Monarch Butterfly

Finding a Monarch butterfly around San Antonio was a bit harder than I expected. I even went to Houston this weekend and had no luck finding one there. I did however kill a lot of butterflies and bugs with the front of my truck. On Sunday when I had returned from Houston I went to a friends house for a BBQ and stumbled upon some butterflies around her garden. I was happy to find a monarch butterfly when I walked over. Just like Dr. Anderson mentioned the butterflies are in no hurry to flutter off and I was able to catch a shot before my camera died.

Simple machines around my home

Simple machines are tools that help make something work easier. Some of the items around my home are things that I would have never considered for simple machines.

This simple machine is an example of a lever.

The blinds leading to my balcony are an example of a pulley. Pulleys help move loads up, down and sideways.

This fork and knife are an example of wedges. They are used to help to push or split things apart.

The gears in my watch are an example of wheel and axle.

The key rings that hold my many keys together is an example of a screw. It is a simple machine made from another simple machine that winds around itself.

How do you recycle??

Recycling is essential now a days. I have said in previous blogs that I live in an apartment, so we don't really have many options to recycle here. I do try and save water by cutting off the faucet when I brush my teeth and I don't really have to wash clothes a lot. But my boyfriend lives in a house where they do recycle and its great! I thought I would share the ways we recycle when I am over there.

First off they have a separate recycling trash can for bottles, plastic, and boxes! That trash can gets used quite often. We also have a small recycle trash can that we keep on the patio to throw things into when we are cooking out or just enjoying the outdoors with friends.

At my house I only use water bottles and go through A LOT!! but here at the house we have a Britta water dispenser that we fill up and keep in the fridge. It saves on money and plastic bottles.





Science at Leon Springs

At Leon Springs I am in a 4th grade classroom, which is very different for me because I am use to being around kindergarten, but I can say that so far I love it!

The classroom that I am in is a team teach classroom, so my home room teacher is also the math and science teacher. The children really seem to enjoy the science lessons the teacher does. This past week they started learning about the water cycle and were suppose to create their own picture of the cycle either individually or in groups.

This is a picture of the teachers depiction of the water cycle so the students have something as a reference.

This picture is some science stuff the teacher has in the back of the classroom. Doesn't look like it has been touched, I've only seen a couple of science lessons in the classroom.

Last Thursday was my observation day and in science we did an experiment on how to create a cloud. These are the items the teacher used. She boiled some water then added it to a large coke bottle and then lit a match. The children were amazed to see the small cloud formations within the bottle when the teacher squeezed the bottle to add pressure. I must say I was amazed myself! I don't remember seeing experiments like that when I was in grade school. After the lesson the students recorded their observations in their science journals.

One of the girls in the classroom let me take a picture of her drawing of the water cycle, a lot of the students are very talented when they put their mind to work!

Science at home and my neighborhood

Living in an apartment can sometimes be hard to see living organisms. I do not own any pets or keep plants in my 'home', but I do see plenty of animals and plants around my building.

My apartment building has several wild cats that are homeless and live on the property. I am not a cat person so I took the picture as fast and as far away as possible!

The property that I live at does have some natural landscape all over, which I am glad for because my hometown has trees everywhere and I miss that!

The tiny little bee in the picture above was being very stubborn when I was trying to capture his picture on some flowers outside my building, but I finally caught a good picture! ( If you can see it)

Children can utilize their surroundings no matter what their living situation is. If a student ever says they can't do a science observation in their apartment you know their wrong and can convince them to walk around the complex with their parents to see what 'science' items are outdoors.

This is what I would like my apartment balcony to look like, but I can't keep plants and flowers alive. My neighbor does a great job!!

Project Wild

Project Wild was definitely a new learning experience! I was looking forward to all the different activities the facilitators had planned, but unfortunately the rain postponed all of that for the group. They did show us some great activities and lessons we can do with our future classrooms using the two books they gave us. Which I am happy I went just to receive those materials, they are very helpful!

At the end of Project Wild each group had a presentation to give on a lesson plan from the Growing up Wild book. My group and I did Aqua Charades, which would have been great to teach if we had more time, but towards the end of the day the weather was only getting worse. I would like to someday attend another Project Wild clinic and get the full effect of the program.

I did have pictures but can't get them off my phone! I didn't want to carry my camera with me that day because of the rain, but next time I will include pictures!