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.

Reuse Bottles for Windspinner

Recently, I was very interested in making windspinner using mineral water bottles and medicine bottles. I learnt a lot and got wonderful ideas from youtube, from different countries such as Japan, Taiwan and U.S.. Youtube is a good resource for any thing.

Front view of the big rainbow windspinner

 The wire is too long. So I decided to create a small one to attach to the other side. The design turned out well and it spins!

Side view of the windspinner

My first made windspinner!

The improved ones!

Hope to have more unique designs soon!

My Latest Additions

I am very happy to add 2 more new members in my toy collection.

Spinning tin top

I am supposed to hear a whistling sound but did not manage to produce that. Let me practise more.

Spinning Sparkler Thumb Wheel Plastic

I can use it for conversion of energy and also the concept, friction produced heat and light energy. Enjoy the 2 clips that I took.

A Great Article on Feedback

I like this article and we could use this for peer coaching with teachers too besides giving feedback to our pupils.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx

Science Beyond The Classroom Boundaries For 7-11 years old

This book is written by Lynne Bianchi and Rosemary Feasey. Again, there is always something new I learnt.

I gt to know about these 2 scientists, Charles Darwin and Beatrix Potter. What I shared below is adapted from the book mentioned.

Charles Darwin
Darwin created a path which traced the outskirts of the grounds of Down House in Kent, passing by hedgerows, a field and through woodland. He called this his ' Thinking Path' which was also known as the ' Sand Path'. His life was dominated by routine: he walked the path every day for an hour from midday, enjoying the physical exercise and solitude which allowed him space to think. His use of the path tells us a lot about how Darwin as a scientist worked: each day he would take time out to think, undisturbed, as he walked round his thinking Path.




Darwin's Thinking Path

 As he paced he mulled over his ideas, observations and results of his experiments, trying to make sense of them and making connections between ideas and types of knowledge. The fresh air, gentle exercise and rhythm of walking helped his thinking processes and it was during these walks that Darwin began to make sense of his personal theories that became the basics of his writing. He wrote his most famous books The Orgin of Species and The Descent of Man.

Today neuro-linguistic programming ( NLP) recognises that there is a link between mental processes and physical movement. Repetitive physical movements and activities involving major muscle groups such as walking, swimming, biking etc influence our overall state of mind and thus provide a more general context for our thinking processes.

Beatrix Potter

We can explore how knowing about Beatrix Potter can help us to introduce children in observing, collecting and recording plants and animals in the environment.



Beatrix Potter

She is famous for her children’s book. She spent her early years holidaying in Scotland and the Lake District, where she developed her love of plants, animals and landscapes. Most importantly she was some one who carefully observing her surroundings and was able to translate her observations into detailed and accurate drawings and watercolours.

Beatrix Potter also became a well-respected expert mycologist ( someone who studies fungi); indeed she created several hundred watercolours of fungi and wrote papers on germination of fungi. Later in life she became a farmer and avid conservationist, helping to form the landscape of the lake District that we are familiar with today ( Potter, 2006).

After reading more about Beatrix Potter, I immediately thought of using her as a role model for the pupils: someone who enjoyed the outdoors, was curious and carefully observed animals and plants, then used those observations to create detailed sketches, stories and also to write scientific articles. I came out a simple Power Point which I would like to show to my pupils how Beatrix used her observation skills to produce detailed drawings. Hopefully, pupils will get inspired by her and put more effort in their observational drawing and sketching in their activity books.

Sitooteries - Beatrix Potter Observation Points
I just discovered this lovely word which means somewhere to sit outside to relax, think about Science, observe the environment and sketch.

Classification Of leaves

I always think it is a very easy topic till I collect their work. After all , it is not easy for them. I just discovered from the 2 educators, Nancy Frey & Douglas Fisher ,that there is a difference between error and mistake , and of course they emphasize the importance of giving feedback.

I have used all the pictures below to give feedback on their mistakes and errors in class.


The pupils went to the school garden to draw the leaves I chose. This is one that is well -drawn with all the details.



Pupil 1

 I guess the one of the left is a mistake. Pupil did not realise that he/ she overlooked C. As for the error on the right,  the pupil does not know what is parallel vein.

The next 2 pictures from pupil 2 & pupil 3 are full of errors. I actually re taught the whole class how to go about doing the classification wth a lot more scaffolding. I actually reflected why they made so many errors. As I said, I thought it is rather easy but it is not for them. They needed much more scaffolding and the original task is very open and allows divergent  thinking. Pupils could classify the leaves according to colours, leaf edge, leaf shape, leaf vein and size. So I modified the task and it became closed and allows convergent thinking. I got them to copy the classifiaction table and the heading of the classification and got them to classify the leaves. I was too ambitious. Pupils should master the basic before attempting the open task.




