Is it time to head to a new island?
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Fun Suggestions for Building Literacy Skills! Each week we'll share helpful hints on using the comic across the grade level span. I'll add each week's tips here so they are easy to find. If you are new to the comic, be sure to share the backstory of the characters with your students. You can read that at the top of the comic page or click here to read the backstory and get a pdf version to share with parents! If you need to share comic videos directly with students you can use these safe video links to do so:
One document, multiple levels! Each comic episode supports pre-readers to upper level second grade readers. The graphic format encourages all readers to stretch their abilities by tackling juicy words and big concepts!
First Grade: This is the time of year when some children start to zoom ahead in reading while others are taking their time with early reader books as they build a strong foundation at their own pace. Try using the comic for a readers theater! Those zoomers can read the text boxes, your foundation builders can do sound effect, kiddos in the middle can read the speech bubbles and EVERYONE can feel successful as they work on fluency and phrasing! Second Grade: You may notice we've snuck a few tricky words into the text boxes. Your students can begin to integrate their use of context cues to puzzle out some of that richer vocabulary! This is also a great way for those clever advancing readers to begin to work on making inferences! Why does Data Dog need to be careful? Why is there a smell of rotten eggs?
Kindergarten: Playing with words by substituting phonemes at the beginning, middle, and end of words helps both reading AND spelling skills. Before you introduce the comic, take a moment to play! Write "zoom" on a whiteboard. After children read it, erase the /m/ and challenge children to make other sound effects by adding different final sounds! You can follow the same protocol with "zup," this time changing the middle phoneme or vowel sound.
Medial phoneme substitutions: /z/ /u/ /p/ to /z/ /o/ /p/ Final phoneme substitutions: /z/ /oo/ /m/ to /z/ /oo/ /p/ First Grade: Now that your students are more established readers, it might be a good time to focus on reading with inflection. Challenge students to notice the end punctuation in each speech or thought bubble. How would the character say those words? Using voices for each character can further reinforce this skill. Second Grade: Some of the text boxes give facts and information while others describe the action in the frame or something out of view. Have students identify which type of text is in each box. You can color code them and then have teams assigned for choral reading for a specific text type! A rose by any other name...Scientists call it the scientific method. The National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA) promotes the term scientific process. We like to call it the most powerful tool ever invented! No matter how you brand it, this process is the pathway to finding an emergent truth. A process for determining facts.
At any time during the process scientists might revise, circle back, or even abandon a line of inquiry all together. Furthermore, this way of thinking can be applied beyond science to support evidence based decision making in many aspects of life. To help you support your students in learning the components of this process, we've got some bonus materials to help you out!
Tips for Adapting Lessons for Distanced and Remote Learners!Each week, we provide two new lesson opportunities. Some will be very easy to adapt to a distanced classroom setting while others may require a bit more thinking. We're here to help with that! Remember, you can skip any lessons you choose and still provide your students with a great mission experience. Even under normal conditions, it is rare that a class does EVERY lesson associated with a mission, so be kind to yourselves. Less really can be more! That being said, I'll add to this page weekly so you can find adaptation ideas for the lessons you DO choose to do.
Remote: Send the blubber glove assembly directions home to adults. If they are unable to construct a glove, demonstrate the use of a blubber glove during your class meeting or with a video on your LMS. Then challenge students to create two or more insulating designs as described in the lesson and compare them to find the most effective solution. Encourage them to be creative in their materials choices and use what is on hand. Remember to check the recycling bin too!
Share content though your learning management systemEach week, we'll post links to field videos on this page so you can push them to student devices or post to your learning management system without having to set up accounts or passwords for your students. The internet is a wonderful way to explore the world, but kids need to be safe! That's why we're sharing links for our videos via Video.link to support your distance learning this mission! You can send parents here to collect the links or copy and paste them and share via the platform of your choice. The videos are also visible by clicking on the video thumbnail. To ensure kids' safety, we advise teacher and parents not to share this page directly with your young students if they are unsupervised. Children should also be supervised if watching videos or livestreams directly on the site.
Need to share livestream archives with students?This is the place! At the end of each livestream day, we'll select one session to archive and post it on our archive page AND post safe links here. If your students are working remotely and you need to share our livestream archives with them, simply grab the link and share it through your learning management platform. Each bit.ly link takes students to a video.link (formerly Safe YouTube) version of the archive. This version eliminates related content and other possible distractions. If you need an alternate format, please drop us a line at Curious@Go2Science.com and we'll do our best to accommodate!
Go2Science triples the number of classrooms using its unique approach to science learning
Increasingly, educators are realizing the value of science instruction in the early elementary years. Not only does it lay the foundation for future science learning but, when integrated across the curriculum, it also has an impressive impact on literacy and math achievement. When schools rapidly transitioned to remote learning in the spring, teachers using Go2Science felt they had a leg up. Today, a growing number of PreK-2 homeschoolers and classrooms across Maine including the state's largest school districts, Lewiston and Portland have subscribed to this creative and engaging program. Districts such as RSU 2 and MDI were early adopters and quickly saw the value and quality of the program. The Perloff Family foundation was another early and ardent supporter, providing subscriptions to teachers across Maine, and also donating 3-D printers to the classrooms that brings a physical component to the instruction. Kristen Tedesco, a 2nd grade teacher at Lyseth Elementary School in Portland relied heavily on Go2Science when her school closed due to the pandemic.
Susan Williams, the Director of Instructional Support and Educator Effectiveness at Lewiston Public Schools considers Go2Science an “awesome resource.”
The Go2Science team is striving to get their program implemented into classrooms nationwide. This winter, they will explore the Galapagos Islands looking for penguins, then, in the spring, travel to Namibia for a wildlife survey. In the fall, Go2Science will launch a research mission right here in Maine! ABOUT: Go2Science was co-founded by longtime Maine residents Curtis Bentley, a scientist and attorney, and Beth Heidemann, an award winning teacher. Their goal is to create a paradigm shift in how science is taught in early elementary that could be used by anyone no matter where they live.
Quality Over Quantity!We love answering student questions! We know most kids love asking questions too. We've all known the child, however, who gets so excited questions they begin to ask questions indiscriminately. Our livestream sessions offer a great opportunity to focus on asking thoughtful questions. Here are some tips to help students ask fewer, but higher quality questions.
Help direct the mission by voting!Check out last week's vote post for directions on using the google form
Help direct the mission!Download the pdf or share the poll below, then use the info below to help you analyze the photos. Galapagos penguins tend to be found most often along the shore in habitats with:
Distance Learning Help! If you choose to use our google form with your students, be sure to MAKE A COPY and not send the link shared via our button or your responses will be viewable by all and you won't be able to easily see your student answers. If you need directions about how to make a copy of the google form, check out the bottom of our previous blog post (click here) for step by step directions!  |
Meet Beth and Curtis!Presidential Award-Winning teacher and hula hoop fanatic, Beth loves bringing real world science to kids! Beth is fascinated by engineering challenges, technology, and outdoor learning spaces. After 25 years teaching kindergarten, she’s excited to share her passion and experience on-line with classrooms from around the world! Archives
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