Week 16, Day 1: Borax Crystal Lab

ODD BLOCK PERIOD: Begin the Crystal Growing Lab and while waiting begin to watch FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON :PART 5 "SPIDER"

Here are the materials for the lab

Here are the finished crystals on their pipe cleaner bases.

Here are the crystals the next morning. You pour out the Borax solution (3 tablespoons Borax in 8oz of Hot water) the morning after and let them dry a day.

It's fun and meets the state chemistry standards for crystals

I hope this helps,


Love to Teach and Teach with Passion


Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science
 

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 15, Day 5: Ellipse Lab and oops.

EVEN BLOCK SCHEDULE: Reviewed the Light-Year and A.U. homework assignment and tried the ellipse lab.  In Honors science did WHAT'S YOUR SIGN Astronomy reading passage and CONTACT video clip.

The ellipse lab went pretty well period 2.  Just got it done.  As is usually the case, the first time you do the lab you find out had to present it and set it up and make it flow.  Period 4 did not go so well.  I got it started too late. We barely had time to get the materials.  I saw this coming and went ahead anyway.  I should have just stopped the lab and had them work on homework.

The last column shows how many days of the year the sun is in the constellations listed.

In Honors Science I read an article from SKY AND TELESCOPE called "What's Your Sign?". It's about using Astrology Sun signs to get people to learn some Astronomy. It's very interesting and you learn a buch of astronomy.  It's on my school website home page under Notes and Major Assignment and then Reading Passages. After the reading passage students look at their star charts, then learn stellar navigation and then we watch the contact scene from the movie CONTACT.
I hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 15, Day 4: Rally day and How to Study for a Test

ODD BLOCK SCHEDULE: Shorter Period for Rally schedule. Took vocabulary quiz and barely had time to get homework reviewed.  We did get some notes taken.

I realized that I often said to my students, "Study for your test". Many kids don't know how. I threw a few ideas down and then asked for input from our staff. Below is the document we came up with. It's on the bottom of my school website.  See link below.

I hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 15, Day 3: I got all caught up.

EVEN BLOCKSCHEDULE: Vocabulary Quiz for the solar system, go over homework and start notes on solar system. Ellipse lab



What the heck happened?  I'm charging along this week as usual and all of a sudden today I was 100% caught up...or at least no longer behind.

My 15 year old son has been my chief assistant for years.  He enters grades in my grade book for me.  Saves me quite a bit of time.

Cutting back on the hours for Science Olympiad has helped me get caught up.

I added some diagarms to my Vocabulary quiz. I drew them then scanned them, then used a neat graphics capture tool from Jing.com copy and paste them into the document. It is a good quiz.

I Honors Sceince i did the elipse lab. It was fun. They are the faithful.  We'll see how it goes with the regular kids.

Rally tomorrow.

Week 15, Day 2: So much for planning

ODD BLOCK schedule: Reviewed the Solar Flare/Solar Facts H.W. and Started the solar system notes and the LIGHTYEARS AND AU'S homework.

Here is a photo of a student's foldable notes that they took home and re-did. looks nice

Today's Best Practice: Make your quizes have 2 versons and make them on ONE sheet of paper, that way you have only one sheet to run off and not two.

This was not a real fun day.  I went for the ellipse kit lab only to find it gone.  I gave the string to a colleague and either did not get it back OR I did not put it away so I could not start the lab.  Also I spent so much time going over the homework that we would not have time for the lab anyway.

I have spent a lot of time at lunchs and after school being there for the Science Olympiad team members.  A few kids and ALL of my time.  I feel rushed and behind in planning, grading, and creating new stuff.

I did make a new solar system vocab quiz that I am proud of...ahhh...got AM duty this week CCCOOOOOLLLD so I gotta get their early to run off the quiz.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 15, Day 1: Planning and Planner

Even Block Period: Bill Nye Earth's Seasons, Score Force test, Begin Solar system notes.

I love Astronomy, but there are not a lot of labs to do if you have to get the unit done in a hurry. Going to try the elipse lab tomorrow.

Todays Best Practice: Make a custom Planner if you have a unique bell schedule.  We have and 8 period day with 88 minute periods alternating even then odd every other day. I like having all block.  I  make the lesson planner page show here then go to our techer center and put in plastic bindings. I take a yearly staff picture and make it the new cover of my lesson planner, its a neat way to see how the dept changes over the years.

As I plan  I high light in yellow anything I need to get printed up or create. After I have it printed or made I cover the yellow highlight with pink or blue.

