Peek At My Week...FOSS Friday

Another week has gone by and again a week without outdoor recess. Today, here in Wausau, Wisconsin we broke some records today... lowest temperature...-50 windchill. Another record...most negative degrees in a season...55 days last record set was in 1916. It is snowing now and I am SICK of cold weather! Someone just told us at lunch that March is suppose to have a ton of snow....UGGGGGG. So, it got me thinking about what I could do with the kiddos to get them active and "playing" a bit. I tested some of the lessons out with my two classes I have on day 5. SWEET!

Kindergarten- We read the book Playground Day! We will make a list of playground fun. We will then engineer playground equipment for my Polly Pockets. We talked about hot and cold weather fun and how to find things to do even when it's cold out.


First graders-
We are working with the motion part of FOSS. We needed something fun to build so I have the kids making cars out of cans and bottles, the blue straws, white milk straws (the axle), tape, and red wheels. The trial group LOVED it. They will use the sheets I have below to help learn about speed and Newton's third law. They got calculators out to add big numbers when it went past 36 inches. We then made a homemade top to take home. We used a milk straw and a FOSS top pattern on cardstock so it was stiff. Make and takes rock!

Motion Sheets for Balance and Motion Extensions

Second graders-
Second graders are going to be working with worms again. We are using some sheets that I got from a great site...No Doubt Learning and The STEM mom. The sheets are great and the art activity is a stitch.

Third Graders-
We are going to be doing the Water Works FOSS lesson, but I have added my own sheet to learn about potential and kinetic energy. Get Your Water Works Sheet Here.
We are also using two videos. The first for introduction the second for what they could do at home.

Here is a simple fact sheet about the history of the water wheel. I think this is easy enough for our 3rd graders. Water Wheel History

 

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Fourth Graders-
Time for the digestive system. Found some great sheets on TPT. I will be using some sheets from Rose Doerkson's Digestive System Sheets. I am using the sheet that goes with Bill Nye's video:

 

We also will be using her fourth sheet...making a model of the digestive system after filling in the sheet by Brandy Resman. This lesson has got a little bit of everything. Video, labeling, science journaling, and an engineering project. I love getting ideas from others. Got any ideas to share to make FOSS more fun?

Fifth Graders-
Well...my fifth graders are having an interesting week. One class will have science while the other class will not. They are going to what we call 'school forest'. Lots of science happenin' there. Deer necropsy, owl pellets, wolf predator/ prey scent lesson, deer drive and deer capacity activity, native Wisconsin animal museum scavenger hunt, fire building and so much more. The fifth graders stay over night for two nights in cabins. Fun stuff. The teachers stay with them the three days they are there. Not fun stuff. So that means a filler of sorts. I made some lessons for a free download on my TPT store:
What's The Matter?

 

Have a great weekend. I am working on some new stuff...stay tuned!

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Peek at My Week...FOSS Friday

Another week has gone by and big celebrations, too. My husband and I celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary this Wednesday. Wow...20 years... so to celebrate 20 years... on February 27th and 28th, I am throwing a 20% off sale on all items at my TPT store.

This week, in my classroom we will be:
Kinders:
Are learning the four seasons. Boy was predicting the weather hard by the way this week. We were suppose to get 12 inches...then 10...then 6...now just 2 as it moved west of us. I am glad there isn't another snow day! We will be in school until July making days up. Okay, I digress. Back to kinders.
We will be reading the book:
 

We will be creating a graph to represent our favorite season. I am guessing we are so sick of snow that summer will win hands down! I know that is my vote! We will then use a page from my TPT weather unit that shows the four seasons and can be made into a book.We finished off with a short song and video:

1st graders:
We are starting our motion part of the FOSS kit. I bought a to of cheap dollar store tops for kids to use. We will make a chart listing toys that can show motion. We will define motion and what it is.  We will read the book Motion by Rebecca Olien.


We will add our new word to our science notebooks and illustrate it. Then, we will be spinning tops. We will make the tops that FOSS describes, but we will add a make and take using the FOSS patterns and a straw they can add. We will wrap up by playing a game of simon says...using motion words (verbs).We also reviewed the words from the book with these posters...
Motion words and posters
Here is one for starters...

2nd graders:
2nd graders just finished up their unit on solids and liquids so we are testing out some STEM activities that I am working on that goes with the House That Jack Built. Our second graders will be building different structures helping Jack build a town. This will help our teachers with Social Studies lessons on our town.


We will start with this version and discuss what a house needs. What a neighborhood needs, and what a city needs. We will the build structures to start our town using cups and cardboard to see how big our house can get. We will measure the height and width of our structure.

