Jenny Nord - Secondary Science Curriculum Coordinator

Email: jnord5257@columbus.k12.oh.us
Website: https://www.ccsoh.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=2577
Location: 3700 South High Street, Columbus, OH, USA
Phone: (380) 997-0466
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColumbusCitySchools/

Hopefully you took some time for yourself this summer. We all were in desperate need of that! I hope that you also took the time to attend one of the professional development sessions for your newly adopted curriculum materials. Just a caution...these are NOT your curriculum. They are yet another tool for you to use. Be sure to follow the district curriculum document found in the CLT folder for your discipline (the red document). See the CLT folder link below. The order of your new materials may not match the order written in your district curriculum guide.

If you did not find time to attend one of the sessions, below find the link to the Implementation Folder found in the CLT folder. In there you will find resources, recordings, and tips from the PDs. This is a great place to start familiarizing yourself with the platform or as a reminder to some of the information you may have learned in the session.

Safety in the science laboratory/classroom is vital. Please follow all guidelines for labs and activities in regards to the Covid19 environment. Here is the link to the document we sent out this year: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jckuu4temqJfn8IiI7VKJNwmETF16kTJt7KCBPz9MQ0/edit?usp=sharing

Attached below, you will find a link for general safety guidelines. High school teachers should fill out the weekly lab safety check list and turn into your department chair each time you fill a sheet. These will be turned into the curriculum office at the end of the year along with your science lab room check off sheet and your chemical inventory. Middle school teachers need to submit each of these by school to the curriculum office at the end of each year. If you did not do so for last school year, please submit that now. PLEASE make sure that you are using the correct MS form.

If you do not have a lab safety contract, there is one from Carolina Biological attached below.

Virtual field trips are a great way to give your students a field trip experience without having to worry about traveling out with all the issues that go along with Covid19. Here are some great examples:

***Discovery Education Field Trips: https://www.discoveryeducation.com/community/virtual-field-trips/ Access several upcoming live virtual field trips and on-demand virtual field trips with several different topics.

***11+ Science and Tech Museums You Can Tour Virtually: https://interestingengineering.com/11-science-and-tech-museums-you-can-tour-virtually

***7 Different Science Virtual Field Trips: https://interestingengineering.com/7-of-the-best-virtual-science-field-trips

***25+ Educational Virtual Field Trips: https://www.weareteachers.com/best-virtual-field-trips/

***6 Virtual Tours of the Human Body: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-virtual-tours-human-body-free-interactive-anatomy-lessons/ Some have a free version with a premium version.

***Nova: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/take-chemistry-field-trip-nova-education/ Join NOVA on three virtual field trips which highlight some of the scientists and engineers featured in the new chemistry series Beyond the Elements.

***JLab: https://education.jlab.org/vft/ The Department of Energy invites you to take a peek at some of the research being conducted at our National Labs!

***Physics Is Phun!: http://www.cyberbee.com/physics_sites.html Enter the wild world of physics where appearances and logic are often turned upside down. Understanding the underlying concepts is essential for uncovering the magic of physics. It can be a thrilling adventure for students as they discover lots of cool methods for lasting knowledge. Browse these Websites and discover a variety of interactive simulations, experiments, and ideas to use in your classroom.

***Columbus Zoo Virtual Field Trips: https://www.columbuszoo.org/home/discover/learn-at-the-zoo/digital-learning/virtual-adventure Connect LIVE with the Columbus Zoo educators via Zoom, as we highlight habitats, animals and science concepts from all regions of the globe.

***Newport Aquarium Full Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uJPEIgkwts The Newport Aquarium is an aquarium located in Newport, Kentucky, United States at Newport on the Levee, across the river from Cincinnati. The aquarium has 70 exhibits and 14 galleries, including five seamless acrylic tunnels totaling over 200 feet (61 m) in length. The aquarium showcases thousands of animals from around the world in 1,000,000 US gal (3,800,000 L) of water, including the "Scooter" and "Sweet Pea," two of the few shark rays in captivity. They are the first aquarium to have success in breeding shark rays.

***The Nature Conservance: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/who-we-are/how-we-work/youth-engagement/nature-lab/ They have 11 virtual field trips that allow students to do everything from exploring a coastal rainforest while in a canoe to unlocking the secrets of coral reefs in the Dominican Republic. Each video is about 45 minutes long.

***The Great Lakes: https://www.greatlakesnow.org/educational-resources/virtual-field-trip/ This virtual field trip from Great Lakes Now has three components: coastal wetlands, algae, and lake sturgeon. Each video is a quick five minutes.

***Great Lakes Now Virtual Field Trip: https://www.greatlakesnow.org/virtual-field-trip/

Great Lakes Now brings along students on a virtual field trip to learn more about the importance of coastal wetlands, the danger of algal blooms and a deep dive into lake sturgeon.

***Virtual Field Trip Winged Creatures in 360 Degrees: https://www.dptv.org/education/digital-adventure/360-experience-winged-creatures/

Welcome back, department chairs! Our meetings will mostly fall on the 2nd Wednesday of the month from 3:00-5:00. We will be attending virtually via Zoom this year again. March will be the only different date because March 9th is a professional development day.

