Now that November is upon us, many schools are gearing up for their science fair. Now is a great time to start since our Cobb District Fair is coming right up on January 30th. Please note that the location of the district fair changed from Kennesaw Mountain High School to The Cobb Safety Village. Also, this year the elementary fair will be held the same day as the secondary fair and we are excited about the learning opportunities that will ensue for all age levels.

We are about to kick-off the next round of sessions in the Differentiation for Deeper Learning series, the theme of which is Problem Based Learning (PBL).

Tuesday, November 17th: Clarkdale Elementary

These face-to-face sessions will include a brief overview to PBL, hearing from a teacher panel, and experiencing a sample PBL.

3:15-5:15 Elementary School Teachers (register here www.goo.gl/SHSypD)

5:30-7:30 Middle and High School Teachers (register here www.goo.gl/dA1vwu)

Tuesday, December 1st: Online Webinar

These webinars will cover how to find resources related to PBL cases

3:00-3:45 Elementary School (www.tinyurl.com/K-5Diff)

4:00-4:45 High School (www.tinyurl.com/ScienceHSDif)

5:00-5:45 Middle School (www.tinyurl.com/ScienceMSDiff)

The Georgia Aquarium is hosting two interesting workshops this month as well.

Ocean Talks is a three-part workshop kicking-off on Saturday, November 21st. Why Do We Explore? is a workshop held on Saturday, December 5th. See the Cobb Science webpage for the fliers and more information about how to register.

Carol Mickus and Crystal Mast of Cooper Middle School hosted the first-annual Water Tower Competition in conjunction with Marietta Middle School on Friday, October 30th. Students built towers under the guidance of their teachers, and volunteers from Cobb Water led the students through a series of activities to test their towers, as well as learn more about what it takes to provide clean drinking water to the community.

Are you doing something exciting in your classroom? Let us know so we can showcase you!

So much of science involves explaining how things work, but this can be difficult for students to do. The CER strategy (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) helps students develop sound explanations for their thinking. In this strategy, in order to effectively explain the answer to a question, students must:

• list a claim that answers that question
• provide evidence using data to support the claim
• include reasoning about how the evidence supports the claim (using scientific rules or principles)

The strategy promotes critical thinking and emphasizes writing in the science classroom, two important skills for mastering the Milestones. Follow this sample mini-lesson to teach students how to use the strategy and see examples of students work: https://ldc.org/sites/default/files/module_docs/LDC-Sample-Mini-Task-CER-Data.pdf