Greetings from Indy!

National Science Teacher's Association Conference

Indianapolis, Indiana

March 29-April 1

Had to show Dad the McGraw Hill Education Booth!

Greetings from Indianapolis! As I sit here waiting for my flight back home, I feel an excitement that I haven't felt in a while. Those of you who have attended a national conference can probably agree that it is such a wonderful learning experience. I have met so many interesting people and learned so much more beyond the teaching of science. There is no way I'm going to be able to blog about everything in one post so I'll be doing a series of posts this week to recap my 4 days in Indy at the National Science Teacher's Association conference.

I have had a great time attending sessions and learning about what other elementary science teachers are doing. This conference has been a humbling experience as I have realized how much more I could be doing to help my students understand science. For obvious reasons I have reflected a great deal on language arts and math. I understand how as an early childhood teacher I am providing the foundations in both of these subjects for my students to go on and be successful in the upper grades. This conference has helped me recognize that science is also important. As an elementary teacher I can provide students with hands-on experiences to help them think and talk about science in a way that will be crucial to their overall conceptual thinking skills, which will carry over to language arts and math. They are all connected and kids love science because it is so high interest, so I need to be using it more...not just skimming over the topics that are on the pacing chart. Science can and should be integrated throughout the day, especially in early childhood classrooms.

Exciting new resources that I can't wait to blog about!

Believe me I have had a lot more "aha" moments over the past few days. I have new resources and leads that I want to follow up on and I can't wait to share what I have learned and how I am utilizing this information in my own classroom over the next year. I think I'm becoming a science nerd...something I never saw coming, and I'm sure my family is falling out of their chairs right now reading this. My biggest take away from this experience is that I am proud to be a teacher and to be associated with the field of education.