Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Cardboard boxes - GREAT Science resource!

‘I’m a scientist’
      3 ‘Sciencey’ things you can do with
a cardboard box

1. Make a science journal:

  • Cut the cover from a cardboard box
  • Punch a couple of holes in it
  • Punch holes in several sheets of paper - and place inside
  • Loop a long strand of wool or string through the holes, tie it, and, hey, you have your journal! 

Then, inside, write and draw your science experiments, science questions, and science thoughts.

2. Make a marble run:
·      Cut a cardboard box in half, lengthways……………use the piece you cut away for your strips……….glue them in place, and, hey, you have a marble run.
·      Rest it on a couple of books (a ramp), and let it go!!
·      
·       How high is your ramp?
·       What happens when you alter the height of the ramp?

3. Make a mini boomerang!

·       Cut out a 1” square from A small piece of card
·       Draw and cut out a small boomerang.
·       Write your initials on your boomerang.
·       Use another piece of card as your launching platform.
·       Balance the boomerang on the edge and flick it with your finger.

·    

What happens when you flicked the boomerang?
·       


Is there a pattern to the direction it rotates in? Does it spin to the right or left?
·      How far does it fly before it changes direction?

Yep, a cardboard box – sure is a great science resource!!
And, I bet there  are more things you can do….


Saturday, September 19, 2015

A few thoughts for those BLOG readers who run schools......

      Following recent conversations with a couple of principals, I remembered something I wrote in 1984 when I became Principal of my second school - and now part of my next book: Through My Eyes - on becoming a Principal.   

            So, what had I learned during my time at my previous school, Robert Bakewell County Primary School?

CHAPTER TWELVE

So, I was now ready to leave one school and, after the wonderful summer break in Boulder, Colorado, USA, join another. 

What had I learned as Headmaster at Robert Bakewell that I could put in place, when the time and opportunity were right, at Ibstock Junior School? With that nagging question in my head, and wishing I had a cigarette in my hand, I wrote these notes in my journal, thinking I might talk about some of them with one or two fellow Loughborough Headteachers over a pint or two before I left.

THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT BEING A HEADMASTER, on THE JOB – in no particular order of importance (‘cos they’re all important) :


  • First of all, make sure you remember that you, the Head of the school, are always on show. Always look the part, sound the part, and do what is expected of a Headteacher. You set the example for your school. Be smart, look smart, BUT don’t give the impression you’re the smartest one on the ship!!

