• Nature of Science;
• Earth and Space Science;
• Physical Science; and
• Life Science concepts.

The administrator of the school requested that I reinforce the importance of writing and journals within the science classroom, as well as across the disciplines. Thus, a major focus of the teacher training workshop involved the teachers maintaining a journal throughout the session. We spent the early part of the morning exploring the school yard. Making observations, collecting leaves, seeds, soil samples, insect exoskeletons, and more… While outside the teachers recorded their observations in their student notebooks. When we returned to the classrooms teachers were given time to reflect on their observations within their journals, observe specimens with eye loupes and microscopes. Teachers then attached specimens inside of their journals. Additionally, were introduced:

•  To effective strategies to differentiate between weathering and erosion;
• How living things interact with their environment via designing and constructing a bottle biology ecosystem;
• Botanical concepts;
• States of Matter;
• Differences between chemical and physical changes; and
• Differences between mixtures and solutions.

At the end of the teacher training session, the teachers left the session with their arms filled with models they had constructed, references, manuals, and an interactive student notebook/ journal from the session. I’m quite certain that these teachers will incorporate many of the strategies they were introduced to as they implement the Next Generation Sunshine State Science Standards  (NGSSS) in their classrooms.