September 8

October 13

November 10

December 8

January 12

February 9

March 16

April 13

May 11

Education Week:

-Setting Up a Creative Classroom: https://tinyurl.com/a54zwe6z

-Teaching Introverted Students: https://tinyurl.com/5hb6ye72

-Personalized Learning and Pandemic Recovery Guide: https://www.edweek.org/technology/personalized-learning-pandemic-recovery-6-big-considerations/2021/07

-11 Strategies for Facing this Year's Classroom Challenges: https://tinyurl.com/58fp7ka8

-13 Must Reads to Help You Back to School this Year:

1.Ten Ways I’ll Be Teaching Differently Next Year

2.Planning For a Pivotal School Year

3.Overworked and Undermotivated at the End of the Summer

4.Ten Non-Standard Ideas About Going Back to School (Opinion)

5.Complaining About Students Is Toxic. Here Are 4 Ways to Stop

6.4 Things Teachers Shouldn’t Be Asking Their Students to Do

7.Why I’ve ‘Softened’ My Classroom-Management Style

8.Dear Parent: I Do Not Plan to Discipline Your Child

9.5 Ways to Make Your Classroom Student-Centered

10.7 Things Teachers Can Quit Doing This Year

11.Build Student Trust by Sharing Stories on the First Day

12.Haunting Words to Inspire Every Teacher

13.3 Things You Can Do This Summer to Be a Better Teacher in the Fall

-4 SEL Lessons for Teachers around Simone Biles Olympic Experience: https://tinyurl.com/uszkd7ts

-Teaching SEL Amid Covid 19: https://tinyurl.com/y5fsyamf

Edutopia:

-A Framework for Managing Teacher-Student Conflicts: https://tinyurl.com/4ypfpnbr

Scientific American:

-Scientists Try to Resurrect a Fire-Scarred Forest: https://tinyurl.com/xjnte4fa

Smithsonian:

-What's the Role of Hands-on Learning in a Digital Age? (video): https://carolina.actonservice.com/acton/fs/blocks/showLandingPage/a/36423/p/p-0047/t/page/fm/0?sid=TV2:tGSdH9Bip

Registration is now open!

November 8 & 9, 2021 @ Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center

Attendee Registration

Exhibitor Registration

Are you a member of NSTA? Use promo code NSTA21BTS to take $10 off any NSTA Membership. GET STARTED

Franklin Soil and Water is sponsoring a virtual educator workshop with an in-person field day titled Wading Thru Watersheds.

• Workshop Dates/Times include:
• Saturday, September 11, 2021 9:00 AM-4:30 PM, Outdoor Field Study (in-person)
• Wednesday, September 22, 2021 4:00-8:00 PM via ZOOM

Wednesday, October 6, 2021 4:00-8:00 PM via ZOOM

• The registration fee is $50 which covers all of the materials for the included activities. Registration information is on our website at: https://www.franklinswcd.org/products/wading-through-watersheds-teacher-workshop

• Ashland University credit will be available for an additional fee upon the completion of the workshop. The registration link is: https://www.ashland.edu/coas/node/151261

O.D.E. Return to School Resources: http://education.ohio.gov/Media/Ed-Connection/Aug-23-2021/Back-to-school-supports-available-on-Resources-for

Ditch that Textbook:

-20 Templates to Save You Time: https://ditchthattextbook.com/time-saving-templates

• Google Sheets calendar templates
• Microsoft Word course syllabus template
• Google Slides newsletter template (it's gorgeous)
• Canva "All about the teacher" template
• The Yelp Review template (review a place as a historical character)
• The This or That Snapchat game template (great bell ringer activity)
• The interactive notebook template (bye bye composition notebooks)
• The infographics templates (visual learning at its best)

• 30 FREE Google Slides and PowerPoint themes for teachers -- These templates are powered by SlidesMania, a fantastic resource for education templates! This post shares lesson ideas to pair with each template.
  

-12 social media-inspired Google Slides templates -- These super FUN Slides templates make learning feel like social media!
-20 interactive PowerPoint activities to add awesome to classes -- PowerPoint can be used for so much more than presentations! Your students will LOVE these ideas. (Here's the Google Slides version of this post.)

-How to create classroom templates in Google Docs and Slides -- Can't find exactly what you need? Make it yourself! It's not as hard as you may think.

-10 Ways to Make the Most of Your LMS: https://ditchthattextbook.com/lms-tips/

-How to Use Any on the Web as an LMS Assignment: https://ditchthattextbook.com/lms-assignments/

-20 Tips to Use Google Classroom: https://ditchthattextbook.com/10-tips-to-use-google-classroom-effectively-and-efficiently/

-20 Brilliant Teacher Hacks for the Classroom: https://ditchthattextbook.com/teacher-hacks/

Open SciEd:

-7th grade energy unit (10 lesson ideas): https://tinyurl.com/kr24s24u

Steve Spangler:

-Zoom recording of free phenomena-based lesson: https://tinyurl.com/2z9mn96j

Education Week:

Video Series on How to Support Grieving Students: https://tinyurl.com/34zsj7d6

CK12 recent updates: https://www.ck12.org/pages/back-to-school/

Office of Teaching and Learning (614-365-5727) is located at 3700 S. High St.

Brian Morton, Director of Secondary Curriculum

Katy Myers, Secondary Curriculum Supervisor

Heather Allen, K-5 Coordinator, hallen704@columbus.k12.oh.us

Jennifer Nord, 6-12 Science Coordinator, jnord5257@columbus.k12.oh.us

Geri Granger, K-12 Spruce Run Coordinator, ggranger9556@columbus.k12.oh.us