WANTED! Elementary Meteorologists to Collect Weather Data!

We are starting our new unit in WEATHER and we need YOU! Connect with my class through our first Skype lesson. We will be collecting data throughout the month of October and we want your weather data as well. 

Check out the lesson and SHARE!

Tuna Sandwiches Make Tongues Excited

I'd like to give a special shout out to Felix Baumgartner for making my job extra easy today. Because of his recent jump from the edge of space, we had fun talking about the layers of the atmosphere. First, we ironed out the basics. We started from the bottom (on the edge of Earth) and worked our way out to space. Using a handy little guide I found here. We talked about what happens in each layer: clouds, meteors, northern lights, satellites, etc. Thanks to a colleague's suggestion, I taught my kids the mnemonic device: Tuna (Troposphere), Sandwiches (Stratosphere), Make (Mesosphere), Tongues (Thermosphere), Excited (Exosphere). Once we had figured out how each layer worked, we moved on to discuss Mr. Baumgartner. The exciting part!

Along with the little images included on the printable, I had each student sketch a little stick figure and write FELIX'S SPACE JUMP in the box. I told them predict where they thought Felix jumped from. I warned them not to glue just yet because I would reveal the correct answer later. The student below got a little excited and glued too soon. If you look closely, you can see the "NOT" on the Felix hanging out in the Exosphere. 

Oh, Tuna. 

Thanks to the power of the world wide web, I was able to show my students incredible footage of Baumgartner's previous missions (incredible!!) and the unforgettable space jump.  Below are the videos I used from YouTube. 

Download a Copy Here!

Thanks to Krissy Venosdale for making this awesome poster for classrooms. Check out her incredibly inspirational blog here.  I downloaded one and have had it hanging up since the jump. You should too!!

I, again, must thank Felix. You made my Monday very exciting and kept my students completly captivated by your daredevil stunts. Keep it up, Felix! We're all rooting for you!

Water Water Water Cycle, Ya'll!

I'm guilty. I'm guilty of picking two favorite subjects in science. Yes! Lock me up... I'm guilty of loving our weather and outer space unit a little too much.  Right now, we are studying weather and specifically the water cycle. Last year, we made water cycles in ziplock baggies (you can read about our water cycle excitement from last year here). This year, we decided to GO BIG with our own water cycle creations. Thanks to the wonderful Corkboard Connection blogs by Laura here... I found her idea to create a water cycle in a rotisserie container. So, that's exactly what we did!

Thanks to a generous donation of containers from Hyvee, small groups created their very own greenhouse. I told them the supplies to gather (rock, soil, foil for a pond, and water) and we headed outside. Luckily for us, November 1st (today) was an unseasonably warm day. We were outside enjoying the sunshine all day long. 

C'mon.. do something!

Waiting on Mother Nature to Work Magic!

Later in the afternoon, after our beautiful energy source (ahem...the sun) worked its magic, we checked out our little cycles. Honestly, you would have thought that I gave some of my kids a huge candy bar wrapped with gold paper because they FLIPPED OUT.  They were pumped to see condensation forming and vapor surrounding their container. It was incredible! I loved seeing them so excited about our project. 

We brought our cycles in overnight and a few students decided to label them for tomorrow. I was pleasantly surprised, and equally delighted, to see they had labeled them as their "cloud" group.  Let me back up... during each unit I change the name of each pod to something I want them to memorize. Read about it here. Right now, all of my groups are different types of clouds. Here you can see a picture of the Cumulus' water cycle. 

Ahhh... Science! It's a beautiful thing. Tomorrow, my students are headed on an incredible journey! Their fate as a water molecule is in the hands of the dice. Happy Friday!

Meeting Scientists

In college, I read an article for my science class about bringing scientists TO your classroom for an authentic learning experience. While reading it, I thought.. hmm? How on earth could I do that?

As a second grade teacher, my team brought in a crew of soil scientists to talk to our kiddos about soil and it was great! The kids (and teachers) liked it so much, we did it again the next year!

I wanted to bring this type of experience to my kiddos at Osage, so I started asking! Thanks to a good friend, I was introduced to Mr. Zach Paul. He's a meteorologist for KRCG News in Columbia, Missouri.  During our weather unit this fall, Zach graciously visited my classroom for an entire day and talked with my kiddos about the weather. They were so excited! Not only were they excited to have a REAL LIVE TV STAR in the classroom, but they were so intrigued by his line of work as well.

Filling our brains with weather knowledge!

Zach talked to us about all things weather his daily life. It worked out perfectly, because my kiddos had been studying clouds, the water cycle, and all that jazz so they could ask great questions. We even taught Zach our water cycle song!

Let's chat about the weather, Zach!

As you may (or may not) know, my class just finished its oh-so-wonderful unit on the solar system. Hands down, space is the most fun to teach! In a few posts, I mentioned how I was dying to take my kids on a field trip to space but the funds weren't available. (ha ha.. funny, I know).

Then, a wonderfully surprising thing happened! I received an email that Barbara from The Corner on Character had commented on my blog. She always leaves the most uplifting comments, so naturally I was excited to read it. Then, I had to read her comment again... and again...and again. Her comment offered a skype session with her husband who works for NASA!

Through Barbara's outreach, my students were able to Skype with her husband who works for the Johnson Space Center in Texas. Prior to our skyping session, I spoke with my principal, technology, and my team to make appropriate arrangements. The next thing I knew it was Monday morning and I was skyping with John and Barbara in Texas with 60+ students in my room!

First, we brainstormed a list of questions to ask John. I reminded the students SEVERAL times to ask thoughtful and meaningful questions. Besides, its not everyday that you get to speak with someone from NASA!

Hi John!

John talked with us about current missions, the planets, and a little insight on his work with NASA. Once again, my kids were enthralled and had millions of questions. Thanks to the power of technology, generous people (cough Barbara!), and this blog ... my kiddos got to experience something really great.

That's all folks!