You Don't Have to Reinvent the Wheel

A current teacher in one of my grad classes told us the other night that if she could give us any advice it would be to not reinvent the wheel.  With internet access at our fingertips, there is no reason for us to have to ponder (for long hours) on how we can teach a certain concept.  With websites like Teachers Pay Teachers and others similar to it, there is a plethora of great ideas to find and use in your classroom.

In that same class I mentioned earlier, we had to construct a Problem Investigation and solve it with our group members.  A couple of the groups came up with their own problems, however the remaining groups turned to the MythBusters site.  There are a ton of great ideas on the site for projects you can do with your kiddos, either to scaffold on to what you are learning, or just for educational fun!  I'm sure you all have heard of MythBusters, but I thought I would remind you of how great a resource it could be for your classroom!

Farm Animals

So, as I was looking through some pictures from this past summer & I came across these beauties:

This got me thinking about how I would love to incorporate nearby farms in my kiddos learning.  These cows are two of the many that reside at the MTSU Dairy Farm and probably some that contribute to that yummy chocolate milk they serve on campus.  I think it would be a great idea (if time and resources allow) to take your kiddos on an adventure to a local farm so they could meet some different farm animals that you may be learning about in your study of animals (or the life cycle).  You could also learn about fruits and vegetables (like I mentioned in a previous post) if the farm you visit has gardens.

  You could take it one step further and have them look up specific animals and get more information and either present on their specific animal or have them do a project (also could be great for group work).  Another option would be (for English Language Arts) to "write through a mask".  Have your kiddos pick an animal, and after researching about them, have them write a piece about the daily routine for their certain animal through the animal's perspective.

Tons of great ideas can stem from this trip to the farm.  I hope you can enjoy something similar to this in your classrooms!

Science Annotated Bibliography

Hi Y'all!

As we all know, "sharing is caring", so I wanted to share a list of science books that would be great literary devices for the classroom!  I know I previously shared my Integrated Curriculum Annotated Bibliography with you all, but I also had to construct a 25-book annotated bibliography for my science class, and since they are all great resources I thought it would be rude of me not to share!

So, here it is!  Enjoy!