WOW....I hope I can even approach what you did as Imove into a second/third Grade class.
Sally On 6/19/09 12:38 PM, "George and Cherylle Waters" <[email protected]> wrote: > I haven¹t posted in a long time, but I do read the posts. I > hope I am not overstepping my bounds here, but here goes with my view of > themes. Back in 2001, I focused on the science interdisciplinary > theme of Change and the big ideas of Systems and Models through our eight-week > unit on Volcanoes with a major focus on the Rock Cycle. The students and I > selected this theme when we discussed all the changes we expected to occur at > third grade and decided early on that this theme would be a good focus for all > our learning for the year. This was especially poignant for us on September 11 > when we realized the changes that were thrust upon us as a nation and realized > that some changes are natural and recurring and some changes are introduced by > the actions of others that are totally out of the ³norm.² My overall goals > for student learning about our theme of Change included having my students > learn that change may be predictable or unpredictable, good or bad, > constructive or destructive, slow or rapid. I wanted them to learn that change > is a feature of both scientific and nonscientific processes. I also wanted > them to learn that things work together as a system and not in isolation to > bring about change. Additionally, I wanted them to develop better critical > thinking skills and use the process skills of observing; hypothesizing; > collecting, organizing, recording, and analyzing data; drawing conclusions and > communicating ideas throughout the curriculum. The science learning I hoped > to accomplish through this interdisciplinary theme of Change and the ³Big > Ideas² of Systems and Models included having students learn how changes in the > earth brought about the formation and eruption of volcanoes, how the > properties of rocks and minerals vary and that changes in the earth (i.e. > heating and cooling) can cause in these properties, and how variables may or > may not change the results of an experiment. I wanted the students to become > aware of the complexity of the Systems of volcanoes and rocks. I used the big > idea of Models to enhance this study of Change because models are something > that students can construct, handle, and change in various ways. By using the > ³big ideas² of Systems and Models, students could relate how things Change and > how these changes have effects in all areas of living and non-living things, > especially bringing in what they know personally about models and how they > work and what they have previously learned about systems. I wanted to > increase their scientific knowledge and develop concepts through engagement in > the science processes, to have students recognize that Systems and the Changes > therein have far-reaching effects and are not limited to science alone, and to > connect the science concepts with contributions of scientists (geologists, > biologists, and archaeologists). I wanted them to learn how things can work > together as a System to bring about Change and that changes in the system have > a ripple effect. These overall goals and science learning goals mesh with the > National Science Standards and with our state¹s science framework. The > volcano/rocks unit itself was chosen when Benjamin received a volcano science > kit for his birthday and donated it to our class. Also, on almost every > sharing day previously, Matthew had brought in car models as his sharing; and > Zander brought in many models of Bionicles, a robot-type figure that changes > form. By taking advantage of this interest in Models and by using Change as an > overarching theme the students were able to personalize curriculum links that > promoted a broader understanding of Systems, namely how the systems within > volcanoes can produce rocks, how rocks themselves can change, and how the rock > cycle is important for soil. The interdisciplinary theme of Change was also > important because it allowed us to use our study of the volcanic system as a > segue to our soon-to-follow unit on plants and animals which will include a > further study of soil and a study of plant/animal/human systems and > interactions and how changes in any one area can affect the others. The theme > of Change also meshed with our previous study of the solar system and the > interactions of the planets, sun, and moon (especially the changes/phases) and > how these Systems and their inherent Changes affect living organisms. It > helped to increase critical thinking as the students began to understand why > things change and that things do not work in isolation. Being able to see how > various parts work together helped to develop this critical thinking. When we > viewed a video on moon rocks, students also connected Change and Systems to > our volcano/rocks unit by virtue of the moon rocks being identified as basalt, > a volcanic rock which shows that Change and Systems can also be in effect on > the moon. (I then went on to explain the activities/experiments we did.) > I believe that our constant reflections and questions on how all our > activities connected to Change was critical and powerful in increasing > students¹ scientific understanding and in their scientific attitudes. It is > evident that students had a variety of avenues suitable for their learning > styles and were able to personalize connections that will benefit them as they > further their science learning. Throughout this unit, students learned about > our theme of Change across the curriculum, which I felt was most successful. > They learned about changes made in science and history and how these changes > influenced interactions/systemspeople to people, people to animals, people to > environment, and people to ideas. For example, in literature we discussed how > characters and situations (plots) changed by completing a ³Change Wheel² on > the characters and plots in many of our stories, such as the resulting changes > that occurred in Stuart Little to Stuart and the Little family. In our > reading groups and as read alouds, we also read a variety of non-fiction > including Magic School Bus Inside the Earth, The Secrets of Vesuvius, Mount > St. HelensThe Story Behind the Scenery and Mount St. HelensThe Continuing > Story, The Buried City of Pompeii, an ³I Was There² book, and several books > on rocks and minerals. In language development, we discussed the changes that > occur to words by adding prefixes and suffixes and the change in the word > ³vulcanology² to the more-accepted spelling ³volcanology.² In Life Science > we discussed the changes and effects of volcanoes on the lives (systems) of > humans and nature when a biologist from a local government agency talked to us > about the return of plants and animals after an eruption. In Physical Science > we learned that a solid plus a liquid could produce a gas as when vinegar was > added to baking soda in one of our volcano experiments. We also saw how > crystals form and change, and we experienced chemical reactions/changes when > we made crystals, rock candy, and our volcano cake. In math, we learned to > change thermometer readings from Fahrenheit to Celsius and back again using > our calculators. We also experienced the theme of Change and the big idea of > Models when we changed a square of tagboard/posterboard and made tessellating > templates (models) to use for artistic mathematical designs. We also shared > several models for multiplication: arrays, Cartesian product, and > multiplication quilts. We used Change when we graphed the results of our two > school-wide surveys about volcanoes and lava and showed what the information > looked like with Unifix cubes (kinesthetic), a bar graph and a pie graph and > how the information was the same but changed to a different form. When > Kathleen saw the extension chapter on geology in our district-adopted science > textbook, she informed the class that she was going to be an archaeologist > when she grew up. This fit in with social studies and science, so we studied > the Roman Empire and the changes wrought by the volcanic eruptions of Vesuvius > on Pompeii and Herculaneum. Even though students of this age focus on > ³immediacy,² they are still curious of events in the long-ago past. For this > reason, we included a study of Pliny the Younger¹s first-person account of > Vesuvius. We studied archaeology and had our own ³dig² and ³uncovered² an > artifact from Pompeii, using a science kit from a local teacher store. An > archaeologist from a local government agency spoke to the class on becoming an > archaeologist and the changes that have come about in that field. This > unit was a huge success even if I did provide you with TMI!!! Cherylle in > CA 3rd Grade _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing > list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership > please go > to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. S > earch the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
