Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

As stated in an earlier post I teach ELA /Reading to a homeroom class and then I teach science throughout the day. Obviously as someone who likes science I really try and look for literature that has a science theme. I go between reading a novel (or class set) and using the reading text book for our grade level. In our text book there are a few stories that have connections to what we are learning in science...we tend to read those first :) I came across this article in Book Links magazine that highlighted quite a lot of science themed novels that I found helpful. Normally I start my year with Top Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner . It is an easy and entertaining read for my fourth graders and talks about science fairs and photosynthesis (we don't talk about photosynthesis in our standards but our students did in third grade so I look at it as a review). I am very lucky that we have a class set of these in our system and I can order them through our inner office library loan system.

In just about every unit I teach I show a Bill Nye the Science Guy video. Because our school does not have the series on CD or VHS I have to get creative about finding the videos to borrow. Normally I do a search through our school's library system (that links to all the other library systems in our district) or through our local Beaufort County library system (they have all kinds of great videos you can use in the classroom....so does Netflix if you have a subscription...although they don't have Bill Nye). Normally I can find them somewhere and then I have our librarian place an inner office loan for them (at the beginning of our unit because they take FOREVER to get to us). Worse case scenario I have a friend at another school who happens to have access to the entire Bill Nye Science Guy set (the entire set costs $3,000) but they are not in the library system and she will lend me one knowing she'll get it back :) Each video is $30 through this site and is worth trying

I thought I would highlight some of my favorite YouTube videos (songs) related to science that I have used in the classroom. You can use the YouTube downloader ( earlier post ) to download them at home and then show in the classroom. Meet the Elements - Song Photosynthesis - Song (younger grades) Photosyntheis - Rap (older grades) Lab Safety - Rap Layers of the Earth - Rap Sun, Earth, Moon - Rap The Sun - Song Shoulders of Giants (early Astronomy) - Song (my students LOVE this one) Hi Ho the Weather O (song about fronts) - Not YouTube but fun to play in class

In addition to teaching science I also teach my homeroom reading/ELA. One of the most common complaints I hear with fourth graders, when faced with a writing assignment, is "I can't think of anything to write about!" I always tell children, "Fair enough. Make it up then." This always blows my students away. As a teacher I am not grading if they are telling the truth or not in their writing. I am grading their ability to develop an idea, write coherently, use proper punctuation, etc. To drive this point home I play a writing game called Fool the Teacher. I assign a short writing prompt, i.e. write about one of your pets. I leave the room (briefly) while they decide who, at each table group, is going to lie and who is going to tell the truth in their writing. The students call me back in and I tell them to write. I sit at a table and as they finish they bring it up to me and I read it. I have to decide if they are lying or telling the truth. If I guess wrong they