Hope this helps,



Love to Teach and Teach with Passion


Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science


http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney


richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 14, Day 5: Student planners and opening class routine.

ODD BLOCK: Crafted foldable notes (see privious post), Students graded the non-benchmark Force and Motion Test, and either Began the Astronomy slide show or watched Bill Nye Earth's Seasons.

I send a boy outside and fill out a 'time out form" for defiance, and a young lady that would not hush-focus-work and I had her call her mother immeadiatly. both of these in one class. I needed to get caught up on a few things and Bill Nye saved me.

Today's best practice: Have daily Starter Tasks/Questions (Academic openers) and make the 1st item to update a calender (or planner) beginning of EVERY PERIOD. Pictured below is my Starters board( I have 3 sliding boards up front)

Our school long ago agreed that we will have our print shop produce a student calendar planner, which includes their hall pass on the back cover, and all teachers will have the following posted for daily use: STARTERS (ACADEMIC OPENER), LEARNING GOAL, HOMEWORK, PLAN FOR THE DAY.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 14, Day 4: Foldable Flip Chart Notes

EVEN BLOCK: We crafted astronomy foldable notes, went over the force and motion benchmark test, and i checked off the Solar System Vocabulary Logo graph flip cards on to my seating chart.

Today's Best Practice: Foldable notes take less space, increase note density, are more organized and are FUN.

The picture below shows 3 things. On the bottom left is my class notebook showing the foldable notes real size. The top right is a large version of the notes from last year, i have added one more piece of paper this year resulting in 4 more section for notes. On the right are the labels to go in the notes. We still have to fill in the brackets with Inner/Outer planet facts.

We made these by stacking 4 sheets of lined paper (looks really cool with colored paper or highlighting tabs). We slid the top sheet up 1 or 2 lines, repeated for the rest. Folded the the top of the stack to the bottom. Stapled top of each side, folded in half vertically then cut up from the bottom to 1 inch from the top to separate inner from outer solar system.

Foldable notes have become fashionable in the past few years. I don't usually follow trends but this is a good one.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 14, Day 3: Solar System Survey and a laugh

ODD BLOCK SCHEDULE: We created the foldable notes for the planets, reviewed the Force and Motion Benchmark test, and did a fun formative assessment stand by your favorite planet survey.

TODAY'S BEST PRACTICE: Do class surveys where all have to participate. Use thumbs up/Thumbs down. Use all stand up, now sit if ______, Or make signs in the room and go stand by your choice.

The photo shows the survey white board for Neptune, One of the posters for my word wall, and me 2 week assignments calendar

I really like the Astronomy unit. Kids like it too. The best part is when talking about the planets to mention that Saturn is so light compared to its mass that if you could put it in a giant bathtub it would FLOAT....but it will leave a BIG ring in the tub. Ha Ha Ha Ha.

I wont even mention the Uranus jokes...like what does toilet paper and STAR TREK have in common? They both circle Uranus looking for KLINGONS! L.O.L.

Week 14, Day 2: Be Flexible...and have a back up plan.

Even Block: Today was a catch-up day for my even classes. This due to the goof up with the wrong test answer sheet and jumping ahead a day giving them the benchmark test.

Sometimes things don't go as you plan and you have a class looking at you for direction. You may need a few minutes to work out the problem. When this happens I have students work on the next homework assignment or project. ALWAYS HAVE THIS TO FALL BACK ON. Always have them DO SOMETHING...but do not waste their time.

It is real easy to let your frustration be thrown at your students by being grumpy or snapping at them. It's not their fault you misplanned. Be cool, and flexible.

As I had students get a head start on their homework (Solar System Vocabulary Logograph[picture] flash cards) I set up a quick FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT SURVEY. I had them read some facts about the planets. On white boards I wrote the name of each planet, except Earth. Then I had students go stand by their favorite planet, talk to the others in their group and list 1 reason why they like that planet. It was fun and I gave an interesting fact about each planet as they shared their reason.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 14, Day 1: Belated appreciation and surround yourself well.

ODD BLOCK: Spent the day in the library with students working on the Intro. to Astronomy Website search.

Today's Best Practice: Surround yourself with motivated colleagues that love what they do, stay away from the other type.

I love Astronomy. I wish class was held at night so we could go out and look at Jupiter in the western sky after sunset, Orion's Nebula anytime, and the fuzzy glow of the Andromeda Galaxy. Since class is not held at night the website above is a nice alternative.

