Another great teacher getting materials through donors...

I read this article over the weekend and I am encouraged by willing and motivated teachers.  They are solving their needs by reaching out online.  Try it for yourself...I know it works, especially for smaller quantities of materials. 

http://desne.ws/qIuA2n

I spent yesterday with some great kids at Cassia High School.  We did activities about magnetism, chemical reactions, and engineering.  I appreciate all the opportunities I have to visit classrooms and see students who are motivated to learn.

National Forest Products Week...Essay Contest...

Are your students busy writing their essays? It is National Forest Products Week, and IFPC (Idaho Forest Products Commission) is offering its 17th annual Essay Contest. Don't miss out!

NFPW Essay Contest

www.idahoforests.org

Look around you. How many items can you see that came from a forest? PLT activity recommendation: #13, We All Need Trees. Enjoy!

http://www.idahoforests.org/essay_contest.htm

Skeletons on D4K, Idaho PTV

Joan's next show on October 18 will cover skeletons, just in time for Halloween.  What a great program!

http://idahoptv.org/dialogue4kids/season13/skeletons/

More Outreach!

What a week!  Today I traveled over to TF to visit a great school!  Wings Charter School invited me to do the Black Box demonstration again, and some of the students remembered me from last year.   We had a good talk about expectations and preconceived ideas and how we should make observations and record data based on what we see, not what we want to see or expect to see.  They are a fun group of kids.  Thanks Mr. G for making time for STEM!

Global Handwashing Day

I had no idea this existed, but October 15 is Global Handwashing Day.  This caught my attention because I have taken the glo-germ box and lotion around Magic Valley (thanks to Cassia 4H!)  to teach about the importance of soap when we wash.  The kids are convinced I pump germs on their hands when I give them the lotion.  So here is more info on this topic, along with a picture of my son's hands in the glow box!

Global Handwashing Day
October 15

The practice of handwashing with soap tops the international hygiene agenda on October 15 with the celebration of Global Handwashing Day. Since its inception in 2008 – which was designated as the International Year of Sanitation by the UN General Assembly – Global Handwashing Day has been echoing and reinforcing the call for improved hygiene practices worldwide.
The guiding vision of Global Handwashing Day is a local and global culture of handwashing with soap. Although people around the world wash their hands with water, very few wash their hands with soap at critical moments (for example, after using the toilet, while cleaning a child, and before handling food).
The challenge is to transform handwashing with soap from an abstract good idea into an automatic behavior performed in homes, schools, and communities worldwide. Turning handwashing with soap before eating and after using the toilet into an ingrained habit could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter.
Global Handwashing Day will be the centerpiece of a week of activities that will mobilize millions of people across five continents to wash their hands with soap.

For more information, see the flyer (PDF) and access Global Handwashing Day on the web.

INL Field Trip with CSI students

It was a great day to be on the INL site.  I learn new things with each visit and I know my students enjoyed the opportunity to be at such an interesting DOE Lab.  Don M. gives a great tour, and a trip to EBR-1 during the summer months is worth the drive.  But getting into the Advanced Test Reactor Building to see a real reactor is always exciting.  And getting to drive a van the size of the space shuttle is exciting also.  So here are a few pictures from our field trip.  Enjoy!

This new exhibit about EBR-II is cool. 

Idaho was so happening in the 50s and 60s if you were a nuclear engineer!

St Nicholas Science Outreach

What a fun afternoon at St Nicholas School!  The students and teachers were so excited for our visit.  Thanks to Vangie for the invite, and Mr. Bill for always blowing their minds while crushing cans.

Mr. Bill demonstrating Rutherford's experiment about the nucleus...ping pong balls were thrown toward the silver plates, and the children counted how many hits occurred.

I focused on states of matter and properties of water.  That lava lamp never gets old!

Tomorrow is also a great adventure to INL...pictures to come!