Science School Yard Room Reveal

Today, I am blog hoppin'. I have been in my room this week to get it ready. We start next week, with kids back after Labor Day. I am still waiting for a bulletin board. It was removed to make way for TECHNOLOGY! Someone snatched up my board so now they need to order a new one for me.


This last week, I got a new smartboard. I am so excited. I look at all of your classrooms and I have to say they are AMAZING! Our school is the biggest elementary school in our district. I have over 22 sections of science. With that being said, we do not have enough rooms to go around. My room, is the former teachers' lounge. It is quite small, but it is better than any card and I have made it my own. I am still waiting for a bulletin board, but here is my science room, it fits us all...

I got some great ideas from other TPT teachers. Thanks to Ashley Hughes for the welcome banner turned Science banner!













I love Holly Rachel's Science Experiment Posters. You can see them over my NEW used smartboard.

I am also trying something new with my littles...I downloaded and added a behavior clip chart by Crystal McGinnis Outer Space and Alien Themed Clip Chart. Great idea that I think will work wonders for them!

I love the blog and products from  Teachers are Terrific. This engineering design process is great for K-5 and I have them up in my room too!

Here is another shot at some more angles of my room. We were told that anything hanging from the ceiling need to be taken down due to fire code changes this year. Waaah.

The door to my outdoor classroom...our school garden!

Nothing hanging from the ceiling...didn't say we couldn't now put things on the wall. I still have to add a saying, but it is a start!

No more hanging numbers for groups...table numbers on the tables.

Storage solutions in a small room...go UP!

I have six tables in my small little room. This is a picture from the door. Let's just say...it's better than Science on a cart!

So here is my little science room for over 400 students at my school. It works. Can't wait to get some great ideas from other rooms on this linky! 

Back To School Boost

Everyone could use a boost at one time or another. So, today is your lucky day! Today, TPT and my store is having a 20% off sale! Everything in my store is 20% off!!!!

Lots of great new products this season. Check out some of this summer's creations...

This unit took some Energy to create this unit. Two classes later, I created this unit for our 4/5 multi-age that already had our FOSS kits. So, why not use NGSS science standards and FOSS to create a unit for them!

A little something for my 4th graders...QR Code Skeletal System Review for our human body unit! My kids love QR codes, scoot games, and computer connections. This pack has it all!

Leaf It To Fall Science Pack Great for our next season of learning!

Whales...our third graders are focusing on this as a classroom unit to integrate into their school day. This was a fun collaborative effort to help our students gain reading and writing skills through science.

Force And Motion: Directions In Science

This unit is going to be for my kinders and their teachers. I can't wait to have them experiment with directions in science and then go back to their rooms to work on science in the classroom! 

 Apple Time Science  for Intermediate Classrooms! Apples aren't just for littles...how Appealing!

We have loads of apples on my aunt's tree and boy when it comes to apple pickin' time we will be busy, and so will my kiddos at school...learning about science with apples!

These are just a few of my new units. I also have a new unit...Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles...and a new and improved Popcorn Science Unit. I am still working on a Variable unit for my 5th graders as well as a Weather and Temperature unit to add to our kindergarten curriculum. Thanks for supporting me. TPT has made me a better teacher...I can't wait to use my new packs and I hope you enjoy them too! Happy Back to School Everyone!

Freebie "Owl" For You!

Our fifth graders each year head out to School Forest where they stay for two nights and three days. One of the science lessons done out there is owl pellet dissection. Our classroom teachers are always looking for ways to incorporate the concepts taught out there through reading and writing before they dissect the pellets. The sheets that have been used out there are ancient, so creating new activity sheets for them was important, too. 

                                              I hope you "OWL" will love it!

Owl Pellet Science Freebie Link

A New "TREE"t

I have been working hard everyday when my husband goes to football, and the house is quiet because my kiddos are sleeping. Just the perfect time to create my new lessons for the new school year. I love using what we have already with FOSS so our tree kit in kindergarten was a good starting point for my tree unit for my littles both in kindergarten and first grade. So here is what I have for them this year!

From apples, to trees. Reading, math, science, writing and more...

"Tree"mendous Book Finds

I am so excited to be working on perfecting my tree unit for my younger kiddos. As a science teacher, I am always looking for ways to help my classroom teachers incorporate what we are learning in science. So, in our school garden there are a great number of trees, stumps, and bushes to learn in our outdoor classroom.

Today, I am linking up with Mrs. Jump's Class for Book Talk Tuesday. I found some great tree books that I will be using this year that I will share with you today, but my favorite that I found is ...

