Day 11 - New Teacher Spotlight - Mrs. Lynch - MSMS Blog

This post originally appeared on the MSMS Blog

Mrs. Lynch comes to us from Pine Glen Elementary and is happy to be 6B’s new science Teacher. Mrs. Lynch had this to say about her background and hopes for this year:

Hello my name is Jane Lynch and I’m very happy to be joining the 6th grade B team this year as the new Science teacher.  I was a third grade teacher at the Pine Glen Elementary School for thirteen years prior to moving to MSMS.  Before receiving my Masters of Education I worked in the medical field as a laboratory supervisor .  

Science has been my passion ever since my middle school years.  I look forward to teaching Earth science and providing many hands-on opportunities for students to  engineer and explore the natural world .  I am the  2013 recipient of the  North Shore Science Supervisors Association  Award  of Excellence in Science teaching ,and have also presented at the NSTA  Boston convention with Sean Musselman.   Many of my hobbies are science based and I am the proud owner of 6 chickens here in town.  I have recently been appointed to a three year term on the Conservation Commission to help protect our town’s natural resources and wetlands.   Often times you will hear me say “Science is life!”

Mrs. Lynch goes over directions before starting the lab timer.

Mrs. Lynch goes over lab results from class the previous day.

Mrs. Lynch’s students engineer structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows.

We’d like to welcome Mrs. Lynch to MSMS and wish her and her students a great year!

Day 163 - Owl Pellet Dissection - Mrs. Lynch - Pine Glen Grade 3

Keira finds something Sharp
Look no Gloves!
Go Girl!

Building a Skeleton

Complete vertebral column,
How cool!

I think this is a Vole

Cora showing Mr. Lyons
her mandible bone from a
rodent

Chloe with expert precision

Alex and  Dylan digging on in

Caleb and friends looking closely

Kate, Ryan and Pedro
looking at bones

Students had a special treat  when they came back from the Reservoir field trip. Each class had two Owl Pellets to dissect. Using a Dichotomous Key, they dissected  the pellets with toothpicks and forks.Carefully they pried away the fur to find bones from the owl's prey. 

They used deductive reasoning to figure out what type of mammal the Owl had consumed.  This was simply Amazing to watch!! One of my Favorites.

Mrs. Doherty and Mrs. Cunha's classes rotated in to my room for this scientific experience. Many students were leary of touching the pellet thinking that it was poop. I explained to them that it wasn't and eventually with the help of some surgical gloves all students enjoyed this hands on activity.

Day 99 - Designing Water Wheels - Jane Lynch - Pine Glen Third Grade

Mrs. Ardizzoni teaching us how to

 make a table for the data

Designing a sucessful wheel

Drawing pad helps us record the data

Lyle  at the starting point

Ryan rights his wheel

Cora letting it flow

Kaitlyn awaits the water

Here goes Henry

Alexis and her ferris wheel design

Keep it steady Kate

Alli's turn

Get Ready Erin!

Kalash having a go

Aditya's first attempt

Day 90 - Light It Up - Mrs. Lynch - Pine Glen Third Grade

Kaitlyn and Erin completing the Circuit!!

Checking out the materials

Alli and Alexis using the double battery circuit.

Testing classroom supplies

Ryan and Skyla using the switch

Rubber acts like an insulator

Testing conductors

Aditya and Kate lighting it up!!

Cora and Henry had success too!

Students receive their materials and using their knowledge  of electricity, conductors, and insulators they need to assemble a circuit that lights up a bulb using batteries and switches. Many  of them had success.

Great experiment to wrap up our electricity unit. Well done 205!

Day 133 - Burlington Teachers and Students Present at National Science Teachers’ Association Conference in Boston

This post first appeared on the Burlington Science Center Blog

Learning in Burlington was on full display at the National Science Teachers Association’s National Conference in Boston over the past weekend. Third grade teacher, Jane Lynch teamed up with Science Specialist, Sean Musselman to share her incredible model of social studies and science curriculum integration in a workshop for teachers titled, “Connecting STEM and American History Through Water Wheels.”

 

Our Pine Glen Presenters!

To help manage and facilitate the workshop, Mrs. Lynch invited three of her Pine Glen students to attend, Liam Gillian, Jenna Lyonnaise, and Thomas Gallagher. Before the workshop started the students received their presenter badges and browsed the vendor booths and all of their incredible scientific instruments, gadgets, and demonstrations. The students then helped Mr. Musselman and Mrs. Lynch move the many boxes of engineering materials to the workshop room, greeted attendees at the door and shared their classroom experience with the lesson during the opening presentation. Once attending members were given the green light to begin planning and constructing water wheels of their own the students provided expertise and construction know-how to teachers interested in picking their brain.

The workshop was a huge success, with local teachers from Newton, Brookline, Rutland, and many others from across the nation delighted by the engineering challenge and excited to bring the experience home to students of their own. For parents and teachers interested in learning more about the workshop check out this link to the google doc shared by Mr. Musselman during the presentation.