Cardboard Arcade Fun and Games

Well...the cardboard arcade is upon us! We are in our second round of games. Take a look at these amazing games and all of the smiling faces! The idea of taking cardboard boxes and turning them into amazing carnival games...games that our students play then at our school carnival...making money for books and computers and all those things we have a hard time buying due to budget cuts...is simply amazing. This year's games outdo anything we have seen... and all our kiddos need is a bit of imagination...encouragement...a few supplies and...

Using simple machines...inclined plane and screws!

Battleship! Using pulleys and wheel and axle!

Skee Ball! Using and inclined plane!

This was a fun monster madness game using a pulley system and an inclined plane!

Seriously one of the most creative games, but lacked the simple machine aspect...

Color Dance using levers and an inclined plane to dance ...dance...dance!

The kiddos from other classes came in to play the games and vote for the ones to be in our school carnival! So many amazing games to choose from! This is a fun fishing game!

Here is my absolute favorite! Foos Ball! Using wheel and axle for the score keeping, inclined plane  for the slots, styrofoam handles, and a pickle lid for the foos ball...it was amazing!

Engineering at its best. I am using this for my College for kids class and can't wait to see what they can do!

Garden Time!

It is that time of year here at TJ Elementary! We are getting growing! Our kinder"gardeners" are busy learning about pumpkins and how to plant a seed. Remember these 6 easy words:
1. scoop
2. pat
3. poke
4. drop
5. cover
6. water

It works every time. How fun to have our kinders learning that it  takes time to grow. This video helps them visualize the process and what the pumpkin looks like from seed to pumpkin. Awesome song...time flies by and they can see the date change, see the plant grow and vine out...yellow flowers...then the pumpkin!

         Take a look at my little pumpkins!

 Here is a garden sheet that I use with them...Thanks to Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarden for such a great freebie...

Cardboard Arcade

It is time for our simple machines unit! We love the cardboard arcade. Each year, our school has a carnival as a fund raiser...and now it is an annual event that our 5th graders host a carnival arcade to see which game gets the most votes and customers so that game can be played at our school carnival. There are some wonderful games that are being created!

Building...Diagramming...and planning!

Each lever system is different and unique! A great engineering project!

Some of the cardboard arcade games were build like this...

While other arcade games were built like this...either way...the kids love to build marshmallow catapults and tie it into our cardboard arcade simple machines unit!

 We also tie in our FOSS levers and pulleys kits! We learn about the three levers: class 1,2, and 3. We then create a marshmallow catapult to use in a cardboard arcade game that the kids make in less than 15 minutes. A quick...fun connection!

Here is our quick quiz I give after all the fun! Here is a copy for you!

Here is the packet I made for our simple machines...FOSS levers and pulleys....Cardboard Arcade Simple Machines Unit on TPT. Check out the video link for our inspiration!

FOSS Morse Code Connections

This week in 3rd grade science, we are working with sound discrimination. We are learning that sounds can be identified by their characteristics. To make connections, we are suppose to use the items in our bags and our sound chambers to associate the sound with a letter. What better way to connect history in science! No student so far knew what morse code was. We watched a small video...I am sharing it here...

Then, we looked at dashes and dots... We projected this image on our smartboard and had the kids write their names.  Here is the Morse Code Link we used. Next, the FOSS connection lesson... This is a great way to make FOSS fun and connect it with other subjects.

Currently April and Break

Currently...it is spring break! It could have not come too soon. Everyone was getting a bit ornery and tired! My hubby took his baseball team down to Disney for some baseball and fun in the sun. The rest of the family has been hanging out at home. When the hubby's away the kids will play! That usually also means we paint or redo a room. We painted my daughter's room...ran out of paint...went back for more...they are out of our paint due to a bogo sale this weekend. Don't despair...we redid the bathroom. No more fish and bright kid colors...we went yellow, tan, and white. Not finished quite yet...otherwise I would show you:) Currently though...I am linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade to share with you what is going on Currently!