A former student found my Facebook page and posted this: "...you were my favorite science teacher out of m entire public education and you're probably the only teacher who actually was interested in what he taught. Just though I'd let you know." So often our 8th graders are lost in the world of surviving middle school and don't always say thanks.

My first thought was how nice this is and thank-you.

My second thought was anger. WHY ARE SOME TEACHERS NOT TOTALLY IN TO WHAT THEY TEACH. For more on this go back to my very first post back in August.

My 3rd thought was that he must not have had Mr. Piercy in 7th grade life science nor Mr Lake in High School Physics. These two colleagues are 2 of my best friends and outstanding teachers.

Surround yourself with greatness. Hand out with excellent teachers. Don't spend your time around anyone that pulls our profession down (see my first Post in August).

As I look at my colleague friends they are ALL EXCELLENT teachers that Love what they do.(look at the my Einstein picture on the side bar)

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Thanksgiving Week Off-Amazing Silo's of Owens Valley

AHHH. My 15 year old son Anthony is driving my truck. he did Great. All pictures from my cell phone camera.

It's nice to have a week off from school. I am visiting my hometown of Bishop California, located on the eastern Side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley about 300 miles North of the city of Los Angels.

The Owens Valley at Bishop is about 4,100 feet above sea level. The neighboring Sierra and White Mountain ranges soar to over 14,000 feet. This place is known as the DEEPEST VALLEY in the world (my mother makes me add). This even with 1000's of feet of alluvium (eroded Sierra and White mountain rock).

A friend(David Piercy) said take some pictures. So I decided to go on a quest. The old Silo's of long gone ranches. These structures have always captured my sense of wonder for their history and sheer physical mass. These farm silos are the only remnants of the many ranches that spotted the floor of the Owens Valley. (see a painting of "The Matlick Ranch" below painted by my father Ernest G. Kinney).

These were too difficult for the City of Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power to tear down as they bought the water rights to the valley in the 1920's and 30's. My Dad said they tried to tear them down years before I was born and it was a near impossible task. So they stand as mostly lone sentinels of the valley sage covered prairie lands. So Here:

In my dad's painting notice the silo behind the barn. It's amazing to imagine a ranch like this near each of the silo's you are about to see.

Below Quad Silos. Must have been a big ranch. Usually the openings for the silo's faced east. The "windows" would be covered with wood to keep grain/produce in. These are near the river close to Warm Springs road just East of the Owens River (referred to now as the river). This are only 11 concrete rings high, but are the only ones we found set into the ground about 2 rings deep. For the locals you can see the Peaks of Mt. Tom and Humphrey's between the silo's on the 2nd pic.

Below Twin Silo's. We had to cross a creek on a 3 foot wide pipe to get to this one and go through a field of fresh cow-pie land mines. I like the plank at the top . I am leaning against the side for size reference. These are about 14 concrete rings high. It is easier to count them at the site than on the pictures.

In this you can see a small glimpse of Airport road north silo between me and the twin silos. The cows tolerated us and scared my son. In the distance we could hear the distant cry of a cow and I told him to FREEZE...it's a Sleestak and they are deadly!

Below is Airport Road Silo middle. (if you exit the airport and cross line street onto the south going dirt road you will see 3 silo sites, one of which is the twin above.) My son Anthony is there for scale. You can barley see Mr Tom and all of Basin Mountain. This one is 11 1/2 concrete rings high.

I love the close up of Anthony (below left) inside the silo. Note the re bar that makes it rally strong. Most of these are full of old beer cans, burnt tires,and spray paint cans.

The Silo below right, the one I tried to be artsy with the sun in the "window" is Airport road north, closest to the airport. It is about 11 and a half rings high.

Below 2 pictures: Ahh, probably the most visited silos of the area by high school kids looking for a place to "PARTY" These are the twin silos near the 2nd artesian well (these wells are springs fed by the water level being higher in the surrounding mountains. There are several of these about the valley. These silos are a graceful 14 concrete rings high and one of only 3 that do not have their openings face east. These face west.

Below is the 1st artesian well just off line street on the west side of the river. The pipe use to be perfectly round but local young idiots (like me) tried to pull them out. I only succeeded in adding one dent to it but MANY to my dads ole white truck. The river is about a stone throw to the right of this photo.

Below is the Silo on Highway 6 just west of the "community" of Laws. You can see the chemical plant and the railroad museum in the background if you can zoom way in. The close-up below is pretty cool too. I think these things will out last the pyramids.

Below are the Twin silos on highway 6 just north of WYE road. People live on the property so I did not get too close.

