Author Archives: mihaelab

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About mihaelab

Primary school teacher at Discovery Kids Primary School, Ramnicu Valcea, Romania. Science teacher. Coordinator of the Hands-on Science Special Program. Scientix ambassador.

Spring Detectives

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Author: Michaela Elena Balint

Happy Kids Kindergarten & Discovery Kids Primary School from Ramnicu Valcea, joined STEM Discovery Campaign 2020, as a partner school, for the third consecutive year. “Spring Detectives” started as a regular school project at the beginning of March and only a few days later our teachers were forced by the pandemic to re-organise the project, change plans and move the entire activity to the online environment.

The proposed topics were:

  • Birdology
  • Insectigations
  • Spring’s magical seeds
  • Science in the kitchen,
  • Little Meteorologist
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Rainbows in my kitchen

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Author: Mihaela Elena Balint

The rainbow in the bible is a symbol for hope, new beginnings, promises that must be kept. After the Flood, God promised to Noah that He will never destroy mankind again. In fact, there would be no need for any divine intervention. Giving people free will, God made them able to destroy themselves. The entire world is now in a challenging situation. The humankind is forced to re-evaluate its position in relation to nature and the path we choose to go in the future. These days the rainbow becomes a symbol that Everything will be alright! It is up to all of us for these words to turn into reality.

For the activity “Rainbows in my kitchen”, children drew, painted and made a lot of rainbow crafts. They made different types of rainbows with a scientific touch.

Materials used:

  • Salt with big crystals
  • Food colourings, Easter egg dye, or simply painting colours
  • Jar or paper cups for each colour of the rainbow
  • Spoons
  • Paper plates (optional, however, the salt will dry more rapidly on plates)
  • Water
  • A nice bottle or tall jar
  • Some ribbons for decoration.
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Earth Day 2020 – online celebration

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Author: Michaela Elena Balint

Happy Kids Kindergarten and Primary School Discovery Kids from Ramnicu Valcea, celebrated Earth Day 2020 online. The primary students shared their thoughts about the world from the perspective of a plant or animal and the kindergarten kids talked about Earth as part of the Solar System.

Primary school pupils describe the world through the eyes of an animal or plant.

As English is a second language in communication in our primary school, pupils created material and presented their ideas in English. The beauty and the uniqueness of our planet were wonderfully expressed in the drawings and words of our students. They have demonstrated not only knowledge related to different plants, animals and habitats, but empathy and care for life forms, desire and hope to live in a world free of pollution. The preschool pupils proudly demonstrate their knowledge related to planet Earth and the Solar System.

Planets drawn by preschool pupils. The main idea: Planet Earth and its place in the Solar System. Why do I live on my planet?

Here is the link to share and enjoy their amazing work.

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Stay Home and Train Like an Astronaut

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Author: Michaela Balint

Date of activities: 22 April – 8 May.

Introduction

We are staying home, isolated and respecting strict rules. The hygiene rules and safety routines are reinforced, they are even more important to follow now.
We have physical contact only with the members of our family, in the familiar and safe space of our homes. We communicate with our friends, colleagues and teachers, or other members of the family via electronic devices, not face to face.
School activities are held online as well. We take our classes, do our homework and our work is assessed online. We use computers, laptops, cameras, phones, the internet, a lot of devices, techniques and programs. We get new experiences, learn a lot every day. We are forced to find innovative creative solutions to new, demanding problems. Why?

Step 1

This was the moment when our previous Science activities with 3rd and 4th graders, aged 9 to 11, from our school (Discovery Kids Primary School from Ramnicu Valcea, Romania) about Micro-organisms revealed new perspectives and the knowledge about viruses and bacteria were reinforced. The coronavirus data and the methods to prevent illness caused by this particularly aggressive microorganism were introduced to pupils in a way appropriate for their age. The teaching resources we used: presentations made by the teacher, a selection of pictures representing micro-organisms modelled by pupils (from playdough), posters with Hygiene rules, selected video files from the internet.

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