DEN: Florida

What a great day so far.  A group of 40 educators have gathered together for a day of discovery at Sea World.  The first task of the day was to search the park for an animal of your choice and collect waypoints and information.

Once the group returned to the classroom, they began building information about their Sea World animal and adding additional resources from Discovery to their project folder.

Check out the link to the agenda for our day of discovery.  Additional resources will be added after the event.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this a great event.  The Florida DEN Rocks!

The Florida Leadership Council is preparing for a day of discovery at Sea World on Saturday, November 7th.  We will be diving into discovery and learning how to practically apply geocaching to our classroom.  Stay tune to find out more about this exciting day!

This weekend was the Tech or Treat virtual conference.  I hope that you were able to attend a few of the sessions that were offered.  They were all excellent.  However, if you missed one of the presentations, they will archive them on the DEN site starting next week.  One that you can catch right now via prezi is Steve Dembo’s session on “Putting the Bling in the Builders”.  Here is the url: http://prezi.com/fnkmiywv3s4w/   Steve shows you how to use Blabberize and a lot of other tools that will help you take assignment builder to the next level.

Another great treat that Den has in store is set to happen next week. There are two great DEN events happening in Florida.  The first one is November 5 at Boomers in Boca Raton(https://lrougeux.wufoo.com/forms/boomers-in-boca/). The second event is being held on November 7 at Sea World in Orlando. The Sea World event may already be on wait list, but I would see if there are any spots left. To register go to : http://jotform.com/form/92785037601#http://jotform.com/form/92785037601

I hope you will enjoy the treats from Discovery and I hope to meet some of you next week at the Sea World event.

Why wait for Halloween for Treats?
Sign up for the Fall Virtual Conference!

Here are the Top Ten reasons to attend as written by Lance Rougeux.

10.  College football is overrated.

9.  The digital treats you’ll take away won’t cause cavities.

8.   You can attend in your pajamas (virtually or in-person, we’re flexible).

7.  Two full hours of the soothing sounds of Justin Karkow - Can I Help You With That?  The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director (9 AM and 3 PM ET)

6.  A chance to win a HD Flip Cam for dressing up as your favorite Discovery personality

5.  Brand new interstitials

4.  Any time Steve Dembo uses the word “bling” in a presentation, watch out! Putting the Bling in Your Builders (12 PM ET)

3.  The archived sessions just don’t have the same pizazz.

2.  Amazing professional development for the very reasonable price of…FREE.

1. Networking, networking, networking!

Why wait for Halloween for treats?  Register now!

By Cheryl Watford, Network Manager, Auburndale Senior High School, Polk County

Can you create an example for your subject area? 

For the TITLE, choose an emotion or a color that represents your Unit Topic along with a nickname. (You will not mention the subject anywhere in the writing.)

Sentence 1:  Choose one of the following…

·        While in class you stand there…..

·        When no one is watching in class….

·        In this subject, you are….

·        I sometimes think….

·        The subject faces….

·        We have learned….

Sentence 2:  Write a sentence with a color of an item in the unit topic.

Sentence 3:  Write a sentence with a part of an exam question in it.

Sentence 4:  Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as).

Sentence 5:  Write a sentence of over 25 words about the unit topic.

Sentence 6:  Write a sentence under 8 words describing one assignment.

Sentence 7: Write a sentence with a piece of clothing you may need in experiencing this topic.

Sentence 8:  Write a sentence with a wish in it, relating to the final outcome of the unit.

Sentence 9:  Write a sentence with an animal in it.

Sentence 10:  Write a sentence in which three or more words alliterate (that is, they begin with the same initial consonant: she has be left, lately, with less and less time to think).

Sentence 11:  Write a sentence with two commas.

Sentence 12:  Write a sentence with a smell and a color in it.

Sentence 13:  Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as).

Sentence 14:  Write a sentence that could carry an exclamation point (but do not use the exclamation point).

Can you do it??

My Example of a finished Science Unit – Humans vs Plants….

PEACHY-GREEN MEAT AND VEGETABLES

When no one is watching in class do they still breathe or move?

The green leaves flow and the peachy hands touch.

Transpiration begins in the roots and ends in the atmosphere.

Roots of a plant are like feet to a person.

When subject one eat and drink they gain nutrients from the food, while at the same time subject two will eat and drink to gain nutrients from the ground.

Create a model of a cell.

You need to wear gloves anytime you mess with either of the subjects in our unit.

We wish you all pass the final test, remembering all things you learn about the two subjects.

Homo-sapiens are mammals, which is a form of an animal.

Oxygen occurs over and over, not on the outside.

Did you know, did you care, did you learn?

Seeing and smelling any type of odor or white vapors means you are alive.

Veins are like highways and roads, in both of the subjects.

Learning about this ROCKS

Cheryl W 

Come join NE Florida DEN for an incredible day of Professional Development, both virtual and Face 2 Face.

Check out the Amazing Virtual Presentation Agenda

Saturday, October 24, 2009
9 AM to 2 PM ET
Cost: FREE
Location: Region 2 FDLRS/ATEN Lab -141 Ferry Road, East Palatka

Directions to: Region 2 FDLRS/ATEN Lab

See attached flier for more information:

NE FLORIDA Virtual Conference

Click here to register for the face 2 face activities, lunch & door prizes

The DEN is looking for a few good gurus.  Do you have what it takes?  Do you want to be one of the fab five for the inaugural   year? Here is the nitty gritty but you can check out all the details on the DEN National Blog.

