Grades 3 and 4: Flo Pidskalny
Ms. Pidskalny was faced with several challenges when she wrote and taught her unit, “The Ocean and its Underwater Wonders.” It was only her second year in the New Haven district, and she was paired with a first year co-teacher. Her original classroom of 26 children, including 13 who were special needs inclusion students, had been winnowed down to nine special needs children in a class of 22 by the time the Lab arrived. As a final setback, Flo lost a full week of her three BioAction Lab weeks, because of unexpected mandatory student testing. Her own enthusiasm for her subject, as well as her affection for her students helped make the unit very successful.
 “When it was all done, I felt totally rewarded… . From…what you guys taught me about research, and all the different things that I actually learned from this program… I could put units together just like this, using the same exact format for all kinds of areas, whether it be science or social studies… . I wanted to pick lessons that these children, if they would go to the beach, and many go to the beach all summer long, that they can actually say, ‘Oh, there’s a sea star,’ or ‘Oh, that’s a piece of Irish moss,’ or ‘that’s a piece of mermaid hair.’ [And] that’s what they learned… . I just [loved hearing] them say, ‘Are we doing science today?’ ‘What are we doing today?’ That was exciting for me… . I had to go slower on certain lessons… some of the lessons were broken up into two days… . The more engaged they were, the better behaved they were… . The hands-on, that was the best part… . They loved the [Mantis] microscope! That was the best… . They had a ball with it, and I had a ball with it… . [With] my students and their different needs… they all want everything now. I made sure that the night before my seaweed unit I went out and I collected enough specimens for every kid in the class… . Literacy played a big part in this. Even though it was science, they still had to look in books, and they still had to write… . They went after the books… . They learned how to use an index … . They had no clue—and working in the small groups, we showed them the index… . The kids who couldn’t read, other kids were there to help them look in the index. So all the kids know what an index is, now… . This was all new to me… . I’m only a second year teacher here in the district, so it taught me a lot that I can really use further… . The Peabody really opened my eyes, because the carts had everything. You were able to create lessons with everything that was on the cart… . Even though the lab won’t be here; I have other microscopes, and different things I could put in… . Now I have something I can use year after year… . Other teachers [said], ‘There’s no time for science,’ and [I’d] say, "No, that’s not so. There’s always time for science. You can fit it in.’ My colleagues would say to me: ‘Was it worth it?’ I told them the truth: It was a lot of work, but boy, was it rewarding. And I would recommend this, if you have an opportunity to do this, to go for it. I really would. It was a lot of work. But you can’t measure how you feel, when this is done … . This was the ultimate.”
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