  • As important, well, more important, make sure the kids (and staff) are safe and comfortable in and around the school building.
  • Always be the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave in the evening.
  • Make sure teachers have everything they need to do what they think is important in their classrooms.
  • Resource each teacher's personal teaching style/strength – don’t penny-pinch. Give them what school can afford and what they need to teach THEIR way.
  • And, don’t Micromanage!
  • Co-teach when possible – then give teachers relevant and useful feedback after you spend a good deal of time learning from and reflecting on what you noticed about  the classroom.
  • Meet every teacher at the very least once a month for in-depth, one-on-one conversation about his/her kids, the classroom, their relationship with parents, how they help others in school.
  • Ask to see/observe/give feedback their favorite lesson – and the one, if they’re comfortable, that causes them problems.
  • Ensure that every staff meeting has a set agenda, snacks, and a beginning and end time.
  • Don't use short-term supply teachers – take over a class if a teacher is away for the day, on a course or sick. That way, you keep your hand in, AND, it gives you far more credibility when talking at staff meetings or when giving feedback to individual teachers. It also means you walk in their shoes, meaning you can answer parent criticisms much better when you know what the teacher faces each and every day.
  • Take over a class if a teacher seems unduly stressed – this gives the teacher time to catch his/her breath and you chance to get to know the reality of his/her classroom.
  • Tell teachers, in a quiet, private area, about parental complaints.
  • Keep teachers, parents and governors informed and up-to-date on school matters that affect everyone.
  • Be available to kids, staff and parents. Always. Especially parents.
  • As Headmaster, everyone expects you to appear in control – so, when things get a bit tough, don’t let anyone in school know what’s going on in your mind. Well, perhaps your deputy…………
  • Make sure your Deputy knows what’s going on behind the scenes. Why? Well, s/he has to pick up the pieces if you’re not in school.
  • Don't share current administrative/parent/governor issues with staff (again, except the deputy) UNLESS one of them is the focus of the celebration/problem.
  • Don't have favorites, kids or teachers. Teachers aren’t daft. If you have favorites, it shows, causes resentment, and can act against you. Kids aren’t daft, either!
  • Use the morning assemblies to give staff time off to plan for the upcoming day, or, just have a chat with another teacher over a cup of tea.
  • Cut down on out of school meetings and keep staff meetings on track.
  • Share the chair role at staff meetings – different chairperson for each meeting. This gives you better opportunity to say what’s on your mind.
  • Have a clear, agreed discipline process – and be sure to share with parents.
  • Have curriculum evenings for parents so they can help their children at home with maths, reading and writing, science and history.
  • Share what’s going on in your office, with school secretary and the deputy, at least once a week - part of his training for when he runs his own school – and keeps secretary in the picture.
  • Take tea and biscuits to your teachers on parent evenings - and take them to the teaching areas where the meetings are taking place.
  • Check on every pupil absence ASAP and keep the teachers posted on what ‘s going on with their children who are at home when they should be in school.
  • Get to know those with learning and behavior issues - ensure their needs are met as best you can. Involve the parents, too.
  • Develop good relations with the school’s child psychologist.
  • Be alert to gender issues, particularly with your staff.
  • Participate in sports day [1]and be seen when PTA has jumble sales and other school events.
  • Ensure concerts are well rehearsed before they are presented to the public.
  • If you bring in parents to help, make sure you talk with them at the beginning as a group, giving guidance on what and what is not acceptable visitor behavior in the classroom
  • Encourage the PTA to fund-raise as often as possible.
  • Arrange overnight camps at the beginning of the school year – this experience is a great community builder.
  • Get PTA to cover the cost for all the kids.
  • Similarly, arrange as many full day trips as possible, especially for the younger kids.
  • Don't go to local pubs at night or over the weekend.
  • Don't smoke in public. In fact, don’t smoke at all! That is not what parents want to see!
  • Do, though, shop in local shops, especially at weekends, but wear your Head Teacher’s clothes.

Last, but not least, try, try to leave school behind in your head each day - don't let its daily flood of issues impact your private life too much.

*     
*



[1] I made a point of challenging the fastest boy and the fastest girl to a hundred metre sprint, dressed in my Headmaster’s regalia. And, I always won!!!!

Friday, September 18, 2015

Given the current move to Maker's/Innovation Lab practice, take a look at this website

Today we are taught that Open Ed period was a chaotic failure, but the truth lies elsewhere, and the reason we are told of this "failure" can be keenly instructive."

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Pocket museums











Pocket Museums…
ignite a child’s curiosity
John Paull





Save it! Save it forever!
In a pocket museum!!

Kids come to school to learn to ‘read, write and do their arithmetic’ – the 3 Rs. That’s right, isn’t it, in all school classrooms?

They come from different backgrounds and experiences.

But, as teachers know, at the beginning of their schooling, some of the children are better prepared for schools’ 3Rs curriculum than others. They are read to at night, they help with their parents’ gardening, and may go on weekend nature walks.  Some, perhaps, have been to a Pre-School.

Whatever their background, all kids bring their innate sense of curiosity to their classrooms – some with it already fired up by family and friends, last year’s teacher, some not.

We put them in classrooms and we tell their teachers what 3Rs to teach them.

Sometimes we make the big mistake and even tell the teachers how to teach the 3Rs.

But when the classroom doors close, teachers, of course, work out their best way to get to really know their new class, figure out how to ignite their curiosity, and how to use that excitement to set them on the 3Rs learning track.

Remembering what sparked them when they were young, from the first day of school many teachers use the children’s natural curiosity, and, in some cases, enthusiastic interest in the ‘wild’ environment (rocks, crystals, fossils, birds and creepy crawlies, for example) to engage and motivate their class of learners. Perhaps they plan to bring in things to show, and then encourage the students to do likewise. They may set up an ever-changing, eye-catching display of Mother Nature’s delights on a science table, much like a ‘hands-on’ miniature museum.

