Scientific Method

I think the scientific method is great for upper grade the way that it is. However, for lower grade I feel that as a class they can do the steps of the scientific method. Rephrase difficult terms and make it child friendly. Do the process orally. Walk them through each step of the process. I learned that the distance of the race car depends on the amount of rubber band that is wound.

Field Trip Blog

SANTA ANA ZOO

The Santa Ana Zoo occupies 20 acres and hosts more than 270,000 people annually. Along with at least fifty monkeys, you will find a rain forest, endangered species, an aviary, an electrical train and a children zoo right in the middle of the Orange County urban jungle. The Zoo also offers exciting educational programs for teachers, parents, grandparents and students of all ages. It is a fun place for your whole family to enjoy and rediscover the wonder of the natural world together. It is a place to have fun, a place to learn, and a place that can be enjoyed by people of all ages every day of the year.






What special benefits could my students gain from visiting this fieldtrip site?

Students can learn about and see different animals from all over the world in one spot. The zoo shows students how they take in injured animals and nurse them back to health before reintroducing them back into their natural habitats. The zoo also teaches students about endangered species and how the zoo breeds these endangered species to save them from extinction. Students are able to see wild animals up close and personal that they wouldn't be able to see other wise. The zoo has many education programs like Zoo Safari, Rainforest Tour, Bird Lab, and the Zoo Explorer Program.







What state standards are addressed/reinforced by attending this fieldtrip?


Kindergarten-
Life Science:
2. Different kinds of plants and animals inhabit the earth.
a. Students know how to observe and describe similarities and differences in the appearance and behavior of plants and animals.





First Grade-
Life Science:
2. Plants and animals meet their needs in different ways. As a basis for understanding
this concept:
a. Students know different plants and animals inhabit different kinds of environments and have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of places.
b. Student know that both plants and animals need water, animals need food, and plants need light.



What would I need to do to adequately prepare my students before the visit?

First I would need to talk with my students about safety and the rules of the zoo. These rules include:

1. Do not tease the animals; treat them with respect.
2. Food may not be brought into the zoo.
3. Do not feed the animals.
4. Throw all your trash away; do not litter.

I would also remind my students to not shout at the animals and not to pet the animals unless told to do so. I would also tell them not to climb on the cages or railings because it is not safe and could scare the animals. I would also tell my students not to talk when a zoo employee is talking to us and to raise their hand if they have a question.

Second, I would talk to my students about endangered species and injured species. I will inform them how the zoo takes in endangered species to save them from becoming extinct and how they rescue injured animals, nurse them back to health, and release them back into their habitats. I will also inform my students that they will be seeing animals that they see everyday, but they will also be seeing animals they have never seen before because they live in the wild.


What resource materials are available to assist my preparation, teaching?

http://www.endangeredspecie.com/

http://whozoo.org/listodate.htm

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/zooanim.html

http://www.switcheroozoo.com/







What will you do to debrief students after you have attended the fieldtrip?

One thing that I would do to debrief my students after the zoo is have them write in their journals telling me what they liked about the zoo, what they didn't like, and what they learned.


Another thing the students could do to debrief, is they could draw a picture of their favorite animal that they saw at the zoo and write a sentence or two telling me a fact or something they learned about that animal.








My Overall experience at the Zoo!

The Santa Ana Zoo is such a relaxing place to visit and a fun place to take your friends. It is very informational and interesting to learn about all the different animals the zoo takes care of. The Santa Ana Zoo is known for their monkey exhibit. I can't begin to explain to you how many different types of monkeys I saw at this zoo. From huge to small, black to white, and quiet to noisy monkeys-they had them all. The Santa Ana Zoo is a very small zoo and is set up in a nice circle, so you are guaranteed to see every exhibit and animal there.

Richardson reading

In this weeks reading, I learned that web blogging can really be used in many different ways. Because of this reason I feel that web blogging can be used in most classrooms. For kindergarten, first, and second grade you could have one blog and blog together as a class. For third, fourth, and fifth grade, they can individually have their own blogs and blog themselves. For upper graders they can share their ideas with other classmates and respond to other classmates blogs.

1st S.S. Blog 2-1-10

Thinking back to last semester, I started student teaching when my second graders were learning about the government. A way that I could have incorporated a blog with my students is before I started the lesson, I could have asked the students to go home a blog about what they want to learn about the government. Or I could have also had the students blog about what they already know about our government. I also taught my second graders about landforms last semester. A way I could have incorporated a blog with my students is I could have assigned a landform to each one of the students and had them blog about the definition and facts of that landform. The classroom that I was in only had 2 computers available to the students and most of my studetns didn't have computers at home, but every Wednesday morning we would have computer lab, so I would have allowed the studetns to blog during that time. I also could of had students take turns using the computers in the classroom to blog, this just might have taken a lot of time.