Listening... to 8 hours of Outlander. It was on my bucket list to do a show marathon. I LOVE this show! Good timing...it starts up again this weekend! I never liked scotch before this...ha

Loving... just being able to sit around and relax...which is something I don't do much of! Kids have had sleepovers...went to the indoor water park...painted rooms...went with the flow...loving not having to worry about preparing big meals...sorry hubby...

Thinking... I wanted to do so much over break...but when you lounge around and watch TV for a change...things on the list stay on the list. I am thinking...it is okay every once in a while! Mama needs a break too!

Wanting... everyone around my table at Easter. We chose to have dinner on Saturday evening...right before the Wisconsin Badger game...Go Badgers! Then our older kiddos can share a dinner with their boyfriends' families, too. I am at the point that I don't care the date...I just want my family around me! 

Needing...to finish up a space pack that I am working on for my 4th graders that I can use for 5th grade, too!  I am almost done...just need motivation. 

Egg-planation of My Blog Name:  After 20 years in the regular classroom, I had an opportunity to teach K-5 science...something new! This change needed me to rethink everything about how to teach science and what I heard from so many teachers was how they hated teaching science. It was too much prep or they didn't know the information...lots of excuses, so how do we make science fun? I wanted to motivate myself by creating a blog and making products for myself and others to make it something that everyone could do. So...something catchy and where kids like to "play"...so the Science School Yard was created! 

Happy Easter! 

Science Makes Me Hoppy!

I am on VACATION! But before we finished up science last week...we worked on a few science stations that made the kiddos pretty HOPPY! We made Easter eggs with coffee filters...

The kiddos made designs on coffee filters...

They got to spray them...then we made sayings on notecards how Our Teachers Are EGG-cellent. I love that teachers are egg-cellent because they are pretty! Those cuties. It takes about an hour to dry...but they are cute in a little nest. I will share next week when I get back! I was out of there quick on Friday...break started!

Now...onto our Egg-stra fun sound discrimination station! I made nests out of crumpled paper...put the matching eggs in a nest and the littles loved trying to find the pairs...open them up...and check their answers. Even the kinders could write down the matches...I was so proud.

Look at them working together and having fun learning!

Just a closer look at the sheet and a little checking to see if they were right! They loved it!

Onto the activity that was a blast...but whoa...a bit messy.We learned to do this one outside in our school garden...We made bird nests out of natural products in the garden...and realized that birds are AMAZING animals. We looked at real nests and the ones in our garden. We tried to build them to hold 2-3 Cadbury Eggs. We set our nests in the trees for the birds to use if they wanted. The kiddos were proud of their creations...as the kids got older though they were harder on themselves for not building a "solid" nest. We connected engineering with what other animals can do that people have tried to copy...planes... gecko feet...shark skin...Biomimicry is a great connection for this lesson to show how we can learn from animals!  Here is the link I used and some fine looking bird nests...

Biomimicry Connections

Look at our indoor nests...do this activity outside:)

Might not actually works for real bird eggs, but they were proud of how they turned out...

After really looking closely at real bird nests...we realized how much we can learn from nature!

The final nests were placed in trees in our garden...we shall see if any bird uses their nests!

The great thing about these activities is that they allow for great thematic science connections...these activities and more can all be found in my Easter Science Pack...Hop on over to ...Easter Science Stations on TPT

Garden Nests: Engineering for Easter

I just can't wait anymore to use our school garden. Even if you don't have a school garden, you can gather some great items outside for your students to do this engineering project. I have two classes the day before spring break...I was wondering about what I could do with both kindergarten and 1st graders from my Easter pack...I added three new activities today! I am really excited about using it! Take a look...

I added chromatography eggs, an engineering next building activity, and a writing activity! Here are my littles in action!

Easter Egg Sound Discrimination Activity...

Teachers are Egg-cellent art project...

Building a nest for our Cadbury Eggs...great for outside connections! We started inside...made a mess...took it outside...and

A nest fit for a Cadbury Egg! Bird nests are hard to build, but the kiddos loved getting outside and using natural garden goodies!

Happy Easter!