The Picture below is the Dixon lane silo close to highway 6. I had a closer pic but it got deleted (i hate my cell phone). Up close it looks like the Laws silo but with gray paint covering graffiti. On Warm Springs Road about 3/4 mile east of highway 395 is a short single silo in a working ranch but I lost my photo of it too. This was fun to do today for both me and my son.

Week 13, Day 5: Start Astro and Thanksgiving!

EVEN Block periods: After transcribing the answers from my wrong test version post of 2 days ago we started Astronomy with an interesting INTRO TO ASTRONOMY web search of the ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY website...THE BEST WEBSITE ON THE WEB.

I am thankful for being an 8th grade science teacher. I love working with these wonderful kids. They let me keep in touch with my inner child...which is pretty close to the surface.
Astronomy Picture of the Day
The Introduction to Astronomy assignment is an interesting web search from this NASA sponsored site. You can download a copy of the worksheet from my web site listed below on the calendar for today. Here is today's Picture.

Credit & Copyright: Victor van Wulfen

Explanation: This bright meteor streaked through dark night skies over

Sutherland, South Africa on November 15. Potentially part of the annual Leonid meteor shower, its sudden, brilliant appearance, likened to a camera's flash, was captured by chance as it passed between two clouds. Of course, the two clouds are also visible to the eye in dark southern skies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way. This year's Leonid meteor shower peaked on November 17 as the Earth passed through the stream of dust from periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle.

Happy thanksgiving. Clear and Steady skies.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 13, Day 4: My room is quiet now...and give your students MORE TIME

ODD Block period-Students taking Force and Motion Benchmark test.

Last week I po$ted that my air conditioner NEVER $TOP$. The next day two district energy tech's were in my room, one of them the district ENERGY CZAR himself (an old colleague and friend..$tu Ogren). The next day I had total control of the AC unit blower. I have never heard the class so quiet. Yippie. Money talk$.

When my students ask me why I have so many clocks in my room I tell them, "In the past, students would complain that they needed more time in class. So I gave it to them with the clocks with times from around the world. As a kid watching the Mary Tyler Moore show, I was fascinated with all the clocks on the wall of the newsroom. The Utahraptor on the bottom left says "Feeding time Jurassic Park". I have an "Atomic Clock" with elements 1-12 symbols instead of numbers. I turned a model of the Starship Enterprise into a clock. It's silly and it's fun. You need to do that...be a bit silly and have fun with your middle school kids.

So there...take that!

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 13, Day 3: wrong answer sheet

I found out after school today that I gave the old version of a test but used the new test version's answer sheet. I found this out after I scanned them into the district test data base. At least the two tests have the same questions, just in a different order. Agh. At least my horror of seeing the highest score of 12 out of 22 can now be replaced with relief that I'm the slow learner and not my students.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 13, Day 2-learn from your mistakes

I over reacted day before yesterday. A student was slow to turn forward during a quiz. Instead of quietly talking to him I did it in front of the class. This brought attention to him and gave him a chance to talk back. A rookie mistake on my part. I apologized to him today. It was the right thing to do. As experienced as we get through the years we can get frustrated do something best avoided.

The CSTA Newsletter had an article about this. Wish I read it last week.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 13, Day 1: Review..for fun.

Today we took ch 1 Vocabulary quiz, review ch 1 practice test, and DID THE STEAM ENGINE LAB.

Today's Best Practice: Review games. I use SCIENCE BINGO and SCIENCE JEOPARDY. I review and work my students quiet a bit. These games make it fun. I also give out candy prizes, usually Jolly ranchers because they are pretty cheap. Jeopardy is on a power point slide show, you can download them(and bingo) on my CSTA teacher link on my school web page. I make a blank grid and students fill in the answers as we go.

Also shown is the grid for SCIENCE BINGO. I print this template off sometimes, but if I did not get to print it off or if the paper budget is tight I have students draw it on binder paper.

Thank you Mr. Thornburg, by middle school HISTORY OF THE SIERRA NEVADA teacher. He made a game called HOTSN (History Of The Sierra Nevada). It was bingo with words in place of numbers. He inspired my remake of his game.

WHEN I REVIEW with Science Bingo I have at least one round that is the definition round, I call only the definitions ( I do this about the 2nd or 3rd game). This is pretty fun. I give candy out at the end of the period, and students have to show me their grids after each win to verify.

If you have some fun review game ideas please share.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 12, Day 4(short week): Steam Engine Lab

We took the Ch 2 vocab quiz and Did the STEAM ENGINE LAB.(3rd law lab).

