Primary Science Week

It is Primary Science Week, but at our school it is also parent teacher learning conferences (parent/teacher interviews) so science week has been postponed. This is what happens in schools. There are so many things to fit in, so many things to do that sometimes priorities have to change. So science week will happen later in the term.

Being back at school it this ability to be flexible, but also to make sure the things you want to do get done. So yes I am doing a lot more science, I am helping and suggesting things to my colleagues, and trying things I haven't tried before. Here is one of those things. Last year I made a few videos and so I have taken that into the classroom. I had my class make a video to explain their findings about rock pools creatures. Unfortunately the day we went to the rock pools to film was a little windy so the children have had to add subtitles. They have learnt how to edit and put music into their movies. Please remember this is a first effort and there are a few areas that need to be improved. I have added one here but more videos are on my class wiki http://room1westend.wikispaces.com/The+Rocky+Shore
We are involved in science this term. Currently we are looking at earthquakes as part of the LearNZ programme.We are also are taking part in an international chemistry experiment as part of the Olympics at http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/collections/sport. Over riding all of this is a garden area out side the class room that we are monitoring and hope to turn into a Learning Garden (just awaiting funding news)
All of this is a lot more science than I have taken for quite some time, all as a result of last year, but it has to fit into the demands of school and all the other things I have to do.

Back at School

This is week 4 of the school year and it has been a busy start to the school year. having been away for 6 months it is surprising the little things I had forgotten but, to use an old cliche, it is like riding a bike and things are running smoothly now.
Science is a major focus in my class now, not only in the in depth unit I am teaching but also in incidental things and I have been sowing the seeds for something I want to do with my class later in the term. The major unit is about the rocky shore which makes sense to follow what I was working in last year. we have had four classes visiting two different rocky shore sites. Two classes visited the reef at Kawaroa while two classes visited the Tapuae Marine Reserve. The following day they swapped locations. The Kawaroa is walking distance from school and not part of a Marine Reserve so was a good place to be able to compare findings with. Before the visits each class watched a power point of species they might find down there and as they walked down to their first quadrat I heard them saying things like "there's a snakeskin chiton" and "look a radial limpet' It was quite exciting to know they had learnt these things. In groups they completed three quadrats at the three intertidal zones. They repeated this at the other reef on the following day. They also had time on both days to explore on their own. Back at school we are looking at the data we collected, and have other things planned. The other teachers have all talked about the children working like scientists on the reef, another comment that has excited me. Here is a video I made about how to collect data from a quadrat.

The incidental science teaching has been wide and varied, from watching a video about whale sharks and discussing what they eat (this came out of a current events contribution) to looking for living things in an area outside our classroom and talking about what makes athing alive, to how scientists would go about the same task, and why they would do this. This is also the seed I am planting in my class at the moment for a project later in the term.

In between the science there is writing, maths, swimming, art, music, reading, testing, and all the usual things that fill the start of the school year. It is certainly different from the lst two terms I had, but I am enjoying being in front of a class again.