Science Beliefs Quiz

Gentle Readers,

As many of you know, I have spent several years researching misconceptions in earth science. I one day hope to actually put this information into dissertation form, but I digress. The other day I was reading an article about the Science Beliefs Quiz available online. I had to check it out! The Science Beliefs Quiz is a 44 question, true-false quiz over a variety of science topics from biology to earth science. If you have about 45 minutes to spend I strongly suggest visiting the Science Beliefs Quiz. Use it to evaluate your understandings and beliefs about various topics. Use it to find areas you need to improve in. Use it to find areas that interest or excite you. But please don't use it to beat yourself up.

I'd love to hear how you do on the Science Beliefs Quiz. So drop me a line via the comments and share! Yes, you can remain anonymous!

Happy testing! And remember Science Rules!

Chutes & Ladders

Oh, what fun! I don’t recall having this game as a child, but I remember playing “Go to the Head of the Class” which was quite similar. Spin the spinner and move your little person from one to one hundred. If you land on a ladder, climb up! If you land on a chute, slide down!

Britain has Snakes and Ladders which is pretty much the same. Perhaps Americans thought the snakes were too scary! Ha! Check the BBC Schools website for a Shockwave version of this game. Orion and I have stopped using the spinner with this game. We use several of the modifications that I’ve mentioned under Sorry!

Candy Land

Oh! I remember when I got my first copy of Candy Land. How I loved playing the game! Gumdrop Pass and Rainbow Trail were coveted shortcuts. Watch out, nobody wants to get stuck in the Molasses Swamp! This game is a path game. Players move their “gingerbread” pieces through the path by matching the colors on the cards that they draw. Sadly enough, Orion’s pretty much outgrown this game, but I hold on to it because I LOVE IT SO MUCH…

Recess-o-Meter*

I had to share this idea before it left my mind. I was visiting a fourth grade classroom today (Mrs. Smith, no really, that's her name!) when I discovered one of my favorite toddler toys, the Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack, sitting at the front of the room. "What's up with this?" I inquired. "This is the Recess-o-Meter*," Mrs. Smith replied and sure enough, I noticed that she had printed "Recess-o-Meter" on the bottom of the Rock-a-Stack. She went on to explain that recess was 15 minutes long and there were five donut shaped rings; each ring represents three minutes of recess. The "Recess-o-Meter" served as a reminder of how much recess the students had lost or regained due to behavior in the classroom.

This approach is very similar to writing RECESS on the chalkboard, where each letter represents a portion of recess. I must say, I found it very creative and a bit amusing to reuse an old favorite in this way!

*Author's note: I have mixed feelings about taking away recess as a punishment. I have used this method myself a time or two in the past and if I was teaching elementary school again I might resort to using it again. When I attended elementary school, we had three 20 minute recesses a day. When I taught in St. Louis, my third graders had 15 minutes of recess a day.

Beth's Rock Collection

I want to take a minute of your time to share with you an AWESOME website by a local science teacher, Beth V. Her website, Beth's Rock Collection, is a great place to find lessons and activities for earth science. You can also listen to tracks from her two CDs (or order them to use in your own classroom!). Her website is definitely worth taking a few minutes to look at. If you weren't able to click on the links above, try typing http://www.bethsrockcollection.com/ into your browser.

Uno!

How long has this game been out? And do they even sell the original version any more? Now they have Shrek! 2 Uno cards, Sesame Street Uno cards, Care Bear Uno cards, Hello Kitty (my favorite!) Uno cards and many more! Regardless of which version you acquire, this version of “Crazy 8s” provides hours of fun. Not only will your child have to match color or number, but they will have to think strategically when considering using the Reverse, Skip, Draw 2, and Wild, and Wild-Draw 4 Cards. Don't have money for a new deck of Uno! cards? Use your standard poker deck and follow the rules for Crazy 8s.

Mary Jane Auch

Last winter Orion brought home a book that his fourth grade teacher was reading aloud at school. It was called Journey to Nowhere. I don't usually get fired up about historical fiction, but the heroine of the story had a lot of pluck. She also had a cool name: Remembrance Nye, a.k.a. Mem. So Orion and I read it out loud at home too! We really enjoyed her adventures.

When Orion returned to school this fall he discovered from a classmate that there was another book in the series by Mary Jane Auch. This book was called Frozen Summer. We just knew we had to read it. He brought a copy home from the library and off we went. It was the summer of 1816 and winter held its grasp firmly on New England. M.J. Auch mentioned in her authors notes that this odd summer was caused by the eruption of the Tambora volcano during the previous year! It must have been a doozy! In Frozen Summer, Mem and her family struggle to survive as crop after crop freezes well into July! Orion liked this book so much he cried (and I'll leave it at that!).

We also discovered that there is a third book. We hope to find it soon and read it as well. The third book is called The Road to Home! I'll let you know when we read it and what we think! In the mean time check out Road to Nowhere and Fozen Summer.