Nicole Shouse
UMBC
MD

Creating a Schoolyard Mini-Garden

Mon, Oct 27, 2014 2:31 PM
Mini Garden

I decided to review the journal, Creating a School Mini Garden by: Francisca Garcia- Ruiz because I am really interested in having my future students create a schoolyard garden. I was also thinking about doing a 2-week unit for a class on this idea. In the beginning, the author begins by saying how many people hesitate taking on such a project because it is too ambitious; however, the author puts these types of readers at ease by saying this is an easy task and at her school many other educators and students developed an interest in it as well. I love that the author provided a couple good visuals to show what students were doing outside. I would have liked to see some feedback from students in quotations to see how they really felt about the whole experience. I am glad she expresses the importance of getting grants or sending a note home to parents to see if they can send their child in with seeds. This is really important to note and take into account when planning for this unit. I liked that the teacher allowed students to take care of plants inside the classroom during the winter time and then allowed students to plant the plants outside in the designated garden area when it got warmer. She also gave students roles, such as carrying the water, taking care of the weeds or taking pictures. This is important to help all students feel like they have a valuable role in creating this mini garden. There are resources in a table that the author provides as well that can help with creating a school yard garden, which is helpful. Finally, I really like that the author discusses the discussions that came up from planting, observing, and taking notes. For example, one student had a herb plant that grew quicker than other students so this gave the class an opportunity to analyze and discuss why this might have happened. Overall, this lesson took a lot of dedication, a passion for teaching science, and hard work so I would give this resource 5 stars.

The Ultimate Fizz

Mon, Oct 27, 2014 2:06 PM
The Ultimate Fizz Review

I was interested in reviewing one resource I had came acrossed called The Ultimate Fizz by: Mary Heckscher. This was a lesson planned for fifth graders so they could explore the baking soda and vinegar reaction and practice their graphing and measurement skills. In the beginning of this journal article, the author really explains why she chose to conduct this lesson the way she has. She also explains what knowledge students should have before doing this lesson, which I believe is extremely important. I think it is awesome that students have the opportunity to not only see a chemical change but they are creating the ultimate fizz. In doing so, students have to determine what amount of vinegar they need to add to baking soda to create the ultimate fizz without having any baking soda left over. This allows students to analyze, collaborate, and critically think about what they should do to get this result. I really liked the instructions she wrote out for her students because they are well written with a lot of good detail. I also liked that she had an observation section where she took note of students actions, thoughts, and reactions. I believe this is important for a teacher to take note of because a lot of times these type of notes can be used as a critique for what she may want to change or keep the same for next time she teaches the unit. Students had the opportunity to create a chemical reaction, find these measurements, graph their results, and predict other measurements. Lastly, I loved that the overall format was easy to follow with good subheadings and font size. Since I am a visual learner, I would have liked if there were more visuals to display what students were doing throughout this unit, so I would give this document 4 stars because of that. Overall, I believe this was a well thought out unit, and I believe it is very effective in meeting the common core standards provided at the end of the document.