School is not just for students!

I went back to school this summer to learn more about how to teach physics to elementary students.
I spent a week learning what the scientific definition of work is, plus many other important basics of physics. Already I have been able to use the new knowledge to enhance the learning of my students. We just finished up a unit on simple machines, and discovered what work is, and how to reduce the effort force. The next few weeks will be spent in hands-on activities including building a car out of paper, drinking straws, paper clips, and life savers. The car will be powered by air. (It may be hard to keep from eating the "wheels.") Our final activity will be building a bridge out of toothpicks, and testing to see which group builds the strongest bridge. We will let you know the results later. Maybe someone will come up with a great design for the 35W bridge!

We are studying the same time period in both Bible study and Social Studies. We have learned a lot about Martin Luther, with our main idea being that we should base our beliefs on what the Bible says. We are realizing how important it is to tell others about how much God loves us, and that Jesus died for everyone. In Social Studies, we are learning about the exploration and discovery of America . Along with that we are reading some historical fiction novels from the same time period.

All thirteen students work well together, and I enjoy watching and playing with the class as they learn to be a team.
-Linda Becker