, were so impressed.

Using Story To Teach Adaptation

It was my first time using a story to lead pupils to infer the definition of adaptation. To my surprise, my P6 pupils were quietly listening to me telling a story although I am not a good story teller.

One day a Deer walked to a pond to get a drink. As Deer gazed at his reflection, he thought to himself. “Look at my beautiful antlers! I should be king of all the forest creatures, for no animal has a crown as wonderful as mine.” But then Deer’s gaze fell to his legs, his skinny, bony deer legs.

“That is why I am not king. You can’t be a king if you  have skinny legs like these!”

 Just then Deer heard a twig snap. He looked up to see a hunter with his bow drawn. Deer turned and ran into the woods. The arrow flew right past Deer’s head and sank into a tree trunk. Deer zigzagged through the trees. But he could hear the hunter and the hunter’s dog right behind. Deer came to a huge oak tree and tried to duck under its branches but, plunk, his antlers got stuck in the twigs. Deer pushed forward and he pushed to the right and his pushed to the left, but he couldn’t get loose.

He could hear the hunter and the dog closing in. Finally, with one last yank, he pulled back and with a snap, his antlers broke through the twigs. Deer ran around the oak tree and out into a meadow. He leapt and he leapt on those long deer legs until that hunter and his dog were out of his sight.

A few days later, Deer was walking in that same part of the forest. Then he walked to that pond for a drink. But before he drank he looked at his reflection in the water and said, “Look at my beautiful legs.”

After the story, I asked the pupils which body parts save the deer and then got them to infer these body parts which save them in the environment are the adaptations. I could see that they really enjoyed the story.

Adapted from http://www.naturestory.com/Resources/PDF2watermarkedScienceTeach.pdf

Image from somewhere, can't locate the website.

I realised pupils also love to listen to your own personal story, your encounter.

Early January this year, I went for my routine jog on one of the Saturdays with my husband. This is what we saw.

What is so special about this picture?

My husband who was beside me could not see anything.

Unlike me, being the observant Science teacher, I saw treasure. Zoom in to the tree....

A squirrel camouflaged to the surrounding that only I could see.

So I showed my pupils these 2 pictures and told them the same story that I wrote here. Again, they were so captivated and learnt the concept of camouflage in adaptation.