Kehau Samuelu

Living in the Weather

Fri, Nov 30, 2012 5:03 PM
Weather

This Sciguide was intended for upper elementary but I found many ideas and activities that were easily adaptable to lower elementary. For example, the whole guide has 3 themes: predicting weather, weather and climate basics and weather, climate and humans. Instead of using all the content from each, it was very easy to use the basic concepts from one theme and integrate them into a lesson for lower elementary. This was a very organized and complete way to introduce a topic to my students. I feel that it gave me a way to ensure that I am not perpetuating any misconceptions and/or misunderstandings. This guide has a surprisingly wide variety of resources. I thought it would only include website that show current weather or data collected by bouys or being tracked, but the websites also include worksheets, assessments and information about a career in weather-reporting or predicting.

Nutrition: Grades K-4

Fri, Nov 30, 2012 4:36 PM
Nutritional sites

After going through the SciPack for Nutrition, I think my expectations were high for the Sciguide. The guide doesn't have as many resources or a variety of topics that come to mind as you do the Scipack. There also aren't too many resources for lower elementary. I think they should include more so that lower teachers can really set a good foundation for students as they gain more in depth understanding of nutrition. It’s like any other concept that is taught first a basic understanding is needed and then more in depth explanations and ideas can be incorporated. With this I appreciated the many animations and activities that were included in this Sciguide. I did use some of the websites as resources to guide my lessons for my younger students. The websites included many different types of resources that were available like hands-on activities, videos, animations, etc.

Resources and Human Impact: Grades 5-8

Mon, Apr 30, 2012 3:51 PM
natural resources for lower elementary

This was a very good SciGuide. It was easy to get carried away in the content and find many good resources. So many times there are not enough lower elementary resources. However, this SciGuide is split into three themes: Addressing Resource Use, Environment as a system, and Environment Degradation. In each of these themes is a K-4 resources link. These links had great journal articles that gave good ideas on texts to use and even a board game. It was also easy to step back and see that is the bigger picture is to save the Earth and make better habits then when students are young is the best time to explain the concept of natural resources and how we can make a difference everyday. This is perfect as it is seen as trendy to be green. Sooner than later we will all understand the urgency of being green and not see it as something that is just trendy. Living in Hawaii there were also connections to NOAA. It is sometimes hard for us islanders to really understand the vastness of our Earth. Having a resource like NOAA can really show our students that being here in Hawaii on a small island does not mean we can't make an impact. Lots of the information collected by NOAA effects the world. This is great connection to the world and a great start for our students to think globally. What we do here and now can make a difference.