The science table (sometimes called Nature Table, Curiosity Table, Class Museum Table, Makers Table) is often owned by the teacher, and then eventually maintained and co-owned by the class. The table is usually placed close to a wall that is covered with display paper, and accompanied with questions, pictures, reference books, magnifying glasses and a binocular microscope.

It works!     


In my experience, a well-displayed, interactive science table is a key part to a classroom layout. It appeals to students’ sense of curiosity and really does impact the classroom ethos, promote interest, frequent classroom discussion, and, often, team/individual research – if that’s what the teacher wants. It can help set the right inspiring mood for the classroom.

Sharing Mother Nature’s Delights and igniting and fanning student curiosity at the beginning of each school day - or teacher workshop - has always worked for me, especially when I use pocket museums.

Pocket museum? What’s that, then, I hear you ask? Well, quite simply, it’s a small tin that’s home to one or more of Mother Nature’s Delights, and is kept in the pocket.

As a teacher of children and as a teacher of teachers, I’ve been using my pocket museums’ strategy effectively for well over fifty years to ignite curiosity and create a community of inquisitive learners whose pursuit of knowledge can be never ending. When sitting in front of a new class, without uttering a word, I very slowly, tantalizingly, open an old tin [1]and stare at what’s inside. This process NEVER fails to pique student curiosity. I look up and tell my young audience that my tin is a pocket museum. As they crane their necks to see what’s inside, I know I have them…………right in the palm of my hand!

What’s in the museum tin, Mr. Paull? Go on, show us……show us the pocket museum…..please!” is a request I never tire of hearing

I then stand, turn the tin at an angle,  and show everyone my first-ever pocket museum contents – a wishing rock and a beautiful, smooth piece of amber found on a beach when I was five years old - and tell their story. 

When questions and comments have wound down, I place it on the science table, telling everyone, “Hey, I have a tin…..for each of you………..take it home and fill it with something special, bring it in tomorrow and show everyone what you’ve got.” 

Then, I add, “Hey, first, though, let’s make it look nice.”

I hand out pieces of colored felt, scissors and glue.  “OK. Cut the felt to the size that fits inside your tin. Glue the felt to the bottom of the tin. Then, at home, glue something really interesting on the felt, and, hey, you have your first-ever pocket museum – which you can keep, forever, forever and a day!

And then I add: “Cut out the date on your parents’ newspaper and stick it inside the tin lid. 
That way you’ll always know when you made your pocket museum.”

Before the students go home, I hand out a cottonwood twig to each kid and show them where to snap it to release its inner star. [2]

Doing that is always another ”Ooooh, Aaaah’” moment!  When the class settles down having seen and released their star, I tell the kids, “Hey, tonight, open your curtains before you go to bed and look in the night sky for your star, way up there, twinkling bright. That’s YOUR star!!”

The next day the kids are bursting to tell me they saw their star high up in the heavens, and to show me - and each other - what’s in their pocket museums.
Sometimes, someone will show me a wishing rock found at home in his/her garden!

Good. I know now my classroom is off and running. 

The spirit, energy and engagement are there for me to teach my students the 3Rs…………………….or something as profound! :)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….



   
How to make a pocket museum
for your special find…..


You need a tin, a piece of felt, scissors, glue, and an artifact or two (or more).


  1. Cut the felt to size.
  2. Glue the felt inside the tin.
  3. Glue something very special to you........or rocks/minerals/crystals/bones, and,
  4. hey, you have your pocket museum! KEEP it, FOREVER!


 John Paull
www.mywishingrock.blogspot.com


**   Kids of all ages really do love their pocket museums.

Over the years, in loads of classrooms, making and sharing stacks of pocket museums has helped me especially nurture the curiosity and excitement and joy young scientists naturally feel when interacting with, and learning from me and each other, more about, the world around them.

And it motivates them to engage happily in the 3Rs.

I am convinced, too, that Pocket Museum owners/creators have a pro-active view of the ‘wild’ environment.

***












[1] An OXO tin, vintage 1947, given to me by my parents).
[2] This is a great activity to do with students. Collect dry, dead twigs from around the trunk of a cottonwood tree. Break the twigs open at the growth line and see the beautiful star shape inside. There’s a Native American legend that says that these are the tiny stars from the heavens above.