SILKWORM SATURDAY

In my first years of teaching at Broadous Elementary, 

I was introduced to silkworms.

Amazing, fast growing worms.

If you are going to have live animals in your classroom,

you can't act like you're scared of them in front of students.

I quickly learned to get over any fears of handling those squishy worms.

Every school in LAUSD at one time had a mulberry tree on campus.

The leaves would be used to feed silkworms so that teachers could use them to teach.

Unfortunately, the newer schools, where I taught, did not have mulberry trees.

Last year, I transferred to a school over hundred years old.

There was a mulberry tree!

My friend Loribeth hooked me up with some silkworms

and it was like magic all over again!

With a simple silkworm and mulberry tree,

students can watch the entire life span of a living creature!

Last year, I saved the eggs, 

and this spring, we hatched them!

Sadly, none of baby silkworms survived.

I thought it was over. 

I blew my chance. 

(Next year I'll order butterfly caterpillars I thought)

It's not the same teaching about metamorphosis using a book.

A video is better, but nothing beats having the chance to witness it first hand.

Today I went to a science symposium.

I miss teaching science like I did at Alexander.

I miss the resources in Exposition Park.

I wanted to learn more about NGSS (new science standards)

and I wanted to be inspired!

I was... and I found silkworms!

First-hand experiences...
Investigations...
Understanding overtime...

One of my workshop session had silkworms!
Teachers got a cup with each stage of a silkworm: eggs to silkworm to pupa to adult!
I was hoping I'd get to take it with me back to class.
Turns out we could!

Turns out some teachers didn't want their silkworms and
the presenter had lots of extra ones,
so......

guess who got to take them home?
BINGO! I felt like I hit the jackpot!

Experiences matter!

Now my class will be able to use silkworms to...

-learn from

-ask questions about

-conduct research on

-observe and record data on

-investigate for an extended amount of time

-develop oral vocabulary from

It's magic when you allow children to investigate and let them do the work.

They will make their own discoveries and draw their own conclusions.

Learning comes from first hand experiences.

This experience will be one they will not likely forget.

How do I know?

I remember my first experience with silkworms nearly 30 years ago.

#Experience Matters!

161/180 Emerging Literacy Friday: Things I Love About My Job!

I haven't been formally teaching sight words aka high frequency words.

Instead, we have concentrated on introducing and learning the letters and sounds

through play, song, poetry, and games. 

With only 19 days left, 

the students are ready for more, 

so taking their lead, 

I started to incorporate sight words into our circle time. 

And today, we put it all together to make and read our first emergent reader book.

*I know some are not ready for this, while others are beyond it. 

I let them lead me.

We have used the word HAVE for the past week in different activities.
Today, I had them search and highlight the word.

Since it is a predictable, Level A book, I had them demonstrate the knowledge of concepts of print.
Do they know where to start to read?
Do they have 1 to 1 correspondence?
Are they monitoring their reading?

I love this part of teaching, because it allows me to be the learner.

I get to observe how my students are tackling print.

And from where they are, I try to guide them to the next level.

A has a good foundation with letters, sounds, and print. 

Today as she read, I noticed she wasn't consistent using 1 to 1 correspondence.

So I just pointed it out to her.

Then explained that each word is separate and beginning readers look at print carefully even though they can "read" pictures.

So we circled each word on the last page in her book. 

Quick mini lesson! Done!

J has improved so much this year in his maturity and his beginning literacy skills. 

He is just beginning to make connections to letters.

He always points to the letter Ff as my name!

I am just encouraging him to use pictures to find meaning to print here.

He can turn the pages correctly and uses the picture to match with a spoken word.

When he is ready, he will work more on left to right and 1 to 1. 

D already knows how to read.
After he reads, I ask him to write the next page.

And he did!

V is so ready! She is reading simple sentences on her own. 

She knows all letters and sounds, and reads sight words.

She is beginning to blend cvc words on her own too!

With her, I like to play a quick game at the end to practice monitoring.

At outdoor center time she decided to write me a letter.

I want her to gain as much confidence in her writing as she has in her reading.
So I was there when she needed some guidance, but the writing is all hers.

And we still spend most of our day learning through play!

160/180 Unique Little People...

Something must be in the water...

I think we all sense the "end" is near.

Kids have been super sensitive, more weepy, and forgetting what is expected lately.

This week, I had them start their end of the year portraits.

Thanks to generous donors

We get to paint on real canvases!

True artists work on their paintings over time.

Today was our day 2.

Adding details to our portraits.
Today... hair.

