The Extreme Germ

Today on The Extreme Germ we have another group of ladies telling us why it's important to wash our hands! Enjoy!

Another Special Guest

If you have been following our adventures this year, you'll notice we've enjoyed some visits from special guests. Well, yesterday we enjoyed having Mrs. Pennington teach a science lesson on classification. We all know science is her favorite subject, and this year she gets to teach the whole county a thing or two! Many of my students had her last year, so it was a special treat for them to see her again!

About 10 minutes prior to her arrival, I broke the news to my class. They were guessing who it was and got so excited when I confirmed it was indeed Mrs. Pennington!

Classification isn't the easiest thing to comprehend, but I am sure the students know it well enough to teach to a friend now!


Here's what went down:
They had a bag of trailmix with an invitation to look at it, touch it, examine it, but NO EATING or TASTING! I am sure it was hard for some to look at all of the sweet treats lying on their desk, but they refrained. We saw some students begin grouping things before even knowing that's what the lesson was on.

Next, they were asked to make sense of all of these objects. Then students started grouping by shapes, colors, sizes, texture, and types of food. It was awesome to stand back and watch the learning taking place! Students were recording what they were thinking in their journal.

Then, the dichotomous key was introduced and the cereal was sorted. Students divided it into color and no color, circle and not circle, squishy and not squishy, and the list went on. They classified everything down to the marshmallows.

They enjoyed classifying little creatures called Mellanarks as well. The result was a class full of not only trailmix scientists, but higher order thinking that helped them figure out the world around us!

Students will begin learning how to classify animals and plants soon! I can't wait to teach vertebrates and non-vertebrates and vascular and non-vascular!

Thanks Mrs. Pennington for allowing us to take part in a cool lesson!

Wash Your Hands!

We are wrapping up our Microbes Unit. The students are working on a project during ELT. I let students bring in props, build props, use technology, and they have blown my mind! I am loving all of this creativity. One group has finished up their project, and I wanted to share!

First, take a look at what I gave them for options on this project:

*Write from the viewpoint of the microorganism. Explain how you cause people to get sick.

*Compare and contrast two different microorganisms.

*Write why it is important for people to wash their hands.

*Write a paragraph explaining the importance of microorganisms to humans. Identify at least 3 ways and give an example of each.

*Write an explanation of the role a microorganism plays in an ecosystem.

*Write about how to prevent the spreading of germs in the classroom or in the school.

These ladies wrote a commercial script on why it's important to wash your hands!

Check it out!

Also, a big thanks to Mr. Wilcox for the music! We enjoy singing the songs Mr. Adams and Mr. Wilcox write! That's right teachers, I work with two incredible musicians!

Let us know what you think!