3rd graders:
Will be learning about erosion, weathering, and deposition. We will be using ideas from the Science Penguins pack I bought as well as the activities and games from Laura Candler. Great game idea, sheets, and vocabulary. We will then do an experiment and this fun vocabulary idea from mailbox...Erosion and Weathering Words.

Here is our activity...

4th graders:
Our fourth graders will be doing day two of the cardiovascular system using my Heart Healthy Science Stations. We will be taking our pulse, learning about our heart rates, and we will be getting our blood flowing. We will then take a quick quiz.

5th graders:
Our bigs are going to be learning about chemical reactions. You know...the fizz quiz. They love chemical reactions...who doesn't! We will start with a list of what we might see, hear, or smell. (wafting technique). We then do the fizz quiz in the cups and make observations...then I demo it in a baggie to show things they might have missed. They love to feel the temperature changes and see the bag expand! We finish up with a bit of Bill Nye.

I am working on the quiz this weekend...typically Friday is my BIG prep day,  but we were short subs, so I taught 3 hours of Phy. Ed. I was told I should be a PE teacher because I was FUN!!! It got me thinking am I not fun is science? Or do they like me in different hats? My hubby, the Phy Ed teacher thought that was pretty funny...I am not quite sure I would want that job everyday. I will stick to science~ have a great weekend.

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Peek At My Week...FOSS FRIDAY

My week starts on Friday, until next week when we have in service on Monday. Planning this post has really helped me get my ducks in a row. I am linking up with two great bloggers to share my week...

Kinders:
Fun stuff "predicting" the weather last week. They loved the game and each class made a forecast prediction for the next day. They sure want it to be sunny, however the forecast for the next seven days is 3 for snow, 3 for windy, 1 for partly cloudy. They are optimists I guess. This week, we are working on what to wear in different weather and how checking the forecast helps us predict what the best type of clothes to wear each day. We will read Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? We role played what he was doing at different parts of the story. We made cards to mark the temperature and seasons. We then shared different clothes we would wear during each season. We stressed what to wear in the winter...our kiddos don't come prepared at times to be outside. No hat...gloves...boots...

We will make bears that wear a seasonal hat and a shirt to boot. A make and take. We will also match different clothes to the weather you wear them in.Here is the bear with clothes to match to the weather. We are playing a matching game at the end. I then asked their bear to answer...Jesse Bear What Are You Wearing? What season is it? Great closure!

I found this on Juxtapost. Here is a link to a printable copy...Jesse Bear's Clothes.
 

First Graders:
We are balancing pencils on our fingers for FOSS, but then we are reviewing other ways to balance things. We are using scales to understand stable and unstable. We will read the book ...


Super cute book about balancing animals stabilizing a scale.We also worked on a scale and how to balance objects. We wanted to make them stable and equal. We used objects to compare on each side. We learned how to use grams and weigh them as well. We did a sheet to predict which object will be heavier or equal. the students also compared what balance means with a pencil (FOSS). We compared the two meanings of balance.

Second grade:
Our kids are finishing their solids and liquids unit. We will be reviewing  in many different ways. We needed  to work on our solid and liquid vocabulary.We will take the test then work on making a solid and liquid book using cut out pictures to review our vocabulary once again.

Third grade:
We are concluding the water cycle by using the TPT free water cycle vocabulary game. We will also use FOSS centers to work on water cycle words: evaporation stations, condensation observations, and water cycle bags from last week. I gave a quick quiz to see what they remembered about the water cycle. We didn't get to them until now. Over planned. I am sure no one ever does that. Better too much than too little. 

Fourth grade:
We are reviewing the nervous system with a quick quiz. Then we will use the holiday to learn about the cardiovascular system and the heart. Valentine theme here! I used my packet to teach about the heart. We labeled the different colors of blood flow...red with arteries and capillaries...blue with veins. We learned heart facts by reading a great TPT freebie Cardiovascular System Reading. We then used time to learn to take our pulse and wrap up with a scavenger hunt I made in my Heart Healthy Stations TPT pack. We will be doing some of the activities next week as we continue the cardiovascular system.

Here is our starter videos I might use...we will see I need to: 

Fifth Grade:
We are working on a STEM lesson using a student's pet rat. We are learning about lab rats and learning how to make a maze to get the rat to the rice krispie bar... the rat's favorite treat, so I have been told.Science can be a real RAT RACE!

 Here are the sheets we are using...

Well, that is a peek at my week. Some FOSS...some Mrs.H. Either way...we are always trying to make FOSS fun. Any ideas of your own to share???? Send them my way and I can post them for you... Have a great weekend. We have off Monday... for FUN!!!!

