Describing an experience teachhing others about watersheds

Here are some Examples of BioSITE Student Projects on Display at CDM

What Will Your Class Do?

Pointillist Paintings based on photos

Collaborative Poster about the Watershed

For More Share Project Ideas,

Check out the Links in the Grey Bar to the Right

Remember: If you would like your project on display for a whole month (in addition to BioSITE Open House), plan for it to fit behind a 3'x6' vertical Plexiglas panel.

Clike here for specifications.

Collage of Journal Pages and Photos

Nature Inspired Art and Poetry



Science Vocabulary Explained and a collaborative River Map (in window)

Happy New Year from BioSITE!

We hope you enjoyed the holiday break and are excited for the months ahead!  Things are going strong in all branches of the program and we are excited about all of the great field experiences that await.  As a reminder, there are a few important program-wide dates and projects to keep an eye on…

Share Projects:  Please give us an indication ASAP of what type of science/BioSITE related project your class will be submitting for display here at CDM and when your project will be ready for us.  As a reminder, each participating class will be given one month of display time (including summer if preferred) during which your will receive a pass to come see their work on display. In addition, all works completed by BioSITE Open House in April will also be on display at that time. 

For more information about the parameters for your projects, follow this link:  share project information

STEP Training:  Feb. 8-9, 2014.  Learn to raise threatened Steelhead Trout in your classroom!  Contact the program right away if you’re interested, the trainings fill up really fast!  Follow this link:  STEP Flier

BioSITE Open House:  Sounds a long way off right now, but it will be here before we know it!  Mark your calendars… April 17-19, 2014 at CDM.  You, your students, and their families are invited to visit the museum for free on one of those days to see their work on display and enjoy BioSITE activities facilitated by their high school leaders.  You will receive fliers with admission stubs a little closer to the date. 

Keep an eye on all those great migratory birds, and as always, let us know if you have any questions! 

Teacher Training Follow-Up Resources

Thank you to all those who attend this year's teacher training!  Our small mighty group enjoyed learning many great hands-on activities together.  I'm already looking forward to next year!  Click on the links below to find the documents and resources that were shared...

NewsELA - Exciting online resource shared by one of your colleagues for accessing grade-level appropriate non-fiction current events articles.  Be sure to check this out!

Resource Page - some useful links reviewed during training

13-14 Share Project Description and Forms - empower your students, sign up to display their scientific discoveries and observations here CDM!

2014 STEP Training - Register ASAP, spots are filling up fast!

Investigate and Communicate Activity Packet - help your students think like scientists, build Common Core language skills, and take advantage of studying the natural environment right at school!

Remember these tips for facilitating discussions about experimental design

• There are many ways to experiment...including further observation. You don't always have to "do something" to the thing you're studying to learn more about it.
• The experiements that students design don't have to be things that they can actually "do" as 4th graders, allow them to imagine what they would do if they could!
• The important thing is that your students are able to explain their design choices.  Why have they chosen to try ____ , what have they noticed that makes them wonder _____ ?  This is where their criticial thinkng will really emerge! 

CDM Teacher's Club Flier - Sign up to receive information about workshops and opportunities

Welcome Back to BioSITE! 
We're looking forward to a great 2013-2014 Season!

 

A big "Thank You" to our generous supporters for making the BioSITE experience possible!  We are grateful to Oracle, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, State Farm, and Agilent Technologies Foundation for providing rich learning opportunities for both you and your students.  
 
