You're As Cold as Ice

Welcome back to my science blog! This week's "Changes" lesson focused on ice. At the end of last week's lesson, we had the students watch as we filled an ice cube tray with water. We told them we were going to go put the tray into the freezer and asked them to think about what they predicted would happen to that water by the time we came back one week later.

Our students are really sharp, so I was not surprised that when we started this week's lesson by asking what they thought happened to the water, they all knew that it would turn into ice.

Our instructors this week were observing us and providing feedback on the following criteria: Lesson introduction, materials management, and connection to frameworks.

Well, right off the bat, Megan and I got a little nervous. We had planned an introduction that summarized what we did last week and reminded the students about a few key concepts, skills, and new information they had learned, and just as we were about to begin, the classroom teacher started talking about exactly what we were going to talk about! It required us to think quickly on our feet and readjust what we were going to talk about. Megan picked up exactly where the classroom teacher left off, and we smoothly transitioned from introduction to safety reminders to rules and overview of the activity.

The lesson plan we had for this week asked the students to figure out ways to melt an ice cube as quickly as possible. We didn't want to give them too much information for fear of giving away the answer, which is that in order to melt the ice cube, we need to introduce heat. But we also wanted to make sure they understood WHAT they were doing and WHY melting was happening, so it was a fine line to walk. We decided that we would make sure they understood that the water from last week turned into ice in the freezer because we removed the heat. We hoped this was enough of a clue without providing the answer.

We continued with one of our methods of classroom management by assigning roles to each of the students. By assigning one "material gatherer" from each group, we control how many kids go to the material center, and it helps keep the activity and excitement levels manageable. We assign the other partner in the group to be the "recorder", and that student is responsible for writing down their observations and filling out the data sheet. We use different stickers to indicate each role, and the students really love it. A few of them saved their stickers from last week but were excited to see we brought new/different stickers this week.

Once the activity began, I was so impressed with the students' ability to not only work together really well, but to be very systematic in their approach to the problem. Although no one articulated directly to me that they needed to apply heat in order to melt the ice cubes, as I approached each group to ask what they were doing, I would ask them WHY it was working, and they all were able to tell me that it was because they were using heat. Some children sat on the ice cube, and they knew their body heat was what was causing the ice to melt. Other students rubbed the ice cube between their hands, and when I asked they why it was working, most said "because we're rubbing it". So I would ask them to put the ice down for a minute and rub their hands together really fast. I then asked them what was happening to their hands when they did that, and I could see the light bulbs going off in their minds as they realized their hands were getting warm, so that is why they were able to melt the ice cube. This also allowed me to introduce the concept of "friction", a term which many of them had not heard before.

We also had the chance to tie the lesson back to the frameworks and begin to introduce some process skills. Part of our feedback was that we weren't explicit enough in defining process skills and making it clear to the students that we were teaching them new skills (such as observation, prediction, and data collection) and that in future weeks, we should make this more clear and let the students know that we'll be watching for them to use their new science skills as they conduct their experiments.

Once again, this science lesson was a huge success. All of the students were successful in melting their ice cubes in a reasonable amount of time, and all of them understood that it was the introduction of heat to the ice cubes that caused them to melt. They were all very enthusiastic about the lesson and enjoyed being able to participate in their experiments, and they all gained a lot from the experience. I can't wait to return and work with the students on combining solids. I expect to once again, be pleasantly surprised at how smart and articulate the students are!

We'll Always Remember the First Time!

Last week, my teaching partner, Megan, and I taught our very first science lesson to our third grade classroom. We were both really excited and spent HOURS prepping for our 1 hour lesson plan with the students!

As we walked out of the classroom, out of breath and sweating, we looked at each other in amazement. While we both really enjoyed it, it was a lot of work, and it was stressful, nerve-wracking, and mildly exhausting! And we had only led one hour of one day...and we split the work! We were both surprised and humbled by the amount of work it took to "pull it off". I even had a bit of stage fright just before I had to get in front of the class to deliver the intro. I saw all their little curious eyes staring at me and felt like they were going to see right through me and realize I'm not the science expert they thought! But once I started talking and interacting with them, I was quickly put at ease by their level of enthusiasm and excitement for the lesson, and I was also incredibly impressed with the amount of prior knowledge they had with regard to the lesson topic.

