Doesn't Have To Be Seuss Week To Make Connections in Science!

Every year, when I work with my 3rd graders on their FOSS Water Unit I can't wait until I get to water wheels. It is the only STEM related activity in many of the kits. Don't get me wrong, I do love having FOSS to guide me, but let's just say at times it needs some more meat.

This particular lesson though...is a great way to add in  a ton of ideas that are all water related and I have just the book that makes this lesson even better.

Dr. Seuss's book A Fish Out of Water is perfect. It has double meaning, too! What is it like to be a fish out of water? Have we all been there? (I also love the addition of Mr. Carp telling everyone that this always happens because the boys don't listen)

Here is how it goes...

1. I start off asking what does it mean a fish out of water? We make a list and then I explain that it kind of means the person is completely clueless or directionless when put into an unfamiliar surroundings or an unfamiliar situation.

2. Perfect time for you to ask if they have ever now felt like a fish out of water. Cue the stories!

3. I now add my what is sustainable energy lesson discussing non renewable and renewable resources. Here is how...What would it be like if you had to all of a sudden live somewhere where there was no electricity or running water. Could you let's say...live off the grid? We discuss tiny homes and the movement and what that would look like.

4. Now that they have thought a little about what they could use that is a natural resource or a sustainable resource...we generate a list. Sun...Water...Wind...we even add trees and corn. If we continue to plant them...

5. I let them know that today after our story they are going to be a fish out of water. I am going to give them only...cue FOSS lesson: 5 red wheels, 1 yellow dowel, three binder clips, a string, and Otto! Yes, Otto. A fish out of water. It is their job to get him in the bucket by only using hydro power!
If you do not have STEM, I have a supply list and alternative in My Water Pack on TPT found HERE.

6. I read the book and then share with them how they will, just like Otto be a fish out of water! They must work together to create a water wheel. I then pop up the google search results for images on Water Wheels. We talk about the shape of the wheel that looks like a bike tire. They are to work together as a team to see who can save Otto first.  Competition is what makes this extra fun!

7. Supply lots of towels. Stand back. Watch the magic happen. (I sometimes have to give clues as to what to do, if time is running out, but I wait a while and keep referring back to the water wheel pictures!)

Here are some freebies that you can use...writing connections, pattern, and reflections! You can download them as worksheets or download them for your iPads! I save them to my camera roll...air drop them to my students...then they place it in Explain Everything (you can use PicCollage) in order to be able to insert videos, pictures and text boxes!

3 Page Freebie Found HERE

Don't feel like a fish out of water every time you plan for a science lesson...grab a freebie...follow the plan...check back often!

Oviparous Animals: Hatching a Great Science Lesson

As I plan ahead to next week, I am always thinking about what is on my road map. The plan that is in place for me and how much time do I have until spring break! I wonder if you are thinking those same things???

Most of my friends are busy planning their math lesson and their reading lesson. Some of my poor friends are locked into making sure that they are on the same page as their grade level partners. That is never easy...but how many of you are saying to yourselves what am I planning for Science next week?

Well...think about your reading lesson!

How can your reading lesson lend itself to a science connection?

To play off of Dr. Seuss Week...Horton Hatches an Egg was a perfect example of how I was able to engage my kindergartners to learn about oviparous animals. Let's just say it is a perfect way to take any book about eggs and make it work!!

Here is how I did it!

1. I grabbed some Easter Eggs and printed off my animal cards. I folded the oviparous animals and I took 6 eggs of the same color and put one picture into each egg. I did that for four colors. Giving me 24 eggs. One for every kindergartner.

2. I hid them in the room...easy access and then I had them gather at the carpet. I let them know that we were going to learn a very BIG word today. We practiced over and over. Then we went to the anchor chart where we made a list of animals that hatch from eggs.

3. I then read my Egg themed book! I then told them we were going to search for one egg to bring to a group. All orange was going to be one group...yellow another....and so on. We shared the rules: no running, no opening the egg until the baby was ready to hatch, and no getting an egg for anyone else...everyone needs to find their own egg and ONLY ONE!