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Peek At My Week ...FOSS Friday

First things first... I was called at school this week. My son was playing football and he hit his head and blacked out. Rough game. So, thank goodness I post my lessons on Peek at My Week.  I was pretty ready to let someone look at them and know what to do. I have to plan my week today, so that I can be home with my son this week as he recuperates from a concussion. Now, it's time to plan for the week as I sit in the dark with my son.

Kindergarten:
Kindergartners will be learning more about science predictions by forecasting the weather. We will be watching the weather forecast on The Weather Channel... We will then play a forecasting game that I made with a dice(clouds on three sides, sunshine on three sides). I also made a tally sheet for the kinders to fill out. You can find this unit on my TPT store at Science Patterns and Cycles: Weather for Kindergarten. 

First Grade:
First graders will be taking a quiz on their vocabulary words: stable, unstable, counter weights, and  top heavy.  After the quiz: the students will be working on a circus act. The firsties will be getting a golf ball to balance on after we read the book Circus. Then, my kiddos will be creating a circus clown to make and take...

Here is a video we watched that showed a circus performance of balance beauty... The kids were mystified!

Our balancing clown pattern...

                        balancing clown pattern
Second Grade:
Our second graders are finishing up their solids and liquids unit. Time for...what is between liquids and solids? Oobleck and toothpaste! I put oobleck in a baggie for them to feel. I show them at the end how to make it at home. I read Bartholomew and the Oobleck to start off our time after we review solids and liquids and words to describe them. I then ask what about toothpaste? Solid or liquid. From there... If you would like a copy of my sheets, click and print:) Oobleck Sheet  and Toothpaste Sheet . Hope that helps!

Third Grade:
Round two of the Water Cycle. Students will be watching Bill Nye the Science Guy and the Water Cycle. They will need to answer questions as they go.
 

The students will then create a Water Cycle Poster to explain the water cycle. Here is free water cycle poster project that I made for my kiddos...enjoy!

The Water Cycle Poster Project and Rubric  FREE THIS WEEK! Get your copy today!

 They will continue to work on he activity in their homerooms. The make and take of the day comes from Pinterest... at GirlStart.

Fourth Graders:

Coordination Stations my friends. FOSS at its finest. The kiddos love the challenge. I am working with a small group of students to reteach ligaments and tendons while the others are writing and illustrating what they already know about ligaments and tendons. We will then take a 3 question quiz.   Students will then learn about the nervous system after reading a short passage with a partner.

Nervous System Reading Passage

We will then work on 4 activities that could work as stations. The first is the FOSS lesson on coordination (hand/eye). The students then can play...catch my finger.... tennis ball drop drill... and hand slap. (one person has palms up and one with palms down of the other. The bottom hands must try to slap the top hands).  Before the kiddos are done, they will write in their science notebooks what coordination means and how the nervous system works.

Fifth Graders:

Fifth graders will be following the salt concentration lessons from FOSS as they put the soft drink lesson, George's Marvelous Medicine Lemonade, and salt concentration together. Next week, the quiz. The students will get a study guide to help them connect the vocabulary with the lesson. Here is the sheet they will use...

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FOSS Friday

This week has been a short week. We had an inservice day to discuss SLO’s for everyone. It is hard to write a SMART goal for me when I only see my kiddos once a week for an hour…so if anyone has any ideas, wow…send them my way. We have 8 teachers in our district in the same boat. The question is…do we write a math goal to go with the classroom teachers, a writing goal to go with along with the classroom teachers, or do a separate science goal? This is also hard because right now we do not have a common assessment. Maybe, that is what we need to do first.

What does your district do for smart goals for science? 

As for FOSS next week, kindergartners are learning about weather and what a perfect time to learn about shadows due to Ground Hog’s Day next week. Here is what we did… We started off by checking the weather...it is snowing again. Five inches projected. We then talked about how fun  it is to walk into Mrs. H's room and put their hands in front of the projector. I asked them what they see when they do that? I projected a blank screen and put my hand in front of the light. We discussed shadows.  We experimented with how to makes a shadow bigger and smaller and what makes our shadow disappear. We need light! Bigger is when it is closer to the light and smaller when it is farther away. I then showed them the shadow video...they loved it and wanted to do that too!

We also made shadow puppets in front of the projector with our ground hog picture. The students wrote a sentence to show what the ground hog was going to do. We read Gregory’s Shadow to help them find a shadow in the room. I used the TPT free download for inspiration. I showed them several lessons on how to change the size of the shadow and what happens when there isn’t light.

  Our own shadow puppets...

For first grade, we are continuing to work on balance. I started with our vocabulary words: staple, unstable, counterweights, and balance point. I asked them to look at a picture of a high wire walker to use the vocabulary words. Pierre Petit has a great collection of you tube videos. We started with the pictures. Then we read Mirette on the High Wire.  