I love, LOVE Gail Gibbons' books. This one is pretty comprehensive. It does a great job with vocabulary, for my youngers I will skim and share pictures, but for the olders it is rich with information and packed with ideas.

Not only vocabulary and background knowledge, but fun ideas too!

I also am using this fun video to start my tree/plant activities this fall...

Great video for starting your unit! I also made A FUN FALL UNIT that I will be using with my kiddos this fall. Here is a freebie from that pack...

                             "Tree"mendous Freebie

Bubbles...Bubbles...Bubbles!!!

Who doesn't love bubbles? They make you smile when they float through the air! Often, we use bubbles with our littles or in FOSS we use bubbles in our air and weather unit. Here is a unit I made as an extension of our bubble unit to help my teachers add science into their week through math, writing, and engineering. I made this unit for this upcoming school year and I can't wait to use it! I am always looking for ways that my regular ed teachers can help add more science and kids LOVE bubbles! Check it out at MY TPT STORE.

Can't wait to use this new unit with my 2nd graders this year! Pop on by for updated pictures!

Currently August

I am linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for Augusts Currently! I cannot believe it is AUGUST already! Where has the summer gone? I just got done with summer credits and a big energy class that was two weeks long. My two oldest are working hard to save for college so they are gone quite a bit and now my husband starts football next week. Did anyone else's summer go WAY TOO FAST? 

Now it is time to plan for the upcoming school year, finish up some TPT projects, and get my classroom ready, not to mention that school garden that is overflowing with veggies to pick. It sure is always fun to link up with Farley though!

Here is my Currently....

Wind and Solar Fun and Energy Island

Thanks to Mrs. Jump's Class and Book Talk Tuesday we can share some great books. Wind turbines, my friends. UV meters. "Egg"cellent STEM lessons. This week, I am starting a summer class with some of my colleagues that is based on energy. We got to make wind turbines and used UV meters to create a solar experiment. We even created a STEM activity to see if we could protect an egg on a zip line. We were given a copy of this book, Energy Island to figure out how we could use it in our classroom.

                                                 
This week, we are learning to find ways to use what we have, for example we use FOSS, to create inquiry based questions. Here is what question I will use to start my energy lesson off with. We are also trying to integrate more NGSS concepts even though Wisconsin hasn't adopted it yet.

                                      Wind Turbine Freebie

Apple Time Science

I love apple picking time! Each September, one of my favorite memories was when we would take our kids to the apple orchard with my grandma. We would pick apples, take a hay ride, eat an apple dumpling or turnover...YUM, and even feed the goats. I miss that tradition now that she is gone. When I taught little kids the apple theme was always a way to tie everything together, but there was never much for our older students to actually do that was interconnected. Now there is. Check out my Apple Time Science For Intermediate Classrooms.

Apple Time Science For Intermediate Kiddos...I can't wait for September!

Wordless Wednesday

I was so lucky this weekend to be able to be part of an annual girls weekend with my cousin and her wonderful friends. We went to the Porcupine Mountains in the UP and were able to see waterfalls and hike. This is Bond Falls on our way out of Michigan to get back into Wisconsin. It was Gorgeous...don't you think! Sugar and Spice and Wordless Wednesday is always a fun place to stop. Lots of great pictures that are wonderful!

Bond Falls!

I Took A Walk...In The Garden

Yesterday was my Garden Class and did we get a ton done. Littles heard the book I Took a Walk by Henry Cole. I love this book because littles get so excited about trying to find all of the hidden pictures on "their" walk. I then gave them a clip board, pencil, and paper I included in a previous post and encouraged them to meander (word used in the book...great vocabulary word) quietly looking closely for things to uncover.


Take a look at what some of them found when they took a walk...

Our littles also planted asparagus in the new bed that our bigs worked on! They even got to make strawberry jam! All in 50 minutes!

Onto our middles and bigs...We planted donated plants, filled a new bed with dirt, made strawberry jam, weeded the garden, and then picked vegetables to take home. Zucchini, lettuce, radishes, peas...oh my!

Observing...

Americorp helpers cutting...

Bed is ready for plants...

Making jam with one of the groups...

Mashing the berries...

Some of our bounty!

What a great job I have, teaching kids about gardening! I am growing as a teacher everyday! 

I Got ENERGY!

Well...it has taken me a few weeks to fine tune this new lesson pack. I went to three days of energy classes, reviewed the new NGSS science standards and pulled out my FOSS electricity kit to figure out what will work for a 4/5 multi-age class that has seen all of the 4th and 5th grade FOSS kits. Check out my new pack...Energy Lessons: NGSS and FOSS Connections

Science, Engineering, Core Concepts Through Energy Activities