Class 17- February 25, 2011

  Today in class we will be doing Science Circus Stations.


  We started the class with Veronica doing her microteaching. Veronica said she had a suprise and then she took a cover off and there was an animal in the cage. It was a chinchilla which ismore in the squirel family. Veronica walked around the room with the chinchilla in the cage to show everyone and asked the class to write down onservations about the chinchilla named Bella. Bella is a girl. My observations of Bella are: has a tail, medium-size, greyish-brown fur in color, has whiskers, two ears, two eyes, big ears, fluffy tail, pink ears, mouth move fast like rabbit, and did not want to come out of the cage.  


  Then the whole class did stations for 7 minutes. Each group started with setting up their own station. My group started with group four's station. Group four's experiment was called Falling for Gravity which involved marbles and to see if which marble would go down the ramp faster. Then my group moved onto Group five's experiment called "Magic Growing Balloons". This experiment involved testing if the balloon with inflate or not inflate when put in cold or hot water. The balloon does not inflate in cold water but inflates when put in hot water. Then my group moved onto Group six's experiment. Group sixth experiment involved eating marshmallows for the phases of the moon. Then my group moved onto Group two's experiment. Group two's experiment is called "The Human Body Corporation" the goal of this experiment was to match up the experiment and what the body part is responsible for. The final experiment that my group did was Group one's experiment. Group one's experiment is called "Hip Habitats." My group was not able to finish all of group one's experiment.      


It is important in the younger grades to have a pet in the classroom. As a teacher I was thinking of having a rabbit in my room. Rabbit in the classroom would be very good to have in the classroom because students like pets. I would let each of my students take home the rabbit each weekend and take care of the rabbit. Incorporating a pet into a classroom will teach students responsibility. It is also a great way to open up a lesson about students having to take care of something in the classroom. 


It is important to give students tasks when doing experiments. It is important to have a student be the time keeper when doing an experiment. When doing and experiment the students should have tasks of recorder, presenter, time keeper, and observers. The teacher will tell the time keeper how much time each station will be for each Science Circus.