BioSITE Teacher Training is just around the corner!  We would like to invite all of our BioSITE partner teachers  (even if you will not be able to participate in field days this year, such as 2^nd, 3^rd, and 6^thgrade teachers) to our BioSITE teacher training. This will be an opportunity to practice techniques that you can use with your students for place based investigations whether at BioSITE or exploring your own schoolyard.  We are here to support you and your students with hands-on science and environmental learning.  Here are the details…

Date:  Saturday, November 16

Time:   9am - 3pm for New Teachers, lunch included - Full Day
            11:30am - 3pm for Returning Teachers, lunch included - Half Day
Location:  Children's Discovery Museum, 180 Woz Way, San Jose
Stipend for Participation

Please RSVP (I want to be sure to have enough lunch) and confirm full or half day. 
Email BioSITE@cdm.org

Weather Equipment:  To help you extend your environmental monitoring, those who attend training will receive weather monitoring equipment to take back to your school.  Especially if you will not formally be doing BioSITE this year, this is a great way to introduce your students to the concepts of monitoring, data collection, prediction, and interpretation.  There is so much you can do even with simple weather equipment…and in the bigger picture, weather monitoring can provide valuable clues about climate change. 

 

For directions and parking information please follow this link to Getting to CDM

December BioSITE Update

Holidays are right around the corner!
I am not sure where our fall went, but December and January are going to zoom by just as fast. To make sure you are able to begin the new year with all the important 2013 dates -- here is a list of links for the upcoming workshops in 2013:

December 20th                  Sign Ups for CEEF Teacher Institute
                                                    Best Practices in Environmental Education-- and a $300 stipend!
January 19th and 20th     STEP Training
                                                     Raise Steelhead eggs in your classroom!
January 29th                      Science Chat - Dig Deeper!
                                                     A night especially designed for teachers who love science teaching!
February 9th                      Growing Up Wild Workshop 
                                                     Exploring Nature with young children 3-7!

April 11 - 13                       BioSITE Open House- Showcasing your students' projects!!
  
DECEMBER CAME IN WITH A BANG!!!





This is the view of the Guadalupe River from
the Park Ave bridge downtown during the
early December downpour.
 

 


And where were our Leland + BioSITE students??  
Out at our Alamitos
Creek Site journaling their observations-- of course.
Until it started to
hail on us! Another exciting BioSTE day!



 

4th Grade Share Projects for 2013

Greetings to all,
We are now in the colorful month of November- and that means we are well into our 2012-2013 BioSITE year!  Students are engaged in becoming River Guardians, and our field sites are changing with the seasons.  We look forward to seeing how BioSITE students will express these unique learning experiences through BioSITE projects! 

We hope you have spent some time thinking about what your class would like to contribute this year.  The project guides are linked  on the right sidebar here so that you can reveiw the different ideas we shared with you at the training and in the participation letter.  In each link you will see the overview, materials and logistics, how the project is aligned with State Standards, and the science behind the project including resources and links for digging deeper!

And of course you can follow another idea, as one or our BioSITE teachers shares here, here, and here!!  Kirsten Corpuz at Allen at Steinbeck created this class display by taking photos of the field site and using the artistic technique known as pointilism to then have students recreate beautifully creative expressions of their study area.

So be inspired and creative!!  We look forward to the contributions of every 4th grade class, and of course if other participating BioSITE teachers would like to add to the display- we would love it!

Please use this form and let us know by the deadline of Nov 15th.  Thank you for all that you do to support BioSITE, your students, and our community.

Welcome Letter 2012-2013

The SCI Program (Science, Community, Identity)

A new element of Children’s Discovery Museum’s

BioSITE program

September 20, 2012

Dear BioSITE Teachers,

Welcome back! We’re looking forward to another great year and have some exciting news to share with you!

First, thank you so much for your ongoing interest in and support of Children’s Discovery Museum’s BioSITE program. As we near our 20th year, we are making a couple of positive changes to the program and would like to enlist your help in making these things possible. We call this new program SCI (Science, Community, Identity) and it includes the following:

Evaluation

The first component that we are adding is a comprehensive evaluation of the BioSITE program. While we have conducted smaller evaluations at a couple of points in BioSITE’s history, this evaluation will really help us to document the important elements of the BioSITE program and how they contribute to student’s science learning and attitudes. For this project, we are especially interested in how we can help to promote students’ positive science identity.

