Close Reading? OK, How About Close Doing?
"Reading" Sebastien Wiertz Close reading is one of the "strategies du jour". From the Common Core State Standards in ELA: 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite...
Sometimes You Feel Like You Have Not Even A Remote Idea Of What’s Going On!
Several folks from my department were asked to present on various topics during a school district's Professional Development day today. Literacy, math, assessment, science, STEM, ... the gamut of what we all do. The day took place at one of the school district's high...
Student Tissue Paper Balloon and High Altitude Launches At The Great Reno Balloon Races
In an earlier post I quoted a press release that stated that 900+ students and teachers would participate in the Great Reno Balloon Race, Tissue Paper Balloon Launch Day. A last minute surge of participants put the number closer to 1100. And note that teachers can...
Tissue Paper Hot Air Balloon Construction and Launching
Tissue paper hot air balloons are one of those powerful STEM learning experiences that lend themselves so well to being cross-curricular. There are the construction aspects that include measurement (length & angles for example) and skills like cutting with...
Send Your Students’ (and anyone else’s) High Hopes Up High
Note: If after reading this post you decide to participate leave your "High Hopes" Here. Doug Taylor and I started the High Hopes Project back in 2010, when we were both teaching 4th grade. Doug had seen this article about MIT students sending a styrofoam cooler...
Tissue Paper Hot Air Balloons to Launch at Great Reno Balloon Races
From a Press Release today: "900 Students from northwest Nevada will descend on Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno, site of the Great Reno Balloon Race, on Friday, September 5, 2014, to launch their own hot air balloons which they designed and constructed from tissue...
Beginning the Year Activities
I've written this blog post before because I found building the community in the classroom so crucial. Why wait? Start off right away giving students opportunities and experiences that lead to a collaborative atmosphere. "Beginning of the Year Classroom Learning...
Nevada Tahoe Teacher STEM Institute
3 weeks ago we participated in the Nevada Tahoe Teacher STEM Institute. Over 50 K - 9 teachers from all over Nevada came to the Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Lake Tahoe, for a week of STEM learning. The funding...
Why should education leaders embrace digital technologies in their schools?
Why should education leaders embrace digital technologies in their schools? 1) If you are in a state that adopted the "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) you really don't have a choice. There are many (yes many) English Language Arts standards alone that require...
What a Hoot!
Last Friday my wife and I were invited up to Galena Creek Park just outside of Reno, Nevada, to participate in a program designed to inform the general public and educators about the learning opportunities provided there by the Great Basin Institute. In addition we...