Do you ever wonder about the Earth?

       Do you ever think about how Earth works? What is the Earth like? All students have these questions in their mind and some have more. Most students know something about the Earth but want to know more. This week in class we explored Earth science and talked about Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the weather. We took a quiz in which we were ask how confident we felt about teaching these subtopics. The only one I feel confident in was weather. We were also given questions such as:

• Consider the area of Earth's surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel most knowledgable about? What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to keep your knowledge current?

• Consider the area of Earth's surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel least knowledge about? What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to continue to strengthen you knowledge about the topic?

• What resources are you aware of that will help you be an effective teacher of Earth's surface, atmosphere, and weather? 

     We split up into partners and answered these questions to the best of our ability. Click the link to a document with my partner and I's answers to these specific questions! With my partner I found that we both had a strength in weather but a weakness in Earth's surface and Atmosphere. When your a teacher you should always be knowledgable in all topics you are going to teach to your students. This way you are able to answer whatever questions they ask you. If you are unsure of a certain topic you should always research before hand and make yourself knowledgable on the given topic. 

As teachers it is good to have a couple of kid friendly websites for students to further their knowledge  in the topic. When working with my partner we found four current websites that are very helpful to students. These websites were BrainPOP, Time For Kids, Discovery Kids, and National Geographic. All these websites give students current articles on the Earth's surface, Atmosphere, and weather. They also have games, facts, and videos on the given topic. When looking at all these website they reminded me of when I was younger learning about Earth science. I used these websites and learned so much from them. I would definitely incorporate these into my lessons when teaching. There are so many more websites out there now that are just as informative as well! All teachers just have to do their research! 

   After answering the questions and looking for resources my partner and I created a Glogster for one of the topics. We chose weather because we had a interest in it the most. When the lesson was over we realized we should have chosen a topic that we knew less about so then we could become more comfortable with. However, we still had fun using Glogster and creating our project. Glogster is a great digital tool for any teacher or student to use. It is extremely easy to use and if you use it in the classroom and the students do not know it, it is easy to explain how! I would use it in my classroom and recommend doing it to any teacher. Below is a picture of our Glogster!  

Click the link to see the full poster!