https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu en-us 2018-09-04 22:17:03 UTC 2025-11-18 02:37:27 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Apple.png saraamfoxx0016 https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308353105 During my time in a science instruction classroom I learned a lot about classroom management. I was in a first grade class and you could tell they were excited when it came to investigating new things, so I learned a lot about classroom management. My teacher was always able to make sure that she had everyone's attention and would not move on with experiments until she did. To keep everything fair when it came to being her assistant, she used popsicle sticks to pick who would help her. I think this is something that I would use in my classroom in younger education. I think that this is a good idea because everyone is excited and wants to participate. Children will cry out that it is not fair if you start calling out names and I think that if you use the popsicle sticks you can say something like, "Sorry, the popsicle sticks pick who comes up, not me." ]]> 2018-11-27 16:07:01 UTC https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308353105 saraamfoxx0016 https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308356943 I learned a lot about differentiation in my practicum as well. There were two assignments that I was lucky enough to observe. These topics were on pumpkins and bats. However, my teacher had a group of excelling students. She would meet with these students at the beginning of every unit and give them an extra assignment. Although the extra assignment was not an experiment of any sort they were still excited. These assignments were enrichment or "research" assignments. When it came to the bat section of the year they each got to choose a bat to learn about, write a paper to turn in, and present their knowledge to the class. I think that this is something that I would also do for my advanced kids. It was so nice to see all of them smiling and being so excited to do something like this. At one point, one of the girls in the excelling group asked me for help writing her sentences. However, right when the teacher found out she told her, "You can't write sentences on your own? I guess I should take your bat project away." Her whole demeanor changed in seconds and she said to the teacher, "NO! I can do it myself don't take it away." I want to see that kind of excitement about differentiation of instruction in my classroom one day. ]]> 2018-11-27 16:12:49 UTC https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308356943 saraamfoxx0016 https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308360343 In the science activities in the younger grades a lot of it is tied to language arts. Therefore, there was always meaningful work to do for language arts standards. At one point, they were making a pumpkin book which hit both science and language arts standards. I never once saw the children sitting down doing "busy work". The students were never bored when it came to lessons with science standards, they were always engaged.I liked that in my classroom and I think I learned a lot from that. In my science classes I was always doing the busy work at the back of the book and turning them in for a grade. I think that my teaching style will differ from that than how I was taught. This experience showed me that even the younger grades should not be pushed on busy work and I think the older grades should have no means of busy work. This taught me that meaningful work should be based off of what the children are learning, not what comes from the back of the book. Not copying definitions. It should come from the experiments that they are doing. It should come from the main topics of the lessons. One day I hope that I will be able to see what meaningful science work looks like in a higher level class that actually focuses on science as a stand alone subject. ]]> 2018-11-27 16:17:52 UTC https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308360343 saraamfoxx0016 https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308365707 The one assessment that I saw from beginning to end was the pumpkin journal. Honestly, I thought the kids had a lot of fun with it. They practiced their writing skills and making predictions about components of the pumpkin. They also collected data in their journal, like the height of the pumpkin and the circumference of the pumpkin as well. The assessment was the completed pumpkin book. I felt an assessment like this was meaningful. I think that even though the students really didn't understand what 'data' was yet that it was good to get them started with that so young. During this time the students were kind of being willy nilly with their predictions. They would say that the pumpkin weighed 100 pounds. That taught me that maybe before I start an assignment like this that I should have a discussion with my students about reasonable predictions. I wish that I had time to see more assessments, but sometimes life does not work in my favor and that's okay. I was fortunate enough to see one assessment and I know that in my career that I will see many more. I'm blessed to be taking notes on science assessments from great teachers. ]]> 2018-11-27 16:25:57 UTC https://padlet.com/saraamfoxx0016/qw760q6s5ssu/wish/308365707