|
3/15/14 Update on our brain dissection...I ordered them several weeks ago, only to have the order cancelled because two vendors are out of stock (actually, one supplies the other). I will try again to order them after Spring Break. We have several on again, off again weeks ahead and I want to make sure they arrive when we are there!
3/4/14 Reaction time experiment...let's see how fast our neurons work! POSTPONED! 6 students were in class this week due to a conflict with Junior Programs. Instead, we focused on a Genius Hour project, where students shared something with me that they were interested in learning more about and then we found a way for them to explore their topic. for instance, one student really wanted to learn how to read music. To begin an investigation, we downloaded several apps that purported to teach reading music. But, we ended up learning a valuable lesson about app descriptions and the strength of apps. (Unintended learning) :-)
2/25/14 This week, we learned about neurons and dendrites, how they work and we became neurons, too! Neurons are like roads and the more you use the pathway, the wider and faster the road gets. Neurons are singular in their "road" and can only send information one way. Ask your student how we became neurons (and what the blue ribbon was for). I have tried to order the brains...only to find out that they are backordered. Seems there is a shortage of brains this year! :-) I will keep trying as this is one of the highlights of the 3rd grade year!
1/28/14 Ms. Larter assisted the class with their stations today. We've almost made it through them all. We'll wrap up next week and be moving closer to our brain dissections and dendrite models.
1/21/14 Brain Stations kicked off today. Nine stations that students work through to explore the functions of the four large area of the brain: parietal, frontal, occipital and temporal. A couple of pictures below. We'll be working again through the stations next week.
1/14/14 Today it was about introducing the lobes of the brain and creating our own brain hats. With color coded sticky notes, we turned the entire class into 3-D models of 4 lobes of the brain. It was fun to watch everyone get animated. A special thank you to my student who willingly offered himself to sit in front of the class while I stuck sticky notes on him as my model! After that, we were off to build brain hats and create our notebooks for the upcoming Brain Stations.
1/7/14 Kicking off our Brain Unit this week. Stay tuned for details. Our first task will be using Padlet (below) to record what we know about the human brain and questions that we have.
Video LinksStation 9 Video : How is Your Brain Wired for Learning?
Station 5 Video: Speed Stacking Stroop Effect: Not a video, but a great website that is great to explore! It was created by a professor at the University of Washington for students and teachers. We used it to access the experiment with the Stroop Effect. |