Today's Best Practice: Ask kids to bring in supplies. The past two weeks I have been receiving aluminum cans. They will bring you almost anything you need, especially if their parents find out. I give a small amount of extra credit for the items they bring. I also make sure that the list is wide and easy to bring for those low social economic families. GO to the very bottom of my home page for a copy of my supply list.

We make an ACTION-REACTION steam engine out of an aluminum can, small Styrofoam cup, masking and duct tape, a sewing pin and a 1.5 cm square aluminum square cut out of a soda can and with a hole poked in the middle.

ATTENTION: IF YOU ARE AFRAID OF USING BUNSEN BURNERS GET OVER THIS FEAR!

The kids love this lab. They are half afraid of the Bunsen Burners and TOTALLY AMAZED WITH THE LABORATORY FLINT STRIKER...you'd think I was walking around with a real light saber.

The can gets spinning so fast (if made well) that you cannot read any writing on the can.

For the Lab work sheet you can go to my website, then TEACHERS , THEN FUN WITH FORCE AND MOTION AND THEN HERO'S ENGINE

Attention: the burner bust be set to about a 1.5 to 2 inch flame. IF you make the flame too big it will heat the can too quickly and either pop the top or melt the cup.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 12, Day 3: Candy and HOW TO STUDY

We reviewed Ch 2 (forces) and Began Ch 1 review and got cauget up on reading passages-FALL OF GALILEO and NEWTON:APLLES, MOONS, QUESTIONS.

My kids will do almost any thing for a Jolly Rancher candy. If I need the floor picked up, or the tables wiped, or lab equipment put away or brought out, or if I want them to raise their hand and participate in class.

I suggest you have some on hand. My candy holder is DARTH TATER show at left. I have a Star Wars motif in my room. A light saber makes a nice presentation pointer.

We reviewed chapter 2. I gave the kids a copy of the review questions from the book. I think they gave it a good guess but did not find the answer. We often tell kids to STUDY FOR THE TEST but don't show them. Here is what I showed them to do.

HOW TO STUDY FOR A TEST.
--Turn off your cell phone and Internet chat programs--
1) Open your textbook to the chapter, look at pictures, data tables, bold words.
2) Open your notes to the material covered and reread and make a question/summary for each section.
3) Get out any Vocabulary definitions and re-read them and have handy for later.
4) Get any worksheets from that chapter/lesson
5) If you have a review sheet answer each question.
6) If you are unsure about a word or question LOOK IT UP IN THE MATERIALS ABOVE!
7) Ask a parent, older sibling, or your teacher for help.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 12, Day 2: Noi$y AC unit

My learning director dropped by yesterday for a quick observation of my lesson. She stayed a few minutes, and left an evaluation note on my desk, one comment was "with air blowing hard to hear". I have tried for 2 years to get the #2 blower to be under my control. IT NEVER $TOP$ blowing... 24:7:365.

I wrote a letter to my principal, my LD, our lead custodian, and our district "energy czar" Monday afternoon. Every S in the email was a $.

Two men showed up with walkie talkies and were trying to fix the problem this morning. The kids were more interested in staring at the men than focusing on the. Force review.

Week 12, Day 1:

Book reading passage and turn in the Friction Lab...Finally! Finishing this lab is like Saturday Night Live in the 7o's updating the health of Generalissimo Francisco Franco months after he passed away. In my Honors Science we started the compression lab.

Today's Best Practice: Have a camera handy and take pictures of your labs, student work, room, lessons, your students, your classes, steps in a procedure, even data (as in the simple end of the day survey of WHAT IS FRICTION at at right...this was my first use of formative assessment)

Reflection: This was one of those days that nothing went as planned. BUT IT WAS A GOOD DAY. I had morning duty all last week so I looked forward to having time before school to slip into to the day. Only didn't get in as early as I wanted then looked at my lesson plan book only to see that I was 6 minutes late for a meeting with my principal for a committee I volunteered for. My lab I planned for today had to wait for us to finish the previous lab...ahh. Then my prep period evaporated and I didn't get to get out for lunch and I blah blah blah. BUT IT WAS A GOOD DAY...just long.

I got some good feedback with my formative assessment survey. Now the 2nd part, how do I use it to form my next lesson and any reteaching. Do I say 1/2 the kids getting the concept is okay...move on? Here is a photo of the same survey but from my Honors science class.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 11, Day 4: Good, bad, and Ashes!

Today: Force Vocabulary quiz, Book Reading Passage, Finish Friction lab...finally(see photo at right).

