Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Science at Home

There is an empty Gatoraide bottle on our kitchen windowsill. It has an apple core in it. “What’s this?”

My wife responded with a question to my question: “Weren’t you listening? That’s Noah’s compost project.” I had forgotten the conversation from the day before. Apparently, my second grader is starting an indoor compost pile!

This morning, I am finishing up a classroom observation – writing up the high school science class that I observed. The classroom conversation was rich with examples of how the students had meaningful conversations at home with parents and grandparents about how energy impacts their lives – cost of electric/gas, conservation efforts, etc. The students had obviously been triggered by the classroom discussion to continue grappling with the topic at home.

The bottom line is that the work our students do in school is made much richer if we can activate a connection with the home. What are your children learning about in school? Add to the conversation. Start a compost pile!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Melatonin (sleep pattern hormone) pours out at a later hour in teens. They're ready for sleep at a later time and crave sleep in the morning hours, not evening. I think that if the start of school was pushed back an hour, there'd be a tremendous difference in student performance.

Anonymous said...

Ooops! Left this comment under the wrong entry.