Exploring Our Earth: An Intro to Earth Science 5th and 6th graders (Flex Class)

This is not a live class.
This class will be taught using a blended teaching style of lecture and visual learning (videos, presentations, quizzes, games, discussions and interactive learning with Nearpod). I will upload instructional videos and provide engaging  discussion questions to assess student understanding of the topic. Students will answer answer questions and offer comments to classmates responses via Outschool classroom.  The class structure will include open engagement of student to student interaction via classroom discussions, rotation between visual lessons, virtual field trips, games and individual projects throughout the course.

Students will use their knowledge of Planet Earth learned during the course to make an Kid Scientist Escape! Students are required to answer lab questions and use a decoder to get the code that will break them out of the digital room. There are 5 stations with 4 questions per station.

This Earth science course will discuss the following subjects: 

Week 1- Water Cycle 🌊
Students will learn the water cycle and the process of water moving around between the air and land. Students will watch interactive videos of the process and  complete a water cycle activity via Nearpod. 

Week 2 - Weather/Climate ☁️
Students will learn the difference between weather and climates. Students will learn the climate types that occur on Earth. Students will explore climates around the world and that weather can vary from year to year depending on the region. Learners will understand what is a meteorologist along with some of the tools they use for weather. Seasons drive weather and it is possible to predict weather patterns based on previous data.Humans interact and impact the climate by what they do. Students will complete a weather activity via Nearpod and upload videos of their assignment. Students will comment and post positive feedback on classmates weather project as well.

Week 3 - Earth (rotation, day/night) 🌎
Students will learn how the Earth moves in two different ways and understand clearly Earth’s orbit, rotation and tilt. Students will participate in virtual trip viewing the Earth and observe how the earth rotates. Students will learn about the Seasons and in the process demonstrate their reading comprehension skills.

Week 5 - Solar System 🔭
Students will be able to identify the planets in the Earth's solar system. Students will be able to determine the position of the planets from the sun. Students will research about a planet of their choice and present it to the class via video upload. 

Week 6 - Escape Room Quiz ✍️
At the end of the course, learners will participate in a digital escape room activity to test students’ problem solving skills as well as reinforce those important digital citizenship concepts! Based on the premise that aliens have invaded their school and locked them in their classroom. Students will answer lesson review questions to decode each clue. They will use their critical thinking skills to solve puzzles to crack each code. Students will enter all answers and codes into a Google Form to escape the room and stop the aliens!

Learners need no prior experience or knowledge for this course.
#academic