Field Trips Too!!!!!!

Around 10 in the morning we got to leave the confines of our classroom and escape into the public (a bunch of teachers on the loose, someone wasn't thinking).














We ventured to the Anchorage School District Science Center located in their warehouse.















Wow!!!!!! I had never imagined the supplies for a school science program on this scale.








Just think, thousands of tubs full of hands-on science supplies for kids grades K-6. They supply everything from sand and dirt to scales, motors, books, magnifying glasses - pretty much anything you can imagine ever needing for a science lesson, they had it on their shelves.
















Technicians work year round to inventory and restock the kits and make sure they are ready to go when teachers need them. During the busy months of the school year they are working overtime to make sure students and teachers have everything they need.

Teachers learn Inquiry science (Hands On)

Even big kids like to play!!!!!

Very quickly this morning we were up to our eyeballs in science. The instructors had a very creative chemistry experiment to demonstrate an inquiry approach to a lab.



As you can see from the pictures, the teachers quickly resembled students with their hands right in there. It was genuine inquiry science!











Even the Boys from Shell set aside their busy schedules and Blackberries to have some fun. (Looks like they might make good Chemistry teachers)

There were however a couple of students that just couldn't resist the desire to deviate from the original plan. They decided they would like to see what would happen if they added a bit of their breakfast to the mix. Now that's Inquiry!!!

Isopod Investigation

To break in our new lab book we did an investigation of a very cute, interesting little bug.









We recorded things that we noticed about the isopods in our container, using everything from drawings to descriptions to measurements. We could observe fine details with the magnifying lenses.

Some people already knew about isopods and others used the internet to do research. Many people recorded information about the physical structure - 6-7 pairs of legs on a segmented body with an exoskeleton. Others focused on behaviors such as light avoidance and rolling or not rolling.











We shared our observations and questions with others around the room, learning more about isopods from these conversations and a trade book: A Pill Bug's Life, by John Himmelman.

Science Notebooks!!!!!

Science Notebooks -
The purpose of science notebooks is to help students build science content and process skills in a way similar to the way scientists work. What a great way to incorporate oral and written language arts lessons. This is a way that you can teach nonfiction reading / writing through the lens of science.
Science notebooks are an excellent component to add to kit based programs as a means for students to actively take part in being a scientist.

Students who value these don't want to let them go. They take them on to the next year of science as a reference guide. What a great way to document concepts learned and hopefully misconceptions clarified. The amount of student growth in writing / technical drawing, and process skills over the course of a year is phenomenal.

Morning Day 1 Introduction

The morning started out by learning the names of all the people sharing this experience.


Northwest Arctic














Names(left to right):Dave Mason, Annmarie O'Brien, Linda Saito, Rod Eakin

Bristol Bay Borough














Names(left to right):Jack Walsh, Jodi Doster, Drew Larrabee, Sara Feriante

Lake & Peninsula














Names(left to right):Linda Jennings, Staci Anelon, Greg Anelon, Bill Cornell

Aleutian East


















Names(left to right):Luke Meinert, Sara Lee, Mark Mitchell

North Slope














Names(left to right):David Green, John Williams, Steve Culbertson, Emily R0seberry,
Shana Blankenship