10/23/08 5th grade Tsunamis / Body Systems Quiz

Ms. Gonzalez's 5th grade class was reading about Tsunamis in their science book, so she asked me to present information about how they happen. We explored an interactive website from NOVA that showed a time line and diagram of the December 26, 2004 Tsunami in the Indian ocean. The site showed where and how the tsunami started (it's epicenter), what the effect was in the open ocean, and what happened when the tsunami made landfall. We watched a short national geographic video clip with video of the tsunami making landfall, and a computer simulation of how the tsunami progressed. We looked at satellite photos of the coast of Thailand before and after the Tsunami. We reviewed what we had learned about tsunamis with a Wikipedia article. To reinforce a previous lesson on the circulatory and respiratory systems, and preview the other body systems they would be learning about, the students took a quia quiz on body systems. Their percentage of correct answers had improved from when they learned about the systems and took the quiz, two weeks earlier.


NOVA Tsunami Interactive:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tsunami/anatomy.html
National Geographic Tsunami Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9JDzBTwiig
Singapore Satellite photos:
http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/tsunami/Khao_Lak_20041229_20030113/Khao_Lak_20041229_20030113.html
Tsunami wiki intro & characteristics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami
Quia body systems quiz:
http://www.quia.com/rr/117725.html
Posted by Barrett Redelman at 8:57 AM 0 comments
Labels: 5th Grade, Media Cart, NOVA, Wikipedia, Youtube

9/30/08 - Roman Life

We started this morning with a bbc.com website about family and child life in ancient Rome. Ms. Sheffie led a discussion about the site, and asked students to read about and then reflect on what life would be like as a child in Rome. Students were surprised to learn that schooling was only offered to males of privilege who lived in major cities, whose parents could pay tuition. We shifted gears to focus on Roman Mythology, by showing a PowerPoint presentation that was created by a Teacher at King George V school in Hong Kong. The school has British roots, and continues to teach class in English. The presentation was very well prepared, and offered a description of all of the major Gods and Goddesses, and their role in Roman Mythology. To reinforce the material, we had students take a quiz online to test their knowledge as a class, and asked questions about the roman family life website.

bbc.com Roman Family Life: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/romans/families.shtml
Roman Mythology Powerpoint: http://www.kgv.edu.hk/history/Y8/Superstitions_and_Beliefs/ROMAN%20GODS.ppt
Roman Gods and Goddesses Quiz: http://www.quia.com/rr/149909.html

9/25/08 - 5th Grade Cell Structure

Today we spent our 45 minutes looking at the structure of plant and animal cells, using great website and PowerPoint resources found by Ms. Briceño. The PowerPoint (slightly modified) provided a thorough introduction to cells, their parts, and the difference between plant and animal cells. We watched a youtube video of an amoeba, when we got to the point in the presentation about prokaryotes. We ended with a test on quia.com over organelles (the parts of a cell), and passed the wireless mouse around the classroom to give different tables a chance to answer. The game was called rags to riches, and was similar to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. After two tries, the class nearly made it to the top.

Cell Powerpoint: http://www.science-class.net/PowerPoints/Cell_structure_function.ppt
Cell Structure Rags To Riches Game: http://www.quia.com/rr/354661.html
Another Cell Structure Rags to Riches Gamehttp://www.quia.com/rr/107541.html
Amoeba Video: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zTFsn9xt7b0&feature=related
Flagella and Cilia video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGAm6hMysTA&feature=related