4. I then let them find an egg. We gathered in color groups. I had a colored paper egg for them to go to so that they knew where to go! I then told them that I would come around to each next to tap them on the shoulder so that they could hatch their egg. The person tapped could then open it and share an animal with the group that hatches ...making it an oviparous animal!

5. When the team was done hatching all of the eggs we put the papers back in and put them in my egg basket. We all joined at the carpet.

6. We went back to the anchor chart to see what we could add and to look at any misconceptions. We then played the digital google interactive game on the smartboard! I will tell you that my littles love this! Drag and drop! The made the connections and we were able to review what they learned.

               Grab Your Oviparous Animal Pack just in time for Spring! The lesson plan is already for you!

Find This Resource HERE!

This is an EGG-cellent way to welcome Spring!

Dr. Seuss Connections in Kindergarten through 5th Grade!

Read Across America week and do we have things planned! My Media Specialist and I have come up with some clever ways to integrate Dr. Seuss into library and science time! Teaching K-5th grade science allows me each and everyday to see the rotation of grades...so each day I see bigs and littles.

Sometimes, my bigs come in (3-5th grade) and they see all of the projects with art connections that my little are doing (K-2) and they get a little jealous...funny I also think my littles get jealous of the fun science activities that my bigs are doing, too!

I decided that I would challenge myself to find a Dr. Seuss book and idea that fits into what we are already doing!

Digging Dinosaurs In Science

Kids really DIG building and creating! I love to try to find ways then to add STEM activities.

We just finished our first grade FOSS kit Pebbles, Sand, and Silt so it was time for a STEM connection! We learned about Paleontology and Fossils and now its time to build our own dinosaurs!

Let's set up a STEM lesson to see how easy it can be for you, too to add some STEM to your day!

First, Grab a Picture Book!

 I started with this great interactive book where we get up and do hand motions for each of the pages. Dig, dig, dig those dinosaurs...This is a quick book to get them remembering what Paleontologists do as well as what a museum looks like!



Next, I ask them a question to get them thinking. 

I asked them what types of characteristics did dinosaurs have that helped them survive when they lived on Earth?

We made an anchor chart that helped us write our ideas down before and after the book.

We are going to take a look at another book that will help us see the adaptations that helped both herbivores and carnivores survive.

This is a great book that shows how dinosaurs were different sizes and how they compare to animals that they know. I make sure that they are constantly looking for ideas to build their own dinosaur.

It also shows how herbivores and carnivores lived as well as how they defended themselves.
The students are able to see the spikes, clubs, plates...to add to our list of adaptations.

I share with them the supplies that they can use to make their dinosaur. I ask, "can you see how to make a dinosaur that has legs to stand on and ways to protect themselves or survive? Remember all the adaptations that they can have."

I show them toilet paper tubes, cubes, ten frame, 100 frame, and 1000 frame blocks, masking tape, construction paper, and pipe cleaners.




Once you share the items and your anchor chart  list is complete it is time to follow the Engineering Design Process! 

1. Ask
2. Imagine
3. Plan
4. Create
5. Improve

I send my dear students back to their iPads where they open up their Science Notebook in Explain Everything. They start to design and plan what they will create!

Once they have a labeled diagram, they can go to the supply table, get a bucket, and fill it with what they put on their supply list.

Now it is time to create! Sometimes they get stuck. I try not to do anything for them, but I do give them ideas to try. I really want them to problem solve!

When time is almost up, I let them know it is almost time to share. They must share what items on our anchor chart they incorporated into their design. This gets them thinking about the list again which helps them remember what adaptations are.

Time to SHARE!

Sharing is a key component to the engineering design model. It allows your learners to put into words what worked and what they could modify. It also is a chance for others to give compliments and advice!

This is our favorite part. You can do this with partners, table groups or as a large group. We then set up a museum for everyone to come and see.

Kids love learning about different types of dinosaurs...did you ever worry that you said one of the names wrong? Here is a quick video that does a nice job explaining the names and what they mean.