This is a good year. I've had about 4 GREAT YEARS* and about 5 BAD years. Most have been good years. One of the bad years I had some great kids, one of which gave me an end of the year gift shown below. I love that bowl. Sometimes I keep pistachio nuts in it, often it is used to hold the words for SCIENCE BINGO.




*My year teaching High School was a great year despite how miserable is was missing middle school kids and curriculum.



Reflection:
A friend of mine and former colleague, David Piercy, (perhaps I should call him a distant colleague) is helping me get into FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS. He says it will change my teaching style. I need to get better feedback from my students. Getting it from lab write-ups is just to minimal. I need to get in the habit of giving the kids an assessment every day, even if just a simple "WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT __________". I've got about another 10 years of teaching in me. I don't want to become a dinosaur in my class. I'm getting slower and I hope I can keep my head above the silt and not get mineralized.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
richardkinney

Week 11, Day 3: taking too long on labs.

Today students took their Force vocabulary quiz , Finished the Friction lab and began to review for the unit test.

Today's Best Practice: Make a "Notes Wall" for students that missed class to use as a tool to get missing work. In the past I would print little notes for them (easy since my notes are on power point). Now I post them on the back wall. All my notes are on my webpage for them to copy as well but few do.

Reflection:

I have taken too long to get labs completed. In the past we did them in class, set up the graph and then they went home and finished (well about 1/3 would finish them). Now I'm taking 2 (or 3) class periods and not making them take them home. I like giving them more time, but I need to end it on the 2nd day. My problem stems from the differing rates that various classes can get stuff done. And I'm trying to do too much.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 11, Day 2: changing pace, altering direction

Today we reviewed the motion unit, reading passage about Issac Newton figuring out gravity, and finished the data collection for the Friction lab.

One result of our staff development day on Monday was seeing that Motion was the standard we scored lowest on last year. It's the first unit we do and I think the most difficult...lots of graph reading.

An action plan we decided upon: to review motion throughout the year.

I read a lot to my students. I'm going to try having them read the passage then I will go over the main points after. This will be a big change for me, one that does not come easy. But I need to try it, otherwise I'm a step closer to bring a dinosaur.

Week 11, Day 1: Lesson pacing and formative assessments

It feels like I am behind schedule. I'm near the end of the Force and Motion Unit. I'm thinking about two more weeks to finish. One of my colleagues has already finished it an is almost through with the astronomy unit.

A colleague of mine put it to me perfectly, "What's the point of moving on if students aren't getting it?"

That comment reminded me to take a look at my lesson pacing. To slow down and make sure I'm covering material at an appropriate pace. At the NSTA conference last year I attended a session on (in)formative assessment. Many of the teachers said, "I DO LOTS OF LABS BECAUSE THE KIDS LIKE THEM AND I HAVE FEWER BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS...BUT SOME KIDS ARE NOT UNDERSTANDING HOW OR WHY THE LAB FITS INTO WHAT I WANT THEM TO LEARN...THERE IS A DISCONNECT."

I was so happy to hear that comment made. I do that all the time. I hate testing, but formative assessments can be varied in nature and easy or fancy.

So, I am going to slow down today and rest of this week and make sure my students are understanding why we are doing all the labs and I am going to give some short assessments, most likely 2 questions answered on an index card.

Week 11, Day 0: Staff Development Day

We had a really good day. NO TALKING HEADS to have to listen to. You need to be Proactive in planning what you do.

Years ago our science department was trapped in an excellent session on reading and language strategies. I decided NEVER AGAIN will I allow my time to be wasted. I planned an all middle school staff day for our school district. We had a chance to share best practices and lessons and meet each other and begin to network. YOU CAN HELP MAKE YOUR NEXT STAFF DAY BE A SUCCESS.

Week 10, Day 5: Nerd day and Friction and those dang assesments

It's anti-drug week at our school...and today is the day before Halloween...and in a fun mix of the two, today is NERD DAY.

I have had a great week. Busy and productive and Fun. NO stress as is often the case. We started with the Computer cannon lab, then had a notes and video day, and then today Bill Nye Friction and begin the Friction Lab (sliding and then rolling bricks over 3 surfaces to measure force). After 3 labs the students have got data tables, averaging trials, and performing a lab going smooth.

