Just In Time For The Holidays!

I just finished a Holiday Themed Science Stations pack for TPT. In this pack I created activities for the FOSS mixtures and solutions unit. I included a holiday chromatography activity which separates the mixtures in a marker. I also included a Mrs. Claus mixture activity that has the kiddos figuring out what mixture is the right one for her to make cookies. Also, there is a QR code activity allowing students to use a smart device to answer questions about reindeer. Last, but not least I also included a STEM activity that has students building a sleigh for Santa. Hope you enjoy!

                       Happy Holidays!

Moving Along!

Well, it is time to come up with another activity for our little kinders and the push and pull unit. Here is what I am doing for the lesson down the slide... I am starting this lesson with having our kiddos share how we move. We are making a list on our poster.

                                    Silly Sally


Then, we read the book Silly Sally and all the ways she moves...

        Kindergarten Sliding Worksheet

We then use the ramps and items listed on the worksheet that we fill in after we do the experiment. We finish up by drawing how we move down a hill or slide...

Pebbles, sand, and Silt

So, it is that time...to have the firsties sifting. I took pictures of the different sizes of rocks and labeled them. I cover them with sticky tabs for the students to use once they match up the word cards with the picture. This helps them figure out the words and what they look like.

Pebbles, Sand, and Silt matching

We connect this activity to our Pet rock unit I posted the other day. They each get a brown piece of paper to cut. They cut a rock shape out. I give them google eyes and the following properties sheet.

                 Rocks, rock Sheet

        Check out the free pet rock activity... Pet Rocks, Rock!

It Is Currently December

I love the first of the month when we can once again add our Currently to the list of amazing blogs. I love seeing how many Currently posts already on December 2nd. What an amazing weekend. I loved the break! It couldn't have been any better! I loved seeing family I haven't seen in quite a while. It is always amazing playing catch up. I painted my childrens' bathroom, watched 19 episodes of Revenge on Couch Tuner with my oldest daughter, went to lunch with my girls, read some magazines, planned for my long list of things to do before Christmas and even found time to relax! Currently I am ...

Happy Holidays!

Surface Tension Supplements

I am always trying to find great ideas to make my FOSS lessons more exciting and fun for my students. Today, I was trying to figure out how to make the surface tension lesson a bit better. I compiled some pictures of bugs that walk on water that my students will use to create this fun art project that we will add facts to. Take a look at the plan...
Bugs That Walk On Water

This fun art project came from http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/testing-water-tension-lesson-plan/. I will be reading the story A Drop Of Water for background knowledge, too.


Now, for the fact sheet that we will add to our picture...and a quick label and definition sheet for our interactive science notebook...

                               Surface Tension Sheet

                        Hope that helps my FOSS friends.

Snowbody Knows...Snow Unit

When I was teaching 5th grade...here in Wisconsin...where there is a lot of snow in a given year...I made some snow activities for my class. Each year, I added another idea for science, reading, writing... for this unit. Now,  that I am teaching "just" science, I have used this unit in an after school class. I continue to add new ideas such as insta-snow activities, which the kids love. Take a look at my unit on TPT.

Snowbody Knows...Science Unit

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Motivating the Masses

This linky party is a new one for me, but made me think about all the ways I am trying to motivate our kiddos. Sometimes, it seems hard, but it sure is worth the try. At http://headoverheelsforteaching.blogspot.com/ this fun linky sure got me thinking!




As a science teacher, we see each student only one hour per week. Motivating students to study is always hard. That seems to be the one area that I really want to tackle this year in a big way. For our third grade Earth Materials Unit, I made a book that students could make that focused on all of the areas that we studied and that were going to be tested. I gave a study guide to one class and we made the book in the other just to see if my new method would work...and it did. I was happy to see more of my students having success on the test.

 I also gave out mini science star certificates to students that passed the test and we asked for words of wisdom for how to always do better. That idea came from a free science star reward card from TPT thanks to Sparkles, Smiles, and Successful Students.        http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Im-a-Science-Star-277450

 We posted the "Study Tips" on the wall for future reference. With 79% of our students on free or reduced lunch, many of our students don't always have the support they need to thrive. I also added this year the traveling science star award for the class that is the shining star class of the week. This class was on target, helped each other, answered questions, set up and cleaned up in a timely manner...you get the picture. We are always trying to find ways to keep our kids on task (specialists you know what I mean). We share that information on our daily newscast in a kind of Where's Waldo fashion...can you find the science star? Who's class will be next... I also have tried class dojo to motivate, but it takes too much time out of the class to keep it up, so I started the three stars on the board thing. I have three stars on the board, kind of like three strikes your out. I give a warning if they are off task, then the class loses a star. We have PBIS at our school, so they want to get a class paw at the end of our class. We also give out individual "paws" for kids who are really shining in class. In our class store, students can use their "paws" to purchase some great prizes.  The one that seems to be going over quite well is an extra science class with me. We made fake wounds and slime in October, rockets and Mento Volcanoes in November.

This is also a motivator to earn tickets for fun activities in science. It has been quite motivational and the kids who bought my pass have passed on the word that extra science is a blast.  I am glad I was able to link up.