Our very first Teacher Feature honoree is Ms. Casey Woods. Casey is a Science lover and teaches Science as an elective or "special" at Cedar Ridge Elementary in Dalton, Georgia.
A little background:
Casey teaches in a Title 1 school which currently has a population of about 90% free and reduced lunch.
"Many of the children don't have opportunities to go to Science Museums or family trips to Disney or Huntsville Space Center. So we try to provide opportunities for the children at our school. This year all our grade levels went on one or more Science field trips and we also brought in people from the community who work in many different fields of Science and engineering."
What kind of teacher is Casey?
"I am definitely a hands on teacher. I feel that the messier the kids can get, the more they'll learn. I hate pushing papers and worksheets on kids (although sometimes they do have to have a paper in their hands) and would rather take them outside to learn about clouds and weather instead of read a powerpoint to them about it."
Casey recently had the opportunity to travel to the National Science Teacher's Association National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts where she was thrilled to learn more about teaching Science Inquiry in an elementary school setting. "I was able to go to Boston to learn more about how to continue fun-learning, hands on, inquiry based lessons." (see below for examples)
Casey shared that, "It was an incredible 4 days of learning and I was very inspired by actress, Mayim Bialik, who is a real life scientist and also plays on on Big Bang Theory." (CBS' Big Bang Theory)
How does Casey integrate science and build science discovery and learning concepts?
"This past year, our school decided to have a Science Lab as part of the special's schedule that all students rotate through each week. It has been a huge success and kids and parents have loved having it."
All teachers know kids are naturally motivated learners when it comes to science. Here are some endevors the students at Cedar Ridge were able to experience thanks to Casey's hard work of planning and organizing:
"Our 2nd and 4th graders built cars out of recycled materials and raced them against each other. We had a weather day where the 4th graders taught the 1st graders how to use weather instruments and David Glenn from News Channel 9 (local news meteorologist) came and spoke to them about weather safety. We are incorporating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) as well next week during our field days activities."
Students love Ms. Casey and are always welcomed with a smile. Her enthusiasm for learning and her love for Science inspire the children who know her to explore, grow in knowledge and continue learning about our world.
A big thank you goes out to Casey for allowing us to feature her! Casey will be receiving THREE free teacher resources OF HER CHOICE for the month of May from Tools for School Teacher Resources.
If you would like to nominate a teacher you know who is worthy of a pat on the back, please send an email to toolsforschoolbyslee@gmail.com. Be sure to write "teacher feature nominee" in the subject line and share a short summary of why you believe this teacher should be featured!
Keep being the fabulous teacher you are!
The Ladies at Freshly Chewed
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