This classic Newbery winner by Scott O'Dell was based on a true story--and the island involved is now a National Park. (Well, the exact island is not, but the one next to it is!) The National Park Service has put together a rich collection of material related to the book and the true story--including historical … Continue reading Island of the Blue Dolphins
I LOVE the work of the Reading Apprenticeship group (Schoenbach, et. al.). I was delighted to discover that they are now producing content modules, which are available online for free. These modules are similar to what I'm trying to do in my Once Upon a Science Books--they provide all the resources you need, with step-by-step … Continue reading GREAT resource for teaching reading for academic texts
One of the most thoughtful current writers of science for kids is Melissa Stewart. She has done a lot of analysis of changes taking place in nonfiction and how those changes affect readers and teachers. She has an excellent piece in the School Library Journal on types of nonfiction, and on connecting kids with the … Continue reading Nonfiction for Everyone
I saw this headline in the most recent issue NSTA Reports and thought, "Now THAT is aimed a very select audience." #TheseAreMyPeople
Schools are often short on physics teachers, so lots of teachers find themselves suddenly inheriting a physics class when they were trained in biology or Earth science. Did this happen to you? The American Association of Physics Teachers has your back. They are organizing an “E-Mentoring” program to help new teachers access resources and curriculum … Continue reading Teaching Physics for the First Time?
I wrote earlier about Data Nuggets, a great website for helping students connect math (and understanding how it is used in research) with science. Here are two other teacher-focused websites that offer real data sets from real research along with help introducing data analysis to your students. Science in the Classroom is put out by … Continue reading A Classroom Full of Data
As I've visited schools around the country, I've decided that physics teachers are the original "makers." There are so many physics teachers, often unknown except to their students, building amazing apparatuses to illustrate physics concepts. I happen to have a soft-spot in my heart for marble runs (is that even possible?), and I was delighted … Continue reading Cool Physics Builds
Are you familiar with GSTA's Georgia Standards of Excellence Phenomena Bank? A phenomenon is an interesting "hook" for a topic that students can use to drive exploration. For example, The Blue People of Troublesome Creek introduces a (real life!) family in rural Kentucky who were blue. Students can work from this unusual example to studying … Continue reading Cool hooks and phenomena to drive explorations!
From March 15-18, 2018, Atlanta will have the honor to host the national NSTA convention. It will be huge and fun and chock-full of great content. For those of us who live near Atlanta, this is a rare opportunity to have the biggest science teaching convention right in our backyard. Lots of Georgia educators are … Continue reading NSTA National Convention in Atlanta!
I have come across several science teachers, STEM teachers, media specialists and MakerSpace organizers who have found themselves with a set of Lego Mindstorms that they aren't sure how to use. I was intrigued by this set of free online courses to help you get started. (You can even take a test and get "certified" … Continue reading Got Mindstorms?
Once Upon a Science Book 