Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Tried it Tuesday---Blog Partner and Websites




I am linking up with 4th Grade Flipper’s- Tried It Tuesday!   This is Amy and I am going to share a few things I've tried this week.  Not only am I blogging with two very awesome educators and two women I care so much about, I am also learning from them.  This week I tried Kim's word problem wheels in one of my math stations.  My students enjoyed the hands on technique added to the problem solving skill.

My students have also started learning about rocks and minerals in science.  They LOVE it and honestly it is one of my least favorite things to teach (only because I don't have an abundance of knowledge in the area).  I worked with our STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) teacher this week to find a creative way to engage my students when it comes to investigating minerals.  The students were able to use mineral kits to conduct scratch test to see the mineral's streak and test the minerals hardness.  Then we introduced them to this mineralogy4kids.org  an AWESOME interactive website.
Check it out:
An excellent introduction to The Rock Cycle
This part of the  website allows students to explore mineral groups, mineral properties, crystals, minerals used everyday, and interact with a mineral identification quiz and mineral games.


I loved the mineral properties section and hope to be able to use it in the upcoming weeks as my students learn more about color, cleavage, and luster.
The mineral identification tool was our main focus.  Students were asked to take a 5-step quiz to help them determine the mineral they were given.  For the most part, the mineral identified was the mineral they were given.  The students kept asking for new minerals to see if they could correctly identify it through each step.  It was awesome to see how excited 8 and 9 year olds were over MINERALS!


No comments:

Post a Comment