We have enlisted The Lawrence Hall of Science Research Group to conduct the professional evaluation of BioSITE, and they are developing tools and protocols to assess BioSITE’s effectiveness. The evaluation process will not impact the regular BioSITE programming, but we will let you know if there is an opportunity for your students to be more involved with this exciting opportunity. The evaluation provides an assessment of the BioSITE program, curriculum and staff, but is in no way an evaluation or assessment of you or your teaching. We hope that the evaluation will provide you with insights that could aid you in your science teaching and professional development and that it will send a strong message to funders and school district personnel about the benefits of this important program.

4th Grade Projects

The second component to the project which is new this year is the opportunity for 4th graders to share their science knowledge with others. We know through past evaluations that part of the success of the BioSITE program for the high school participants is learning themselves by teaching others. They develop confidence, an increased interest in the science content, and often a renewed commitment to environmental stewardship.

We want to provide these same opportunities for the 4th graders in BioSITE to share their science knowledge publically, so we have developed a few different ways for them to do that. As part of your participation in BioSITE this year, we would like for you to choose one of the following ways to have your 4th graders share their science knowledge with others. These will be classroom projects which we can help you to facilitate, if you would like. We will provide curriculum write-ups, information during teacher training, and may also be available to facilitate certain projects in your classroom. When completed, your projects will be prominently displayed at CDM. We are especially looking forward to showcasing an array of student work for our upcoming 20th anniversary year that exemplifies the amazing experiences and science learning of all BioSITE students!

Here are our ideas for the 2012 – 2013 share projects…

BioSITE Journaling: BioSITE field work engages students in practicing the skills of observation and nature study. Students can use their journal work to write and share stories of their unique experiences along the creek bank, expand on the questions that are sparked by their field explorations, or create a class collage of nature notes to show the hidden interconnections of a river habitat.

River Map Project: Students work together to create a river map based on observations made during BioSITE field visits. Maps may include descriptions of animals, plants, data collected, and other features of the river.

Share Your Science Project Poster: Students have the opportunity to create a poster about investigations (not limited to BioSITE) that they have done in class or for a science fair.

Schoolyard Naturalist

Students will be able to explore their own school habitat thru one of three different designs: Ask a Question, Design an Experiment: Students work individually or in pairs to figure out something they would like to know about the plant/wildlife on campus and then design an experiment that could help answer their question. Schoolyard Field Guide: Students work together to create a field guide specific to their school, including plant and animal life found directly outside the classroom. Individual Study Spot: Each student will record observations of their own chosen study spot several times throughout the year to discover what is going on there.

River of Words: Facilitated by CDM staff, this project encourages students to use art and prose to celebrate their local watershed. Students are introduced to the international art work and poetry from the River of Words yearly program, and then guided through the process of creating their own watercolors for a display.

Buddy Project: 4th grader students facilitate the Watershed Mapmaking activity for a younger buddy class. CDM staff will help to facilitate this sharing project and photos documenting the experience will be put on display at CDM.

Starting with the BioSITE Teacher Training on September 22, we will be providing more detailed examples and information on each of these projects to help you get started. All participating BioSITE 4th grade teachers will receive a complete packet of detailed write-ups by October 1st. This packet will include suggestions about how to introduce and conduct these activities with your class and specific information about how to create the displays for CDM. Please, as you look ahead to your year, choose one of the above projects that best suits your plans, and sign up for your special share project so that we can proudly display their work at Children’s Discovery Museum.

By November 15th, we will be asking you to commit to the specific project you are planning to complete with your class, and to identify a completion date (for example; April 1 for BioSITE Open House or June 1 for the summer showcase) that fits with your teaching plan. This will allow us to prepare for classroom visits and plan for available space within the Museum for display.

As we proceed in this new endeavor together, please feel free to contact the BioSITE team. We will be keeping you up to date on this project and our progress thru the BioSITE teacher blog. As always, feel free to talk with us to share your suggestions, concerns, or questions.

Thanks again for your participation and all of your support of BioSITE!

Sandy Derby             Biret Adden            Megan Lee            Patti Workover            Jenni Martin

BioSITE                      BioSITE                    SCI BioSITE              Leland                           Director of

Director                     Coordinator           Coordinator            Coordinator                  Education