COMMUNITY OF LITTLE SCIENTISTS
mealworms and notecard 5
Upon receiving my mealworms, I was ecstatic! I had so much fun observing and recording data that I knew I wanted to implement this into my classroom my first year teaching. I had never even thought about using animals in my classroom as part of a science inquiry. If I implement it and have them apply their process skills then they would be exposed to an inquiry from the very beginning of the school year which would make STEM fair easier. When we first uncovered the mealworms on our table I was the only one that didn’t say “Ew” or “Yuk.” I then realized that some people were terrified of these little creatures when they wouldn’t even hurt them! Which led me to believe that some people would let their fears interfere with their science teaching. We can’t think about ourselves when we are teaching lessons. We design our lessons for the kids and if it is something that the kids are going to enjoy then we need to put how we feel aside and expose them to that wonderful experience. While some students might be afraid o mealworms I strongly believe they will overcome that fear just like some of my peers did. I still don’t think anyone loved the mealworms as much as I did! I also think that by allowing students to do a mealworm inquiry (or any other inquiry) opens up the opportunity for a more creative science notebook. I know that most of my peers used their science notebooks to record their data but I chose to take pictures, videos, and draw out what my cage looked like each day and the location of my mealworms and made a flip book out of it so that I could see the progression of my little friends. The flip book didn’t just contain pictures it had research about mealworms that I did on my own as well as my inquiry question and supporting data and everything I learned about mealworms throughout my inquiry. Overall great experience and I can’t wait to implement it within my room from the beginning of the year. A quote from my science reading has stuck with my throughout this semester about involvement and how it shouldn’t just be with students in the classroom but with their families too. “Schools need to develop programs that actively engage parents in the planning and implementation of programs that promote their children’s interests in and attitudes toward science.” I couldn’t agree more. Parent involvement is a very important part in child education and overall school experience. If parents, teachers, and students all work together and create an open environment so many things are possible. I know that in my classroom I would want to invite parents in to participate in our day. Parents could help students with their science investigations at home but should also have the opportunity to come in the classroom so that they can see how much their child enjoys science in their classroom environment and with peers. The more (emotional) support we can provide our students, the more successful they will be because it is always nice to have someone that shows an interest.
mealworms and notecard 5
Upon receiving my mealworms, I was ecstatic! I had so much fun observing and recording data that I knew I wanted to implement this into my classroom my first year teaching. I had never even thought about using animals in my classroom as part of a science inquiry. If I implement it and have them apply their process skills then they would be exposed to an inquiry from the very beginning of the school year which would make STEM fair easier. When we first uncovered the mealworms on our table I was the only one that didn’t say “Ew” or “Yuk.” I then realized that some people were terrified of these little creatures when they wouldn’t even hurt them! Which led me to believe that some people would let their fears interfere with their science teaching. We can’t think about ourselves when we are teaching lessons. We design our lessons for the kids and if it is something that the kids are going to enjoy then we need to put how we feel aside and expose them to that wonderful experience. While some students might be afraid o mealworms I strongly believe they will overcome that fear just like some of my peers did. I still don’t think anyone loved the mealworms as much as I did! I also think that by allowing students to do a mealworm inquiry (or any other inquiry) opens up the opportunity for a more creative science notebook. I know that most of my peers used their science notebooks to record their data but I chose to take pictures, videos, and draw out what my cage looked like each day and the location of my mealworms and made a flip book out of it so that I could see the progression of my little friends. The flip book didn’t just contain pictures it had research about mealworms that I did on my own as well as my inquiry question and supporting data and everything I learned about mealworms throughout my inquiry. Overall great experience and I can’t wait to implement it within my room from the beginning of the year. A quote from my science reading has stuck with my throughout this semester about involvement and how it shouldn’t just be with students in the classroom but with their families too. “Schools need to develop programs that actively engage parents in the planning and implementation of programs that promote their children’s interests in and attitudes toward science.” I couldn’t agree more. Parent involvement is a very important part in child education and overall school experience. If parents, teachers, and students all work together and create an open environment so many things are possible. I know that in my classroom I would want to invite parents in to participate in our day. Parents could help students with their science investigations at home but should also have the opportunity to come in the classroom so that they can see how much their child enjoys science in their classroom environment and with peers. The more (emotional) support we can provide our students, the more successful they will be because it is always nice to have someone that shows an interest.