Today the kids in class were tasked with making their own dichotomous keys. They had to come in with some collection of their own that they wanted organize. Some of the items they are talking about organizing are: roosters, nail polish, shoes, t-shirts, hats, bracelets, ear rings, music instruments, socks, cowboy boots, balls, head-bands, bows, etc. They are really working hard on how to classify their items. They are asking questions about their items' characteristics. Is it Nike or not? Does it have stripes or not? Is it shiny or not? These questions put our items into categories to make sorting and naming them easier and more organized. They are the scientist and get to decided what goes where and why. I have told them to bring their collections into class on Wednesday or at least have pics of at least 10 items in a Google doc to use in class. I had a student email me pictures of 10 different roosters that he will be using to make his dichotomous key with. After we are done we will test our keys out to see if they work or not! I have grown to love the 7th grade field trip to the Bob Bullock Museum. Today was no exception. I always learn something new when I am there and I love seeing the kids doing a little learning as well. Do they appreciate all of the effort that went into it? Maybe not. But, one thing is for sure that is the first and last museum some of these kids will ever go to. They had a great time even if they don't admit that they did.
One thing my group of students was reminded of was who the 1st and 3rd president of TX was.... It was not George Washington, like 2 students insisted. (Next time maybe they will listen to the question!) But it was Sam Houston..... The 4d movie is always the best part. The big question is, "what is 4d"? You just have to wait and see, I always tell them. It is a blast. Hearing the kids squeal is the best part. You should go and check it out with them.... :) I was able to get some great pics this year-hopefully I can get them all loaded up. Our Friday ended with an insect hunt. There were a few caught. The funniest thing is to watch a group of kids chase after a single butterfly. That is some entertaining stuff right there! They didn't even catch it.... One insect that was caught was a Click Beetle. We are tying in adaptations and this little critter has some amazing ones.... Mainly the oval eye spots on his back. This is a great defense mechanism to "scare" off predators. The students wanted to witness the clicking action. So, we had to accommodate. (I wanted to see it too.... ) We flipped him on his back and sure enough.... CLICK! Check out our video.... on Boyd7Science YouTube Channel. Of course the kids loved it- you can hear them in the back ground. We hope to find even more insects to check out for their adaptations. (Dichotomous keys are due on whatever collection the students choose on Thursday.) Yesterday's lesson left a real impression on me. We placed a shoe in the middle of the floor and then learned the best way to organize them. We did it as a whole class. It was a great lesson on leadership. The lesson was actually on classifying organisms. We learned so much more...
I saw bullies bully. I saw hiders hide. I saw leaders lead. I saw misfits trying to fit. It was just a great opportunity to teach the students compassion towards how they act or react to others. There were students who had good answers but no one would listen to them. Students who swore they knew what they were doing but actually had no clue and were just making the problem worse. But, we all had to work with each other. It was a time for some to be quiet and some to step forward. I realized I need more activities like this. Not sure how to accomplish that. This fit perfectly with our lesson on classifying organisms. I would love to have a team work lesson for each unit. Today, we kicked off our shoes and created a dichotomous key for classifying organisms. The students had to break the piles of shoes down into categories and realize that they will always have 2 choices. It was very interesting to see how they viewed the characteristics of shoes. It was a good learning experience to see how we identify organisms.
Then the students are responsible for making their own dichotomous keys. Please access the links on the symbaloo page. The students are not getting hand outs but do have access to all of the links. We also are collecting our insects for a collection. At least 15 insects, named and ordered. On a board. 5 different orders. Due May 14th. |
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