Week 22, Day 2: Nerds, Dorks,Honors Students, and Role Models.

EVEN BLOCK SCHEDULE: Buoyancy Boat Lab. Honors Science Field trip to the California State University, Fresno Downing Planetarium.

I took my honors science class to see a show at the Planetarium. I love these kids. Honors Kids are different. I like the NERD in them and I mean that with love and respect. I am a Nerd too. I don’t totally relate to them, I was never a type A over achiever in school (at least not until I was in Navy A school and wanted to get home as fast as possible in their self pace program). In middle school I was so totally clueless. I was a nice kid in class, loved movies and how things work, but I was clueless about strange things like homework, studying, finishing an assignment…turning in one.

Anyway, I loved hanging out with students in the bus and at the show. A former student of mine, form my Honors Science class 5 years ago, one of the winners of the Smittcamp Scholarship, to came and talk to my students. She did a great job and it was so cool to see her and to see what a great role model she is. Thank you Lainie.(Photo:she is on the top row 4th from the right)

I don’t just love my Honors Kids. My dorky or distracted students I totally get. I am was one. This is the reason I want to teach regular classes. My honors students will do fine with almost anyone as their teacher. I want to make sure that regular students have a great teacher. If they are really like me they may be a late bloomer too, and one day they decide to be Nerdy Science teacher too.

We had Monday off. No more field trips on a short week.

I hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion!
It's not Magic, It's Science
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

Week 22, Day 1: Floating Archemides

ODD BLOCK PERIOD: Buoyancy Boat Lab.

Archimedes principal is pretty easy…if stated easy. Try this: IF YOU WEIGH 120 POUNDS, THEN THE WATER YOU DISPLACE WHEN FLOATING WILL ALSO WEIGH 120 POUNDS.

In this lab students take a 4 ounce plastic cup, place between 5 to 40 pennies in the cup, weigh it, float it, capture the overflow, measure the overflow, then make a graph and see show close together your data points plot out.

When you have students do a group lab they each need to have a job. This lab has the "masser", the volume person, the graduated cylinder person and if a 4th person a calculator.

Week 21, Day 4: The Best Bill Nye VIdeo, Dumpster Diving and Burning my finger!

ODD BLOCK PERIOD: Begin Buoyancy with the Bill Nye Buoyancy Video, Give and fill-in notes.

The BEST BILL NYE VIDEO is the Buoyancy Video.  It is perfect for 8th graders, 8th grade curriculum, and it has HIGH DENSITY info on Buoyancy. Our next lab, The Buoyancy Boat lab, is a simple version of the water displacing boat demo he does near the beginning to illustrate Archimedes principal.

After school today I worked with my Sceince "Olympiaders".  Erin learned how to solder wires for use in a conductivity tester, she was so happy with her new skill and she may be better than me at it.  She burned my finger with the iron as I reach for it and she was trying to be helpful and hand it to me. Everybody laughed at the light color burned area on my right index finger...even I laughed-it was minor and totally an accident.

The boys were excited because they got to go dumpster diving again looking for cardboard to make a custom box for JUNKYARD CHALLENGE.

A very fun afternoon.  One that makes teaching a joy.