Tag: Eleanor K. Smith

Authentic Project Ideas – Mountain Formation

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

How do Mountains form

I live in the Eastern United States.  My husband is from the Western United States.  He has always laughed at the “hills” we call “mountains” on the east coast.  The mountains out west do put our eastern mountain ranges to shame.

So why are some mountains bigger than others?  How do mountains form?  How do scientists know this?  What kind(s) of scientists study mountain formation?

And this makes me crazy – why do the leaves at the bottom of our local mountains lose their leaves in the fall before the leaves at the top of our mountains?  Isn’t it colder on the top?  Isn’t that why trees lose their leaves?  I think I am going to find out exactly what kind of trees we have that are doing this, do some research, and create a book to explain this! (Yep – I started with a picture of a mountain and now I am writing a book about a specific tree and how and when it loses leaves in the fall – that is called an authentic project!)

Authentic Project Ideas – Making Snow

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

Snow Machine

A picture is worth a thousand words.  I can think of so many different authentic projects that this picture might inspire!  Why would someone want to make snow?  What would you do with man-made snow?  How do you make snow? What do you need to make snow?  What is the chemical composition of man-made snow and does this differ from “real” snow? How does man-made snow impact the environment?  What did they do in Olympic games of the past if it didn’t snow and we didn’t know how to make snow…was this ever a problem?  What sports are played in/on the snow? (Remember for real authentic teaching go with student interest – go with the snow flow!)

All of these questions and more can lead to an authentic project.  And if a student builds a snow maker in the middle of your classroom or living room…send pictures!

Authentic Project Ideas – Solutions for Traffic Gridlock

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

img_20190112_154827038_hdr

I just returned from a trip out to Los Angeles.  While there I took this picture of the city from one of the highways.  When I looked at the picture later, I was shocked that I managed to capture an LA highway with only two cars on it.  We were totally surrounded by traffic, so I have no idea how I managed this picture!  (“Twilight Zone” moment.)

Los Angeles has some of the worst, if not worst traffic in the United States.  There are many cities around the world, including LA, that are on the verge of total gridlock. So, not only would a great authentic project be for students to start to think of creative ways to solve these traffic nightmares, it will most likely be one of our current young students who ends up helping to solve this problem as an adult.

Mass transit, tele-commuting, self-driven cars, monorails, flying cars…  Ideas?  Plans?  Diagrams?  Models?

 

Authentic Project Ideas – The Polar Vortex

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

cold weather

We are currently experiencing some of the coldest weather that I can ever remember.  Our high today was 9 degrees Fahrenheit/-12 degrees Celsius.  The meteorologists on The Weather Channel blamed a polar vortex.  What is a polar vortex?  What causes a polar vortex?  Can you draw a polar vortex?  Make a model?  Does a polar vortex start at the North Pole?  South Pole?

Do dark colors keep you warmer than light colors? Why?  Can you design a winter coat that will keep you warm in extremely cold weather?  (For authentic learning, go with student interest!  If your student is not interested in the weather, maybe you can get them interested in clothes and fashion for cold weather.  If they are reading, writing, and doing math, that is all that matters!)

And if you don’t see another blog post from me for awhile, my fingers froze to the keyboard and I am waiting to defrost!

Authentic Project Ideas – Waterslides

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

waterslide

Watching kids tear down waterslides, I started to think about all the features that need to get designed into the slide to make it fun and safe. This would be a  great authentic project for older students to do, research about waterslide engineering and designing a waterslide.  Younger students could focus on fun designs.  Waterslide models could also be built.  Lots of authentic math and reading opportunities!

*Don’t get me started about the waterslides hanging off the sides of cruise ships.  How do you spell CRAZY!

Authentic Project Ideas – Waves

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

waves

What causes the waves in the oceans?  Why are waves bigger on some coastlines than on others?  Where are the best places to surf?  Lots of questions, lots of research, many possible currents to follow (waves…currents…get it!)  Hmm…what causes ocean currents?

Authentic projects often start with a simple question, lead to research, and end in models or experiments.

Authentic Project Ideas – Clouds

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

clouds3

How do clouds form?  What are the different types of clouds? What do clouds tell us about approaching weather systems?

Can you get one type of cloud on top of another type of cloud?  Yes, you can!  I  was in an airplane when I started thinking about clouds and I saw one type of cloud layered on top of another type of cloud. Or maybe that was just one type of cloud?  Off to do some authentic research myself!

Maybe I’ll start to photograph and label all of the different types of clouds I can find and what they mean…

Authentic Teaching Opportunities – Project Presentations, and more…

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

state fair 1

Adults often do many things for children that they can do for themselves, especially when preparing for a project.  We all know how important it is to be prepared for a lesson with students.  But being prepared, and adults doing work that students can learn from, are two very different things.  Planning and gathering materials for a project are important activities that students can and should be involved with.  When plans miraculously happen, and materials just appear, many learning opportunities are lost.

When we presented the State Fair to other groups of students, many math opportunities occurred.  There was measurement to plan how to set up the fair in the space we had available.  There was discourse and compromise among students to agree on how to place each state in the fair – Alaska wanted to display the states alphabetically, Texas by size, California by population…   A schedule was developed – after the students figured out how much time each group would need at the fair based on number of displays to visit and how much average time would be spent at each display.  Groups were invited based on this schedule.  Then the schedule was adjusted for groups that had a conflict with the available times.  Then the schedule was re-adjusted after the first day when the students realized larger groups and older students needed more time at the fair than smaller and younger groups, etc.

There are many math opportunities for parents working with children at home as well.  When inviting other children over make sure your child is involved in this discourse.  You would be surprised how much math you use every day without even realizing it.   (Except of course when I balance my checkbook.  Then I totally realize how much math is involved as I try to make sense of the usual mess I have made!)

Authentic Project Ideas – Airplane Engines

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

Engine

How do airplane engines work?  What is the difference between how propellers work and how jet engines work?  Some airplanes have hybrid propellers/jet engines, how do those work?

Authentic projects often start with a simple question, lead to research, and end with a student construction of a 747 (if you are lucky, it will just be a model).

Don’t Forget the Thank You

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Blog, Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills, Uncategorized

ThankYou

My children attended Penn State University and both received several scholarships while they were there (yes, I am a very proud mom). I was always impressed about the way the university handled scholarships.  The scholarship money was not released to the student’s financial account until a thank-you note was received by the university to forward to the scholarship donor.  Here was a major university taking the time to teach basic manners.

The holiday season is a great time to teach children about the importance of saying thank you.  Thank-you notes can be simple, or creative, including writing, drawing, and/or photographs. This is also the perfect time of year for children to thank people that make a difference in their lives every day.

And THANK YOU for spending your valuable time reading my blog.  I get a great deal of pleasure from being able to share what I learned during 30-plus years of teaching, and hopefully to continue to make a difference.  But, without my followers and readers, my blog really wouldn’t matter.  So, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you!

Happy Holidays and All the Best in 2019!

Love, Ellie

*A few special 2018 thank-you notes from me:  Thank you Eyen, for being the most amazing and talented illustrator ever!  Thank you Peggy, for being the absolutely best co-author.  And thank you Carissa, for being my fantastic guest blogger.