I then gave them a chance to work with Mirette and Bellini. I gave them the arch (Bellini) and the triangle (Mirette). I asked if they could get them to balance on their own. Then I asked them if counter weights would help keep them more stable. We gave them the popsicle stick for the table and asked them to use the clips to stabilize Mirette and Bellini. I then gave them the stable balance sheet to work on as the learned balance point and where the weights are. We did a few together and learned to predict the outcome as we learned what “top heavy” was. I made connections and shared times that things can be top heavy. Carrying a too heavy load of groceries, a muscle man, a pregnant lady, the game jenga. To finish up on the balance lesson we watched a video of the tight rope walker Phillipe Petit as he crosses two buildings.

 The triangle is Mirette, and the arch is Bellini. The connection really makes sense to them. Do you see the lines on the ground? Our tiles are build in high wires. As they walk out...the too are balancing on the tight rope! Those cuties trying not to fall...

 Our dear second graders are continuing to learn about liquids and solutions so I made a cute three part activity for TPT called What's the Matter? (solids and liquids) Science Stations. Check it out. I am using the What's the Matter, Frosty? part. Within one hour we:

1. filled snow in our bottles

2.  we gave our snowman/woman a name

3.  we measured how big and wide our snowman/woman was

4. we listed things snowmen should never do...hot tubbing, smore making, sleepovers...

5. we then read the book Snowmen All Year from the site We Give Books. It is a free site to join...and great books I might add!

6. we then listed what we could do if snowmen could be around all year... go on a picnic, rollerskating, swimming to name a few.

7. then we measured again...melting away after 30 minutes...half the size and getting skinnier!

8. We even wrote a snowman sequence story with cards I found on line. 

9. We even made predictions as to what was going to happen over the weekend. We also asked questions: why no water at the bottom? Why condensed? Why so compact after it being full?

10. Next week, we will share the stories and the outcome. 

Our third graders are working on the water cycle for the next two weeks. We started with the book Cleopatra's Tears. We watched a quick video on the water cycle, next.

We followed it up with the Water Cycle Hoe Down I found on TPT by Jenna Rupp. Kids love it! We then moved on to a water cycle demonstration...also found on TPT by Laura Candler. We also worked on two sheets that I bought from TPT Science Penguin. I love TPT!

As for my fourth graders...I am still working on ligaments and bones. We created the leg model and played soccer with the legs and marbles. I also tried ticket out the door in a new way...I gave them each an index card for them to show what they know about ligaments and tendons after watching the video from last week's FOSS Friday. I checked them and put them in piles of understands and doesn't. I will meet with my doesn't understand group next week. I was impressed with their understanding overall.

I can't wait until my first group of fifth graders on Monday. We are making George's Marvelous Medicine! Stay tuned... this week was a long one. I hope this helped make FOSS fun!

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FOSS Friday

Here we are again, another Friday. Today, we had inservice and our science teachers met to discuss our units in FOSS and to try to find ways to amp it up. If anyone has some great ideas to add STEM to FOSS lessons please pass it on. It would be great to share ideas. Our district will not be adopting the NGSS science standards at this time, but we are trying to figure out ways to add project based learning and STEM activities. Here is what we discussed in different groups:

Kindergarten... we created lessons that are tailored to the new standards, but with friction someone shared the idea of using the fabrics in the kindergarten kit to test different surfaces. Great idea!

First graders... when we do our motion lesson that has the kiddos working on the noodles and marbles, let's have the kids make a "waterpark ride". I set my blue trays up at the base last year and we pretended the marble was the person. Safety first. This was a great way to incorporate STEM.

Second graders...working with solids and liquids, can we watch a little Frosty the snowman clip, I put it on a previous lesson, and have the kids create a way to protect Frosty from the heat. This would be a great insulation lesson on how to keep an ice cube frozen longest.  This is the lesson I am working on next for our group.

Third graders...Water unit...hmmmmm...what to do for STEM? Here is a great link for that on the WATER CYCLE. This unit has some great math ideas. I am going to have to figure something out...later.

Fourth graders...Human Body... I found a great idea about extracting DNA from another science blog...The Jr. Mad Scientist. This site has a great DNA activity that you do with strawberries. This could be a fun tie in to DNA of the human body, but I did find a fun interactive site that helps review all of the different body systems. You can find it here.

Fifth graders...We are finishing our mixtures and solutions unit and then we will have a few weeks before spring break in March. I am looking to create an ecosystems unit using the new NGSS standards or even a fun roller coaster unit that we could use a way to get them moving. There are also some great kitchen chemistry activities that you could do that has them doing a fun make and take.

Our 8 science teachers in our district would love to hear what our FOSS friends are doing out there. What would you like to see from us as well?

Happy Friday!

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