Friday, November 9

Wow!  What a week we have had!!!  We were not sure if our student teacher was going to be able to start on Monday or not, so our lesson plans were questionable.  Well, we found out that she had some family issues going on and would not be starting until next Monday, so I had to come up with something for the students to work on for the week.  I decided to have them complete a project on different forms of energy.  I gave each group a different energy form and had them complete 4 parts.  They had to tell me what their energy form is, how it is created (where it comes from), give me 3 examples, and then go through the energy transformations (changes) of those examples.  We put the information on photo story.  It is a computer tool that uses images and allows students to record their information, instead of standing in front of the class and telling them.  There is music that can be put to the images as well, if the students choose to put it in.

I was hoping to have these projects completed by the end of the week, so that we could show them, but we have had some computer issues and will not have them all finished.  Here is what I am going to do.  I have saved as many as I can to my flash drive.  The rest of them are saved to the student's name.  I am going to wait until my student teacher has completed her time here and then show the stories.  I don't think it will be a problem.  I really hated it that the computers have been such a pain this week for the kids.  They kept freezing up and not letting them get onto sites and this keeps them from completing the assignment.  When this happens, I have to make adjusts to my time schedule.  Things happen and we have to work with them.

My student teacher will be starting next week and she will be teaching them about atoms.  She will be going over the vocabulary with them and giving them the basic notes they will need first, just like I do.  We have found some activities for the kids to complete, as well.  I will let you know next week more about what we are doing.  Have a great weekend!!!!