For seven weeks, we are teaching a "Changes" unit, and each week, we have a new activity/lesson to work on with the students that relates to changes and states/properties of matter and aligns with the Massachusetts science curriculum frameworks. It's been really exciting, overwhelming, and fun all at the same time!

Our first lesson called for the students to drop an effervescent tablet into a cup of water and observe what happened. We started the lesson off by explaining the states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) and asked for examples of each. It was interesting to hear some of the answers. During our introduction, I had explained that a solid can be hard or it can be soft, and that liquids are usually poured. I realized by some of the examples that the students shared, that I probably confused them with that explanation. One of the students thought that flour was a liquid because it can be poured. Another student wondered what a pickle was because he knew it was hard, so it was probably a solid, but he also pointed out that when you bite into it, liquid comes out. I was impressed with his ability to think outside the box like that and know enough to question it based on the explanation I had provided. We later discovered this particular kid has a fondness for pickles...he mentioned them at least four times throughout the lesson! Maybe he had one with lunch that was particularly good?!

What also came out of the interaction with the students is the realization of how helpful it is as a teacher to ask questions of the students. It not only helps us assess their learning but allows us to recognize the areas that we need to do better next time. When you hear your words returned back to you and receive answers you weren't expecting, it it like putting a mirror up to reflect your words. I found that so interesting and helpful!

Each week, we're being observed by our instructors. Their observations and feedback are designed to help us become better teachers, and they are looking at how we handle certain criteria each week. For the first lesson, they were observing: Lesson Planning, Safety, and Teamwork.

I am lucky enough to have an incredible teaching partner who is diligent, creative, organized and really great with the students. We've developed a sort of cadence to our lesson planning in that one of us writes the intial draft of the lesson plan. The other reviews the draft, filling in any gaps that may have been missed, and fixes any errors. We then put it through a review process with our peers who help by sharing their ideas and/or pointing how we can approach things differently.

Once we're both comfortable with our lesson plan, we share it with our classroom teacher, and then we assign roles for each of us. We split the lesson plan into chunks and assign "ownership" of the chunks between us. From them on, it's all about coordinated teamwork! Typically, one of us will lead the introduction, then hand off to our partner who leads the safety and rules discussion. Next is the overview of the lesson and explaination/expectations for the lesson. We assign roles to the students using different colored stickers (material gatherer, recorder, etc.), and then we begin the activity. At that point, we both walk around the room, working individually with the different groups. We make sure they're following the rules and safety guidelines and doing what is expected of them in the lesson. We help them with any questions they have, and we ask questions about why they're doing certain activities to try to strengthen their understanding of the lesson.

When the activity is done, we ask the students to sit on the carpet for a discussion. We've learned that for the younger grades, it's good to keep the students moving and change their environment from time to time in order to keep them engaged and attentive. While one partner talks to the group about the lesson and leads a short activity (such as a literary connection or a song), the other partner cleans up the materials and preps for the wrap up.

To close out the lesson, we ask the students to return to their desks, and then we go through the activity with the students as a group. We ask questions about what they observed, and what they did. What worked and didn't work and why. What they learned about or how they used prior knowledge to help them with the lesson. We ask targeted questions, tying in the introductory discussion to make sure they all understand the point of the lesson. We alternate roles and resonsibilities each week, so we each have experiences leading different parts of the lesson plan, and it's been working great for us.

I think we've done an excellent job working together, and it's so fun to see the students get so excited. They tell us they love science, and they cheer when we come into the room. It's been a very gratifying experience so far, and I look forward to future lessons!

Well, Kiss My Grits. Y'all.

