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Welcome to the April Teachers' Nook from Westcott!
In This Issue:
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From the Teacher's Desk: Teaching Students About Science
Science is the perfect subject to encourage curiosity and discovery. Students love to ask questions and seek answers through simple science experiments. They learn to collect data, organize information and problem-solve. They also apply their scientific findings and love of learning to the world around them. Let’s Talk Science is a Canadian site that is available in French and English. This site uses STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to provide programs and services to develop science literacy. Teachers will find many hands-on/minds-on STEM learning experiences. The site also includes research and publications, media resources and kits, and outreach programs.
Let's Talk Science Outreach Sites
Let’s Talk Science Outreach sites are available at over 40 university and colleges across Canada. Available free of charge, more than 3,500 post-secondary student volunteers and a growing number of industry partners engage youth in hands-on/minds-on STEM learning experiences in schools and throughout the community.
The Stem Laboratory
And speaking of STEM - here is another excellent site: The Stem Laboratory is jam-packed with kid-friendly mini-experiments that are guaranteed to foster a love of science. Students can learn to make a miniature model of the water cycle with a Ziploc bag, turn the letters in their names into crystal formations, create rainbows in jars and create toothpaste foam. This is just a sampling of the many activities available on this site.
A very basic experiment from The Stem Laboratory is the Orange Sink/Float. Students place an unpeeled orange into a tall clear vase and observe that the orange sinks. They peel the skin from the orange and make predictions about what will happen. Students are often surprised to find that the peeled orange actually floats! This is a perfect introduction to lessons about buoyancy, the Archimedes' Principle, gravitational force, and displacement.
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Puzzles: Challenge students with problem solvers
 As a teacher, Ken Weber discovered that mysteries and puzzles were an excellent way to gain students’ attention.
Try these puzzles in your classroom:
- Do the Math! Mrs Ough’s Class to the Rescue
- Who actually came in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th?
- How did Ellie cut the Melancthon flatbread to save the day?
Get puzzling and try the puzzles.
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 Classroom Activities
Early Birds or Night Owls?
Are your students early birds or night owls? This graphing activity makes a great follow-up to a discussion of diurnal and nocturnal animals.
To prepare for the project, label a 7" x 18" construction paper strip as shown. Then use the graph for introducing fractions.
Materials:
Check out the step by step instructions for this classroom activity > |
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New 2016 School Tools Catalogue
Westcott's new Back to School 2016 school tools are designed with the student in mind.
Westcott's new Back to School 2016 catalogue features our new fashion print products in Camouflage – a super-hot fashion trend!
We have also updated the colours in our Fashion Stripes products which were a huge hit last season.
View our Back to School 2016 product guide online >
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