Elena Snow
Gustav Webling Elementary

Effects of Oceans on Weather and Climate

Sat, Mar 30, 2013 11:12 PM
Effecrs of Ocean on Weather and Climate review

Even though I am a 2nd grade teacher, I still appreciate this sciguide and the life lessons it will bring to the students who can experience and learn from this sciguide. Living in Hawaii, the ocean is a HUGE part of my student's lives. We take for granted the beautiful weather and the vast ocean that surrounds us, we also take for granted the power it supplies us with solar, wind, and hydrothermal energy. I like that this sciguide helps students and teachers to better understand some ways that can impact our climate and weather. Why do we vog some days and not the others? Why do we have beautiful sunshine? What causes the freak water tornados? Even though my students are too young for the lessons provided here in the sci guide, there are still good lessons to be learned that I can create from this sciguide to better suit my students age and abilities. Great sciguide :)

Flow of Matter and Energy in Ecosystems

Sat, Feb 23, 2013 5:54 PM
Matter Matters! :)

I found this sciguide to be very interesting. It has been a while since I have thought about my world. On the news I hear about global warming and I know I should recycle, but I tend to disassociate myself from these HUGE issues. Though this is a middle school sciguide, I chose it because I found it interesting and important to look into. I think I can easily change a few things to fit into my second grade setting. I don't think it is every too early to start educating young minds about the importance of the earth and taking care of it. If we do not take action in preserving our earth, the carbon emissions are just going to keep increasing which is eventually be devastating. I would love to incorporate this sciguide topic into my habitat unit with my students. They are all aware of the basics of how plants grow and what animals and humans need to survive, but talking about what happens to our environment if the flow of energy were to change would be awesome. I really think they could see how our choices greatly affect the world we take for granted. I can't wait to introduce this to them :)

Organisms: Grades K-4

Sat, Feb 09, 2013 5:46 PM
Organisms: K-4 review

The Sciguide Organisms: K-4, is a great resource for teachers who are looking to introduce the interrelationships among plants, animals, and their environment. I loved that links were provided for lower elementary grades on plants and animals, as well as life cycles. At my school, the second grade focuses on plant and animal life cycles in the 1st and 2nd quarter and their relationship. I found the lesson plans provided by the ScuGuide were similar to what I have implemented already in my classroom, but I was ecstatic to find a lesson purely for developing a hypothesis. I had a hard time encouraging my second graders to test out an idea. I think the next time I have them write a hypothesis, I will use some of what the lesson plan had suggested. :) I really have no suggestions for improvement. It was very easy to navigate and access. Such a great SciGuide! I look forward to discovering new possible lessons that I could manipulate for my own class.