Welcome back to another fun year at OUES. I'm SO excited to meet all of you!
Students, I recorded a special message for you! If you were at "meet the teacher" time last Friday, then you probably have already heard this message. If you missed it, though, you can still hear it by using a smartphone, iPod Touch, or iPad with a QR code reader app to scan the QR code below:
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| After you scan, just press the "play" triangle in the middle of the screen. |
Parents, please feel free to contact me at any time if you have questions, comments, or concerns. You are always welcome to visit and/or volunteer in the lab, if you'd like.
I thought I would take a moment to explain some of the features of this blog... I know there is a lot going on!
Top Tabs {located above the posts}
Meet the Teacher: Since I'm new to the district, I created a page to tell you a little bit about myself. There, you can read my mini bio, class mission, and teaching philosophy. There is also an opportunity to tell me a little bit about you so that I can better tailor our science lab lessons to my OUES friends.
Contact: There are several ways to contact me, and I welcome your feedback at any time.
Volunteer: There are lots of ways to help in the Science Lab! Please visit this tab in order to find out about volunteer opportunities.
Sidebar Features {located to the right of all the posts}
Get E-mail Updates in your Inbox: All you have to do is put your e-mail address into the box and click "submit." You should get an e-mail almost immediately to confirm that you'd like all of the blog updates sent to your inbox. This is a great option for those of you that would like to read what's happening in the science lab, but get so busy that you may forget to check the blog.
Stay Connected: Click on any of the beaker icons to "stay connected" to our class. The green mail beaker will open your e-mail client and start an e-mail message to me. The orange RSS beaker will allow you to add our blog to your RSS feeds. The light blue "T" beaker will take you to our class Twitter. The dark blue "F" beaker will take you to Old Union's Facebook page. "Like" us to stay updated on OUES news.
Instagram: I'll be using Instagram to capture some of those "Kodak moments" in the science lab this year. If you have an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch or an Android device, you can download the Instagram app for free and view our pictures on the go. For those of you that prefer the web approach, click HERE to visit our Instagram online.
Class Twitter: Twitter is so fun and easy to use! If you're completely unfamiliar with Twitter, you can read their FAQ by clicking here. If we have time at the end of class periods, I may allow the students to tweet a short message about our investigation experience for you to read. I'll also use the class Twitter to remind you about things going on at OUES (picture day, no school, meeting times, etc.). If you already have a Twitter account (or decide to join), you can receive text updates to your phone (standard messaging rates do apply); if you don't want to sign up for Twitter, you can always just view our updates on the web. You can also view our class's tweets without ever leaving this blog page. Just watch them appear in the Twitter widget on the sidebar.
Blog Archive: Looking for a post from a particular month in the past? Find it here.
OUES Links to Visit: These are links to other blogs within the school.
Kid-Friendly Website Links (LiveBinder): LiveBinder is basically a virtual three-ring binder. I found some neat, kid-friendly websites that review science skills; feel free to let your student browse them at home! I've arranged the binder by science topics that I teach, according to the TEKS, so that you can easily find everything you need. Most of the websites in the binder are links to games, but some are experiments you could do at home, some are videos (educational and appropriate), and some are links to our other class websites. I l-o-v-e LiveBinder, and I think you will, too!
Classifications: Looking for a post over a particular subject or grade level? Find it fast by using this feature!
If you have questions, please feel free to comment below or contact me in another way.