Last week, I spent some time down in Georgia with my family. When it came time for meals, everyone decided it was about time the "yanks" had some good ol' southern home cookin, so we feasted on some traditional favorites. I'm lucky enough that my new sister-in-law is a southern chef, and I was assured that we were getting the full treatment. We had some grits, chicken fried steak, and biscuits and gravy, to name a few.














Now aside from the grits, I've had all of these things before, but not like this. You see, southern cooking isn't like the kind of cooking I grew up on. It's basically the same stuff, but it's made so differently, that it's hardly recognizable, and I couldn't help but think of the changes lesson that I'm about to teach to the 3rd grade students next week. If they can make steak look like fried chicken, morph grits into a tasty treat (but really, what isn't good when it's cooked with a pound of butter?) and call biscuits soaked in gravy "breakfast", they sure have discovered how to change things, and I discovered how truly good change can be.

Time to Meet the Students!

Last week, my partner, Megan, and I met the 3rd grade students we're going to be working with for our science class. When we first walked into the room, the teacher was busy with another activity, so she didn't get a chance to introduce us right away. As we made our way to the back of the classroom to sit in tiny seats made for six year olds, 23 little sets of eyes followed us curiously, and I couldn't help but think of the movie Kindergarten Cop when Arnold Schwarzenegger first enters the classroom and all the little faces just stared at him with looks of horror and amazement.

We're going to be working with the kids on a "changes" lesson where we help them learn and understand that all matter has properties and that the properties can change when they are mixed together. It should be fun.

Here's to hoping we don't end up looking like this by the end of the lesson!

Don't Know Much About the Science Books; Don't Know Much About the French I Took...

In a few short weeks, my classmates and I will be going into the classroom to teach a science unit to 3rd graders. We've been assigned a "changes" unit where we will be working with the kids to help them understand the properties of solids, liquids and gases and how these properties can change if they are combined with other matter.

Our lesson will center around dropping tablets of Alka-Seltzer into water and observing what happens. Anyone remember the old "plop, plop, fizz, fizz" slogan? Funny how times "change."


In order to lead the lessons, we're going to have to become the experts in the room on all things that matter...when it comes to matter. This is the first of many lesson plans we'll be teaching, so we need to develop tools and practices in order to properly prepare for each lesson. Here's what I plan to do.


First I thought about the lesson and tried to put myself into the shoes of the learners. If I were seeing this for the first time, as many of them will, what would I want to know? I would definitely want to know what happaned to that tablet! I'm quite certain I would think it disappeared right in front of my eyes. In fact, even before reading the lesson plan, I probably would have said it dissolved into the water, and that's not exactly true either. The real story is that it turned into a gas. But how do I explain that to a group of 3rd graders?

Um....well, how about Google?

1) How does Alka Selzter work?

After poking around on a few sites, I discover that the "fizz" is caused by the release of carbon dioxide when combined with water. Steve Spangler even teaches us how to make an Alka Seltzer rocket! Cool! Maybe for Lesson Plan 3?? *grin*

2) OK, so what is carbon dioxide? Isn't that what we breath?

Cardon dioxside: a colourless, odorless, tasteless gas that is produced when animals exhale (I was right!) and when fuels burn and is used by plans to make food. Cardon dioxide is a "Greenhouse Gas".

Well, that's a good definition, but really not all that useful for my purposes. Let me ask this a little differently.

3) What hapens when I put Alka Seltzer in water?

This yielded differen results, including a link to "the Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy". Who knew?

A much more palatable answer:

One of the main ingredients of Alka-Seltzer is baking powder. Baking powder is a
combination of some acid (such as citric acid or tartaric acid) and sodium bicarbonate. When the tablet dissolves the components of baking powder (the acid and the base)react with each other and produce a gas (carbon dioxide).

OK, I see, so adding water to the solid, allows the solid to dissolve and react with the water, releasing the gas (a chemical reaction!). The gas makes the bubbles. The bubbles are the gas. So, in a chemical reaction, when two substances react together, they can form new chemicals or products.

