by Emily Starr | Mar 26, 2024 | Featured Post, Lesson Ideas and Teaching Tips
Eclipse preparations are in full swing in my house! My family will be viewing the rare event from a boat in the middle of a lake in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas – a 12 hour drive from our home in Iowa. (Please cooperate, weather!!) So what makes this eclipse worth...
by Emily Starr | Nov 15, 2023 | Lesson Ideas and Teaching Tips
In my professional learning session, K-8 Science and Engineering Everyday? Yes! Hooray!, one of the strategies I share with teachers to add more scientific thinking to their daily schedules is to use phenomena as bellringers. Reclaiming those first 10-15 minutes of...
by Emily Starr | Aug 17, 2023 | Lesson Ideas and Teaching Tips, Phenomenon Examples
I visited the Maquoketa Caves, located just outside Maquoketa, Iowa, with my family yesterday as part of our effort to prolong the summer fun as the beginning of the school year looms – 6 days left in the countdown for us as I type this! I hadn’t visited the caves...
by Emily Starr | Jul 7, 2023 | Lesson Ideas and Teaching Tips
I know that there are several popular STEM challenges that involve bridge building, so I’m sharing with you a series of books you can use to enrich your lesson and help your students think more deeply about bridges. (Not sure what a bridge building engineering...
by Emily Starr | Jun 26, 2023 | Featured Post, Lesson Ideas and Teaching Tips
This summer, I’ve been planning a little bit of time each day to help my boys practice “thinking scientifically.” I’ve shared some of the activities we’ve been doing on StarrMatica’s Facebook page, and I’ll continue to share ideas with you throughout the summer. I...
by Emily Starr | Mar 2, 2023 | Featured Post, Lesson Ideas and Teaching Tips
Questioning is one of the weakest areas of science instruction for a majority of teachers. Even when a lesson is otherwise well-designed (ie: high quality curriculum) fewer than one in five lessons incorporate questioning that is likely to move student understanding...