Pupil 2



Pupil 3

This is the only one with perfect work.

Using POE & Think pair share For Hydroponics Lesson

I really like POE ( Predict Observe Explain) strategy. I asked pupils to predict what would happen if we removed the roots of the vegetables. I also asked them to predict what would happen if we remove all the leaves. I , as well as the pupils, predicted the vegetables would die.

To my surprise, it turned out otherwise.



Roots removed a week before

 The vegetables did not die. So the pupils wrote the observation that the outer 3 leaves are drying and the inner 2 leaves are still surviving. One leaf was turning yellow. And we explained that the vegetables were not able to absorb water, thus they were drying up. The leaf turned yellow because it was not able to make food due to lack of water.

Earlier on, I got the pupils to do think pair share why the vegetables dried up. I heard the conversation of 2 boys. Lin Wei said, " No water". I asked, " There is water in the hydroponics system." Irrfan shared, " The plant has no roots." I asked the two of them to synthesize their 2 partial answers. They quickly answered that the vegetables did not have roots to take in water. I could see that both were happy to get their final answer. I am pleased with think pair share strategy.



All the leaves were removed a week before

 The leaf stalk with the leaves removed did not grow back the leaves. Instead new leaves grew from the stem. We explained that the new leaves grew because they used the food stored in the stem.

It is a great learning experience for both the kids and myself.

Activity For Kinesthetic Learners

I have to get pupils to trace the flow of blood and the path that substances as they are transported by the human circulatory system. It is not easy for pupils to remember the concepts. I tried using this activity as shown below.




Our circulatory system!



I got the pupils to be the blood moving through the arteries and veins. When they were moving from the heart to the different parts of the body, they used handsigns like " O" and palm facing upwards to show that they were carrying oxygen and digested food. When they were moving through the veins, similarly, they used hand symbol " C" and palm facing down to represent carbon dioxide and waster.

Pupils enjoyed the activity and more importantly, they were able to remember the substances that are tranported in the different blood vessels through movements.



Gardens by the Bay

Recently, S4 Mathematics and Science cluster  organised a visit to Gardens by the Bay. I like the trip very much. There are so many amazing plants that we have not seen in our lives. I would want to visit the garden again on my own for a whole day to take pictures and hopefully develop lesson plan.

I realise photographs can be great classroom resources.




Are these plant dead?


Here is the answer.

The label explains adaptation using Science concepts. Here it is.

This African succulent plant has an interesting adaptation to defend itself against predators. Its copper coloured leaves look as if there were deceased or even dead , thus aviding attackd from herbivores.

Hypocrisy In The Profession Of Education

I like this blog post very much.
http://edge.ascd.org/_Hypocrisy-in-the-Profession-of-Education/blog/6165393/127586.html?as=127586&fwcc=1&fwcl=1&fwl

I sent this link to the exco members in my school and some of my close friends who are educators. It is a great article for us to reflect as an educator and a learner.  Enjoy!

Plant Transport System

I cut the celery stem into half to the middle of the stem and left it each overnight in 2 beakers of blue-coloured and red-coloured water. The food colouring must be really dark to get the tubes stained.

The next day, I showed the pupils the cross section of the stem. I wanted them to see the water-carrying tubes are stained with red and blue.

My pupils are good at their hands . They pulled out the tubes for me.

Food carrying and water carrying tubes

Blue stained tubes

Red stained tubes

These pictures can be good resources for questioning.

I took a beautiful picture of  celery at one of the Science workshop I facilitated. So I thought I should add in here instead of starting another post.

Look at the beautiful xylem tubes!

Rubbish Science

My husband always reminds me not to throw rubbish in the bin this way.

We can ask the pupils why it is better to fold the empty box and throw it into the bin.



Fruits, fruits everywhere!

I went for a walk at my neighbourhood. Great discovery!

I picked up 3 types of fruits and sorted them accordingly.



How are they dispersed?

 I realised that there are not many specimens in my school and decided my homework  for these holidays is to build up the collection in my school. When term 3 starts, I am giving my P5 pupils each of them the fruit with winglike structure. When I taught the topic in March, I could not pick up any. And I promised them I would give each of them one. They were very excited because I told them it was amazing to see the fruits spin. They are waiting to observe how the fruits can spin beautifully!

I dont know the name of the fruits below but obviously they are dispersed by explosive action of the fruits. I always tell pupils to observe the characteristics of the fruits and infer how they are dispersed.

I am a little surprised that the fruits below are also likely to be dispersed by splitting too.

These fruits are brightly coloured and they split open. Normally fruits that are dispersed by splitting are dry and brown. Anyway, it is a pleasant surprise.

I do hope to pick up som shorea fruits and have told Shirley to help me look out.