The Water Cyle

I presented to a group of kindergarten students at Crimson Point Elementary School out in Kuna on Tuesday April 25. So, not going to lie as I showed up just as a baby chick they had been incubating was hatching as I was a little afraid I wasn't going to have a chance against that, but thankfully the kids had a great time and we did awesome! We spend about an hour and half coloring, explaining and putting together our water cycles! It was so fun and I think the kids really were able to understand what was going on.  The words were a little hard for them to grasp but the concepts behind them I believe they were really able to make a connection with.  I was so impressed by how well behaved and truly interested the kids were, seriously they were amazing. 
Just showing off our water cycles!
They had lots of questions for me and were very curious about science.  I even met this little girl Taylor who was by far the most amazing little girl I've ever met! She's got a passion for dinosaurs and knows so much about them, after class she spent a good 15 mins teaching me about various dinosaurs and how they lived, what they ate everything about them! She's great! I love seeing that much passion in someone that young! But over all I think it went so well, I've even made plans to return outside of my service learning to present to a class of 1st graders this upcoming Friday!

Another Idea for the Plan

So yesterday in class I had an interesting idea. I thought it might be cool to step up tanks in the class room that display the different parts of the water cycle.  For example, have a jar, cup, or tank of water with a mark at the top of the water line, as I start to explain the water cycle turn a heat lamp on it so that when I am done explaining I can show that the water level has dropped due to evaporation, like wise I can try to simulate condensation and precipitation. Just a thought though-something extra to help get the point across!

The plan

So, after some debate I've decided how to present the water cycle to a group of elementary students. We are going to make homemade place mats.  Each students will be given there own 'kit' contain the main piece of paper and small cut-out pieces of the cycle.  As I go through and explain each step the students will be able to color it however they want, and will glue them in the right order showing how the different components relate to each other. After the students are finished their mats will be laminated so they can take it home and explain it to their families.

Now that I've got my plan I have to find my graphics and smooth out my lecture. I have one class already set up, however, in order to meet my hours goal I'll need to find one more class to present to. If anyone has any contacts let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it! :)

Pre-Reflective

I signed up for Science in the Classroom. Honestly, I chose this service learning project without much knowledge of what I should expect. All I knew was that I would be presenting science in the classroom-pretty self explanatory. But without knowing what I was about to get myself into I chose this project above all of the others because I really enjoy science. When I was a little kid I would have loved for some college student participating in a service learning project to come to my class.

Dr. Ball keeps talking about how the importance of this class is relating it to people, taking science and making it important. Well, on a small scale I get to go into a classroom take science and somehow relate it to a group of students. I get to help make it important to them, and hopefully spark something inside to make them aware of the world around them. So yes, I believe my time with this agency will help me learn in Environmental Studies 121.