I also checked out some of my classmates blogs for additional inspiration. Becky (along with many others) linked to our friends, Moby and Tim at Brainpop, and by watching this video, I learned a new term called "sublimation". This is when a solid changes directly to a gaseous state without ever becoming liquid. This term may be a bit advanced for the 3rd graders, but we can introduce the concept and make sure that what they take away from the experiment is that:

• all matter has 3 "states" (solid, liquid and gas)
• those states change due to changes in temperature and pressure
• it's a purely physical change becuase the chemical properties stay the same

Cool. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.

How the heck am I gonna teach this science stuff?

As a "teacher in the making," I'm feeling a bit hungry for information and resources that will help me figure out how the heck I am going to teach science to children. As someone who is just coming to the understanding that I actually enjoy science, I'm feeling a little like I'm going to be learning and discovering cool stuff right along with the kids.


I do think this is good in somes ways, afterall, we want to show enthusiasm and excitement as a teacher so that our students will feed off our energy, but at the same time, I need to be able to credibly come off as an expert, so I'm going to need some help!


Here's a few sites I found on the web:

Activities, Worksheets, and Lesson Plans (Oh My!): This site is meant for upper elementary and middle school teachers. It contains some really practical, useful materials that are sure to come in handy.

Who doesn't love PBS? This incredible site is organized by grade level and subject but also includes a really great community where you can talk with other teachers, share ideas, get information about professional development, what's new and innovative, where to buy cool stuff, etc. GREAT site!

And just for some fun, I found the blog of Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. He's a psychologist, magician, and author and posts daily on quirky mind stuff. Have a look around if you're feeling the need for something inspiring and cool!

My Science Story

When I think about science classes when I was younger, a couple of images come to mind quickly. Dead frogs and microscopes. Beakers and petri dishes. Mr. Fohey and his Coke bottle thick glasses. What I don't remember is how I felt about science at the time. I don't really have a clear memory either way. I do think it must have been one of the cooler classes...because it sometimes involved hands-on experimentation and seeing things in a new way, rather than just reading out of a book or listening to the teacher drone on and on, but I honestly don't really remember much about it at all.


I don't think I was a particularly curious kid. I was more of a go with the flow kind of kid. I did enjoy playing outside, especially in the woods near my house. I collected crayfish from the brook because they looked like teeny lobsters, and I thought that was very cool. I had a thing for toads and turtles and always seemed to have one or the other in an old shoe box on the porch. In the summer, I collected fireflies and kept them in clear jars with holes poked in the lids. As a summer lover, one consolation I did have as fall approached was that it meant the leaves would be changing and falling from the trees. While I didn't necessarily enjoy the raking, I DID enjoy being able to jump into the leave piles when we were done. I thought of that old memory recently when I sent leaves off to my sister who now lives in Arizona. She misses the seasons we have here in New England, and I wanted to send her a little piece of home to enjoy.

Even with all of these fun memories and interests, I've never really thought of myself as a fan of science, but while thinking about what I would write for this blog, it occured to me that science is all around us, and, it turns out, now that I think about it...I'm actually quite fond of science!

I found this quote defining science that I think sums it up nicely:

"Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. A primary aim of science is to collect facts (data). An ultimate purpose of science is to discern the order that exists between and amongst the various facts."

--Dr. Sheldon Gottlieb in a lecture series at the University of South Alabama

I think we're all scientists when you define it like that. Who doesn't want to discover ways to find patterns in the chaos? Who among us isn't constantly collecting facts in order to make conclusions about our experiences? Who doesn't want to understand more about the world we live in?

If you asked me even just a few weeks ago if I would have considered a career teaching science, I would have said "NO WAY!" My ideas about what "science" is were things like memorizing elements charts, looking at dead skin cells through microscope lenses, and storing dead animals in clear jars full of formaldehyde. Boring. Ick. No thanks. But now, even after having just one class and doing some quick web searches, I'm starting to understand that it doesn't have to be all about the boring and the ick. Science is cool, it's fascinating, and it can even be fun at parties!