Color mixing when you don't have the color you want!

Day 2.

159/180 Thank You TARGET!

Why I spend my time writing grants...

Today we went to Kidspace Museum.

Yes, you can touch... smell... play... run... dance... sing... #Experiencematters

Some insects have compound eyes!
We get to see what they see with our compound eyes!

Touching a Madagascar hissing cockroach!
Hi Miss Maddy!

Dance and sing!

Digging... 

Constructing...

Bee observations up close!

THANK YOU TARGET!

158/180 What Pet Would You Get?

Last week we started a unit on PETS.

Well, we are going to turn it into a unit on living things and ANIMALS.

Our sight word is HAVE.
I found the poem.
Talented teaching partner illustrated it!
Kids loved it!

I love that some of the students are monitoring their reading.

I'm trying to get them to explain their thinking and strategies aloud.

#favoritepartofteaching  #beginningreaders

Painting is always such a wonderful activity for young children.
#Paintapetyouwouldget

Lets share paint colors.
#takingturnsisimportant

Guess our feathered friends are not popular with the ETK set!

I let the kids try to cut out their sentences on their own.
They have watched me do this for them several times now and I was curious.
To my excitement, every student was able to cut between words!
Even the students that couldn't read their sentences back,
were able to distinguish between a word and a letter. #PROUD

Super excited watching this group cut up on their own sentences,
then put the words in order to make sentences,
and read their sentences back to me!

For students that already had a good foundation in concepts of print,
I encouraged them to add more details to their simple sentence.
#differentiate 

157/180 MAY THE 4TH AND 5TH BE WITH YOU!

When you have a teaching partner that is a Star Wars fan,

you will celebrate May the 4th... (Scenes from last week)

We used a BB8 for our restorative justice circle talking piece!

 Every May 5th is International Dance Day at my school.

We celebrated May 5th with our annual International Dance Program.
I love watching every student participate in a dance.
Art education, it's a wonderful thing!

Last week was also Teacher Appreciation Week.
One of our parents gave each teacher a Mexican candy treat bag with a set of Loteria cards.
I had never played before and it was a great way to practice matching, listening, and sounds.
The kids wanted to play with money.
We played for goldfish crackers instead!

Beautiful Feet...

156/180 Teacher Appreciation Week_5 MAD SCIENCE!

The last day of Teacher Appreciation Week appreciation goes to a place where I not only taught, 

but learned for 11 years.

I had read about a district school that was going to open in Exposition Park years ago before it was ever completed.  The school would focus on science learning and teaching. It would have strong partnerships with the Exposition Park community, and be a model school.

I wasn't looking for a change when my former student teacher, Ashley,

told me about the science center school.

But the more I read about the school, the more I was drawn to the possibilities...

(The school, named Science Center School initially, then moved towards Mae Jemison Science Center School, and finally Dr. Theodore T. Alexander Science Center School)... emphasizes:

*the study of science and mathematics as the school’s curricular foundation

*the use of technology

*learner-centered and activity- and inquiry-based learning throughout all instruction

*the construction of exhibits, projects and experiments as an important tool for learning its role as an  experimental school

*the professional development of teachers and teachers-in-training 

*developing parent training programs to encourage participation in the school and to

reinforce habits of life long learning in their children 

Our school district had moved into a very scripted reading program at the time and this sounded like an opportunity to go back to teaching through experiences and not one-size fits all scripts.

I also wanted to grow and expand my knowledge base.

Science, Math, and Technology were my weakest subjects.

I went in for an interview.

I demonstrated a lesson.

At the time I was at my 3rd school in 5 years and I wanted roots again.

I accepted the challenge.

In 2004, I was part of a group of teachers that helped open the school.

For the next 11 years, I had the privilege of being educated by passionate and dedicated science educators, practicing scientists, community partners, teachers, and students.

I am not a science, math, and technology expert now.

But I do know more, and am a more effective STEM educator now because of this experience.

And next week, I get to return back to that Exposition Park neighborhood to learn even more. 

Learning from our partners at the Natural History Museum.

When a teaching legend and astronaut comes to share about her experiences.
#BarbaraMorgan

Learning with Sid, the Science Kid and lead by our science king, Dr. Chuck!
#luckystudents #luckyteachers #luckyus

Where I dove into the world of Student-Led Conferences and never looked back!
#thanksAshleyandSarahforjoiningtheexperiment

Problem solving engineers!

Problem solving educators!

Added benefit of having a science center on the same campus as your school!
#sneakpeeks #Endeavour