Ok, back to work.
What do I think I did well this year* in the classroom, and outside of it to get ready for the classroom? Hmmm...
- Read out loud. I took a regular turn reading Science, Math, Social Studies, Reading texts and read several picture books to introduce and supplement lessons. I'm reading them Nicholas St. North whenever I get the chance, a chapter here, a chapter there. I also put vocabulary (synonyms/in context) from each chapter up on the big screen as I read.
- Got 'em moving. We got up out of our seats to act out the solar eclipse, classifying data, the circulatory system, water cycle and evaporation, bar graphs, vocabulary words, as well as going back in time to review a lesson. (How? With tin foil hats, hula hoops, and a black hole video from NASA.gov, of course. How else would one go back in time, with a Lamborghini? Preposterous. Would never work.)
- The blood stream activity worked well. The students paired up to act out and tell class the jobs of heart, lungs, cells, etc. and other students traveled through the stations telling us where they were going (from the heart to lung, capillary to cell) and what they were doing (delivering oxygen, exhaling CO2). We switched up roles several times and I think it really "flowed"...
*not that the year is over -- we go to July 20th!