I'm feeling like I'm running out of time for the force unit and am not going as fast enough. I tend to use lab write ups as my class assessments. Unfortunately tests run my state and my district. I hate tests. The only test I really want to use is a good lab write up. Now we have to go back to giving our state benchmarks after about a two year break. Ahh. We have to use a system called EDUSOFT. If you don't print the forms just right they are worthless. Often the scanners don't work...Usually the scanners don't work. Ahh...I hate tests. I know they are necessary evil but...blahhhh!

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 10, Day 4: Student Work Folders

Today's Best Practice: Student Work folders. Have one for each student to store their work.

This is convenient for the student and for me. If we do not finish a lab I can have the kids store their work in there. If I need to go to a parent-teacher meeting I can pull their work to bring with me. I can also pull a piece of student work to use an example for another student to see.

If I want to return work without passing papers back during class time, I can have an assistant file the assignments.

These is a good alternative to the trash can. One school I was at had PORTFOLIO DAY. Keeping the folders allowed kids to have access to their previous work.

In the past I have had students keep a log of their scores and grades in their folders and we update every two weeks.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 10, Day 4: Word Walls

Today's best practice: Create a vocabulary word wall for new or weird terms.

We have a large E.L. population at our school. We have been using many E.L. strategies to help these students to succeed for years.

E.L. strategies are just really good best-practices.

One is the word wall. I realized that the word wall helps ALL STUDENTS.
Exert. Magnitude. Property. Left/Right, Contact. These are not the hard sciency words that our curriculum is filled with. Put up a word wall.

Below is a list of Strategies I was given by a former Colleague, Heather Marsh. Thank you Heather.
Look these over. They are common sense. It’s good to be reminded of good sense. I bet you will say, "I do that in my room"
Matrix of Strategies and Objectives Reading

•
Read Aloud
•
Shared Reading
•
Guided Reading
•
Independent Reading
•
Choral Reading
•
Readers Theater
•
Partner Reading
•
Literature Study
Writing
· Whole Group Lesson
· Small Group Guided
· Self-Selected Writing
· Conferencing
· Write Aloud
· Shared Writing
· Interactive Writing
· Language Experience
·Writing Workshop • Author's Chair
Word and Language Study
· Word Wall
·Vocabulary Lesson • Vocabulary Review
Oral Language Strategies
· Blow the Roof Off
· Tea Party
· Information Gap
·Mix/Match • Four-in-One
Vocabulary Strategies
· Frayer Model Word Box
· ABC's ofIt All
· "Q" is for duck
·Vocabulary Foldable • Vocabulary Weave
Cooperative Structures
· Expert Groups
· Think-Pair-Share
· Rally Robin

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 10, Day 2 : E-mail Battles

STOP. Don't allow yourself to get pulled into an E-mail chain battle with a parent (or anyone else)

If you and a parent have a disagreement and cannot work it out in 2 messages. STOP. Either call and talk, or ask your learning director to mediate a personal meeting. Usually a call from the LD stops the problem. It also provides a new perspective. Maybe your 100% right! Maybe your 20% wrong!

I don't like long E-mail discussions. They take a ton of time and people are quicker to resolution, and nicer, when you talk.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 10, Day 1: "Return Lessons"- Make them an easy day for YOU!

When absent from your classroom for a while make your return lesson easy and or enjoyable. Whether gone for business, sickness, or a school holiday, give yourself a nice day.

My return lesson from this past weekends's conference is the "Cyber Cannon Lab". Shooting cannonballs at a target, reviewing some terms and leading a few new ones like: Ballistic and parabola, and more practice making graphs.

I planned three weeks ahead for this and got the library computers reserved. I did not have to worry about my lesson as a weary returning traveler.

See my school website for the lab and powerpoint notes.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 9,Day 5: AT THE SCIENCE CONFERENCE

No nervousness or butterflies presenting this year. I was well prepared. It was nice be presenting so early and on a Friday. Get it over quick and focus on the conference.

My session on READING PASSAGES AND VIDEO CLIPS IN THE SCIENCE CURRICULUM was at 8:00 a.m. I was worried that nobody would show up. I managed a crowd of about 30 people. I was pleased. They had a good time and I gave away a few books and I gave away 10 “Equation triangles of Science” shirts (donated by my wife’s business JANET’S EMBROIDERY and imprinting).

It continues to amaze me how the things we teachers develop can be appreciated if we would SHARE THEM. I had several people tell me they have been to every one of my sessions since I started in 2001. I was pleasantly surprised to hear this. It is nice to be appreciated.

