Profile | NSTA

Cori Coleman
Tavelli Elementary School

My NSTA / Peers / Cori Coleman

I am originally from Kentucky but moved to Colorado 7 years ago. I am about to begin my 19th year teaching! I teach 5th grade in Fort Collins, and I love it! I love my kids, my team, and my school! When I'm not working, I spend as much time as possible with my amazing husband and our two little boys.

Public Collections
Recent Public Collections by Cori

Force and Motion

Resources for teacher background and instructional ideas

13 Resources

View Collection

Share
Share on Facebook
Tweet This
Email to a Friend

Earth Materials & Changes

Useful resources for teacher background and instructional ideas aligned to Colorado's current 3rd grade earth science standards.

10 Resources

View Collection

Share
Share on Facebook
Tweet This
Email to a Friend

View all public collections by Cori
Forum Posts
Recent Posts by Cori

Thu, Oct 02, 2014 11:06 PM in Earth's Changing Surface Scipack

Taylor, I have LOVED using the changing earth lessons from the NSTA book Picture Perfect Science. Check it out! There is also an AIMS lesson called Agent E that I have done with 4th graders and it really helps them understand erosion. I even added in an Agent W - you basically dress up two kids, have Agent W go in and break/rip up stuff (you prep the actor for this), then Agent E comes in next ...

View Full Post

Sat, Aug 09, 2014 5:23 PM in Being a Science Change Agent

We've used a lot of Carol Dweck's mindset work as well as video clips and information from "A Private Universe" to help people see the need for change.

View Full Post

Thu, Jul 31, 2014 4:57 PM in 3rd grade beginning of year

I've done this with a cheese stick and an almond! The kids flip out!!! I followed this up with a Picture Perfect Science lesson called Earthlets (I think that's the name). You read a book about an alien who comes to Earth and observes humans but all of his inferences/conclusions are wrong. Leads into some neat activities! This helped not only in science but also in reading as well!

View Full Post

View all posts by Cori
Reviews
Recent Reviews by Cori

Force and Motion

Thu, Apr 23, 2015 11:28 PM
Great Resource!

Going through the Force and Motion SciPack was a great follow-up to our time in Jersey City! I felt so much more comfortable going through the SciPack because of the background knowledge I'd gained at MEMTA. Even teachers not as familiar with the content would enjoy this, as well, though, because the layout, information, graphics, and interactives do a great job of making the content easy to understand!

If You Find a Rock

Mon, Jul 28, 2014 5:47 PM
Rockin' with Rocks

I love the Picture Perfect Science series. For 5 years I was a K-5 science lab teacher (after being in the classroom for 6 years) so I knew the importance of integrating ELA and Science. Picture Perfect saved the day many times! This lesson in particular I used as a base for 1st, 2nd, and even 3rd grade lessons. Just a tweak here or there or using the flow and format with different books and I was able to engage my students in the study of rocks. The first graders especially loved bringing in their own rocks and creating their "Pet Rock" posters. Just think about the grade level and the writing expectations you have and adjust accordingly. My school was inner-city and honestly many students would bring in pieces of gravel that weren't too interesting, so I always put out a stash of my classroom rocks or some that I had collected so they could choose to use what they'd brought or they could use one of mine. This also helped considering I was a special area class and they only saw me once a week so they weren't likely to remember to bring things from home unless the classroom teachers helped me out. Overall this is a great lesson because it is so easy to change to meet your needs. Try it out! Also try the Byrd Baylor book Everybody Needs a Rock!!

Changes Matter!

Thu, Jul 17, 2014 2:36 PM
Matter Matters

This article was a great read! I love that the authors give ideas for hands-on explorations in the classroom and also ideas for getting students up and out of the classroom for the search for changes. The table of common misconceptions is a handy resource as well. While reading the article I was reminded of a Picture-Perfect Science lesson - I believe it was in the first book and is called Chemical Change Cafe (?). With that lessons literacy ties, the ideas in that lesson would complement the ideas in this article well and they could easily be meshed for an elementary classroom.

View all reviews by Cori