 DEN Gurus will:

• be featured as regular contributors to the National DEN blog
• present their own featured DEN webinar
• represent the DEN at a major educational conference during the year (registration and travel expenses covered by the DEN)

Timeline

Application window opens - September 30, 2009

Application deadline - November 15, 2009 (5 PM ET)

DEN Gurus Announced - December 1, 2009

Science Fair.

Mutter those words to students and they will either jump for joy or groan. Mention the words to parents and they often will groan louder. Somehow over the years science fair has gotten a bad name. Could it be that students are expected to conduct an experiment at home with little time spent in class actually working on their project? Or is it because the students wait until the last minute to tell their parents that they have a science fair project and they spend the entire night before it’s due coming up with a project idea that they can complete in less than 3 hours. Perhaps it’s neither of these, and instead it’s that both students and parents (maybe even teachers) haven’t had a user-friendly resource to help muddle through the scientific process of conducting a science fair project. I know that as a science teacher, we are expected to have our students complete science fair projects but don’t have time scheduled into the curriculum to have students actually work on science fair projects in class.
Luckily, Discovery Education has once again come to our aid. Discovery education has partnered up with Scotch® to bring us Science Fair Central.

Simply go to: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/ for step-by-step help for students, parents and teachers. “Science Fair Central” contains more than 100 project ideas that are broken down into easy or complex investigations and there is even a section for inventions.
The website has a “getting started” section which will help students choose a project type, understand the difference between investigations and inventions and find testable questions. There is even a section where they can validate their topic – to make sure that they have enough time to complete their project, the proper materials, that they follow the appropriate safety procedures, their project is appropriate and that they follow safety if they are using animals in their experiment.
Parents can visit the site and use the “parent resources” section to help their students stay on track. This area of the site explains the parent’s role in the science fair project process, how to help their student come up with an idea and how to support their student during the investigation process and where to get supplies.
For teachers, or science fair coordinators, there is a section to help with reasons to host a science fair, types of projects available, science fair judging criteria and supplies needed to host a science fair as well as a parent letter that can be customized based on your needs.
The best part of the site, in my opinion, is the virtual labs section of the site.  This section provides students with an opportunity to practice conducting experiments in a controlled environment. There are even teacher guides and student worksheets that are available to download.
I know that if I had come across this resource when I became the science fair coordinator at my school, it would have saved me hours of time coming up with science fair project ideas and science fair project expectations. I also would have a site to share with parents to help with some of the frustrations that come with their student’s science fair project.

With all of the great resources from Discovery Education and “Science Fair Central,” what will Discovery Education think of next?

 By Cheryl Watford, Network Manager, Polk County Schools

As we begin our journey of becoming teachers, one of the biggest challenges is to learn how to do an adequate, efficient, lengthy, informative lesson plan.  We are taught key features that must be included in that lesson, such as guided practice, independent practice, review, bellwork, reasoning, essential questions, and so on.  What we are not taught, but we must have, is the ability to be flexible with our planning.  To know when we are getting it to the students in a manner they can understand or if we have to change in mid-stream because we are staring out at a bunch of blank faces.

The ability to be flexible is not something that can be taught, but must be within a teacher if they are to be successful. Having great teacher resources and proven lesson plans are another way for a teacher to be successful.  Part of the Discovery Education Network pages provides a ton of lesson plans that have been used in classrooms, by other teachers, and shown to work.  Resources of all type of media are available at your disposal, just waiting for you to put them together yourself, if you prefer to create the lesson plan yourself.  (But of all the things I have learned throughout my years of teaching, why reinvent the wheel, if someone else did it before me, ‘Borrow’ that and tweak it to fit my needs.

So, borrow away, use to your hearts content, or put together a variety of items to create a fresh new lesson.  Please feel free to share your created lesson, or your ideas on how you tweaked a prepared lesson. We are all here to grow and benefit from each other.

After all, the puzzle pieces of a lesson are to be fit together perfectly for the group you are teaching, as well as the individual that you are.  All pieces of your lessons can fit together for you, no matter what type of personality you have or what genre of subject area you have to reinforce.

Here is an idea I ‘Borrowed’ from the DEN lesson pages: They have a weekly thematic focus, this week is Astronomy.  They
provide a discussion guide based on grade levels, so I chose Grades 6-8.  Once you download the PDF file, you have the needed layout or lesson plan for that unit.  It even provides the needed vocabulary words and active links to watch videos and whatever else you need. All at your fingertips, with really no need to tweak, unless you do not have the two class periods available, you may have to pick and choose what parts you use for your classroom.  Than they have a tab available for Media and another for Activities.  Explore and play, all learning about the universe.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go check out the DEN Lesson Plan pages….. Go to the thematic units or browse by subjects. There is a field of knowledge already at your fingertips!

As we return back to school our county mandates that we spend 8 days teaching the students how to be a scientist. The first two days I conducted my own experiments and the kids really enjoyed the activities.  On the following day, I decided to use the textbook and see how the students responded.  It turns out that the textbook actually put two kids to sleep!  Granted it was the end of the day and everyone was very tired but it was the first time I remember a student falling asleep on the book and the page sticking to his face! I knew an intervention was needed and I turned to Discovery Science for help.  The first thing I found were two songs about the Scientific Method.  The students thought the first song was hilarious and the second song had everyone dancing and moving.  One student even made a sign to go with the song “Science Rocks”.  We had such a great time and everyone started to understand the steps of the scientific method.  I highly recommend checking out the song library if you are stuck for a catchy way to teach students about the scientific method.  My two favorite songs are Teacher and the Rockbots: Scientific Method and Music Makes It Memorable: Scientific Method. DE Science also has great lessons and units that are engaging and full of experiments for teaching students the scientific method.  Enjoy and have a great week!