It also made me feel responsible to keep presenting a GREAT SESSION. I define a great session as one that you can go away with something that can be used on Monday and hopefully some material that can be adapted and modified to the persons taste and style and I hope people will have a fun time.
Next year I will present a session on EASY TO MAKE ALUMINUM-CAN STEAM ENGINES. In the past I did sessions on a whole unit. Now I’m focusing on a lab or activity within a unit

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 9, Day 4 Traveling to a conference...fun, anticipation, and laughter

Paul, Kendia, Gavin, Mary, and I spent 7 hours driving from Fresno to Palm Springs. It was a total blast. Like being a kid again.

I believe that a conference is a gift YOU give to your self

It's nice if the district will pay your way. That will not always happen. I have often spent my own money and dragged my tent trailer to a KOA campground. I have slept on the floor of my colleagues room. I have even used a sick day to cover the sub.

You need to go. It's fun. You are surround by other science teachers. It is fun to see what our distant colleagues look like.

You get to be inspired by guest speakers. Over the years I have enjoyed Bob Ballard (Titanic, thermal vents, JASON), Ira Flatow from NPR:Science Friday, The Myth Busters, Jane Goodall, Dr. Glenn Seaborg ( element 106 named after him), Bill Nye and others.

At a conference you get a change of scene, you get to out for dinner and drinks with your colleagues.

I'VE BEEN LUCKY, I'VE ALWAYS HAD SOME COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS TO GO WITH. This really increases the fun factor. If you don't have anyone to go with, bring your spouse, your significant other, your mother or dad or Bro or Sis or Son or Daughter ,or just your best friend.

JUST GO...AND BRING A PAL WITH YOU

I have also found lots of labs and activities, goodies, toys, lab equipment, T-shirts and FREE STUFF!

This is great professional development for credential renewal.

If you present, You will be amazed how appreciative people are for what you have shared. It makes you feel appreciated. It's good for the soul.

If it's a textbook adoption year you WILL BE WINED AND DINED! We got a free harbour cruise dinner in San Francisco several years ago. (kinda makes you feel like a congress person surrounded by lobbyists)

CAUTION: DO NOT STAND BETWEEN A TEACHER AND A FREE ITEM AT A CONFERENCE

I Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 9, Day 3: Getting behind---Student Self-Grading

I'm about 4 days behind in my grading. I've been preparing for presenting at the California Science Teachers conference and I'm a bit behind on my grading.

I covered a class for my young colleague Sean Marzolf. His class had just finished the F=ma lab that I mentioned a couple of days ago. I have 6 stacks of that same lab to grade. Mr. Marzolf had the kids grade their labs.

He had every part of the lab write up on the main board and on smaller dry erase boards.

This was totally cool.

He had each part clearly labeled and how much it was worth. He is a genius!. All those years I spent at my kids soccer games grading papers was not necessary.

He told me with 200+ kids to teach and papers to grade there is no way he could grade them all.

I'll try this, it seems like it would be a good way to let kids see their mistakes and fix them and save me some time.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 9, Day 2: Being a Good teacher.

I'm preparing for the California Science Teachers Conference. I am a presenter. It's a lot of work but you all are worth it. Now, being a good teacher.

It's easy. have passion for what you teach. Also it helps if you plan ahead.
This is from a sign in my Colleague, Jeff Hodges, room:

A good teacher challenges,

asks, annoys,

irritates and maintains

high standards.

All that is generally

not pleasant.

I like that.

Here is another one:

An excellent teacher:

1. is prepared for class.

2. treats students with respect

3. only teaches what is important for students to know

4. creates lessons that are well designed and fun.

5. gives immediate feedback.

6. communicates with and involves parents

7. continually grows professionally

8. cooperates effectively with his colleagues and administrators.

9 has a life outside the classroom

10. spends time talking with students and being a real person.

11. have TOTAL passion for their subject.

Heck, I think I need to make this a daily self grade sheet for my self.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 9, Day 1: Newtons laws

I made 3 labs to go with each of Newton's Laws.

Inertia: Roll cars down a ramp measuring distance rolled. Add mass to change inertia.

As an alternative to the car lab I have a set of INERTIAL BALANCES that work slick too.

F=ma: Slide 1, then stack of 2, then stack of 3 identical books across lab table measuring Newtons of force needed to pull the books. Keep acceleration the same my pulling at the same speed. Not real exciting...but accurate.

3rd law: Make a steam engine out of an aluminum can. See the steam jets action force move the can in a spinning motion (reaction force). Some of my colleagues are afraid to use Bunsen burners and do the balloon on a string action/reaction lab. THIS LAB IS HIGH BANG FOR THE BUCK.

Hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

All my materials are available at my web site:

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com