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Tuesday Teacher Tips

January 12, 2015

TuesdayTeacher TipsJanuary 12, 2015

Science at the Ski Slopes and Office 365 Groups

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NGSS: Hitting the Slopes

If you consider ski slopes in winter you'll find tons of inspiration for CCSS and NGSS based lessons. The December 2014 issue of OWL magazine (check it out from the library) covers a variety of topics from "Snow Rollers" to information about how snow is made (CCSS RI.3), to a discussion of how pulleys and ropes are used in various ways at ski resorts.

Challenge students to create their own ski slopes or ski lifts using a combination of legos, pulleys and ropes (NGSS K-2.ETS1-2). You might find some inspiration from the Science through Lego Engineering website, specifically "Design a People Mover: Simple Machines" by clicking [here].

More Resources for Learning about Science and Ski Slopes

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Science & Engineering of the 2014 Olympic Games

See a series of videos by NBC about the technology involved in creating the Olympic Winter games [here]. You can learn about the Science of Snow, the Physics of Slope Style Skiing and Engineering of the half pipe - to name a few topics.
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PebbleGO: Simple Machines

Check out the Simple Machines resources under the Physical Sciences Section of PebbleGO. Here you will find articles appropriate for K-3 about Levers, Inclined Planes, and Pulleys to name a few things that can be found at a Ski Slope and may help meet the needs of topics under NGSS Engineering Design. PebbleGO is a subscription service, so check with your librarian for a username/password. The articles are simple, informative, have the option to read to the student, include activities and often include some type of media.
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NASA's Climate Kids

Should skiers be worried about climate change and melting snows? You can explore the topic of climate change on NASA's Weather and Climate page and check out articles like: "How Do We Know Climate is Changing?" and "It's Cold! is Global Warming Over?". Articles feature photos and graphs, which may help with NGSS 3-LS4.

Office 365 Groups Feature - Sharing in One Place

Some of your students may already have discovered the new Groups feature under their Office 365 accounts. Groups is a way to manage communication and work flows of different types of working groups, and when used correctly, it can be very helpful for sharing ideas and managing content.


Through Groups you can keep track of conversations, schedule appointments, and share files easily - see the "how to" video below.


You might create a group for your teaching team or department to keep a record of important conversations, class section to share files and due dates, or have your students set them up to manage the different aspects of a group project, including collaborating on a file.


As with all aspects of Office 365, it is critical that you have a conversation with your students about the need to keep things professional when they are using these things. I try to remind students that they should treat anything they post online as though it is public for everyone to see, and that they should not post anything that they wouldn't want their teachers or grandparents to see.


Anyone with an operable Office 365 account can create a group, even our youngest students, so it can get a little questionable, especially because kids easily get caught up in what they're doing and forget that things they post are public.


Before they post, it's a good idea to remind your students always to THINK: is it True, Helpful, Inspiring, Needed and Kind? And, if it's not, just don't put it out there on the Internet for everyone to see.

Office 365 Groups: How To

Office 365: Groups
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Contact

If you have questions or comments, or if you would like to quit receiving these emails, just send me a message.

Email: heidi.neltner@fortthomas.kyschools.us
Twitter: @heidinelt