If you are looking for a fun song to share with your kids as they work...here is a fun little ditty...

Need these lessons all laid out with writing connections and STEM activity sheets. Check out my new line of STEM products, STEM Let's Build...

Finds LET"S BUILD A...DINOSAUR PACK HERE

Milk Makers: Changing Liquids to Solids

I love opportunities to help my students learn a little bit about the jobs provide us with products that keep our community in the spotlight. The Dairy Industry helps our own community as we have several cheese factories as well as Dairy farms even just a mile down the road.

The dairy cow is our state Domestic animal. We see them as we drive in the country…However even if you are NOT a dairy state this lesson is a great opportunity  for you to do an easy and quick lesson on how butter is made.

Literally, all you need is a jar with a lid, whipping cream, and a bit of salt! Get your kiddos in a circle and shake. Two minutes later or two times around the circle and you have yourself butter! I love all of the other connections we can make. We use math by creating a survey and vote on if we like butter or not. Seriously…it is so tasty and after the kids get a taste on a cracker…they are hooked!

Here is what I do:

1.     I ask them what are things we get from a cow. We make a list on an anchor chart

2.     I ask them if they know how milk is produced. I  then proceed to share with them that we will be learning about milk makers. We make mammal connections, but we discuss specifically that we will learn about dairy cows.

3.       I show an old Reading Rainbow that reads Milk Maker by Gail Gibbons, but it also does a               great  job adding lots of great details about cows.

4.       I then share with them how we will make butter.

5.     We make butter and then before we taste test we write the process of how to make butter.  A           bit of inspiration in order to taste test…work first then eat!

6.     When we are through taste testing we make a dairy cow art project.

7. We follow it up with our math connection graphing! If you are interested in making butter in your room and need some help…check out my Milk Maker Let’s Make Butter Pack!

Find the Milk Maker: Let's Make Butter Pack HERE

Help butter them up with fun and engaging activities that can teach a bigger concept...Changes in Matter! 

Science Hand in Hand with STEM Prosthetics

I am always looking for ways for my students to feel like they can make a difference. Always looking for ways that my students who come from poverty don't always have to worry about buying supplies to make a cool project. During our 5th grade FOSS Levers and Pulleys Unit, for example, we use the video Caine's Arcade to incorporate STEM and the Engineering Design Process to show how something that one person can do does make a difference. The video also inspires young people to be creative even if you don't have a lot of supplies...a plain cardboard box can become something more than a container. It can open up new possibilities and allow for a young brain to think outside the box...so to speak!

If you are like me...you might be trying to find ways to make your science lessons more engaging while making sure that you still cover the standards that your district requires of you. Our district requires me to use the FOSS units and for our 4th grade right now, we are in the middle of the FOSS Human Body Unit. I was thinking...how can I have an engineering project that still focuses on the human body, but lets them get a break from the FOSS kit. I came across a video that once again inspired me! Take a look...

Just like Caine's Arcade, young people are making a difference and changing people's lives this time! What a great way to spark their interest and get them hooked. Now...how to set it up...

How To LOVE Science...Use A Holiday!

Valentine's Day is just two days from now. This post is either too late or just on time. It is harder and harder these days to fit some science into your busy schedules...oh I know. Even as I teach science everyday...getting our kiddos engaged and focused on tier three words is often very difficult.

One great way to add a little holiday science into your day is by attaching it to a holiday and bringing in all of your components...reading, writing, math, STEM, and science!

I am all set up for next week's second graders as we get ready to see what happens to candy hearts...our solid...as they get added to a liquid...water, vinegar, and soda! What a great way to add some fun as we are in the middle of our FOSS Solids and Liquids unit! To add to the fun I created a math connection, STEM activity, and writing! I use the writing sheet on our iPads by taking a picture, next saving the image, then air dropping to my kiddos! These activities will be used with my Kindergarten, and First graders, too!

No Prep Google Is Snow Much Fun!

In the time of the digital age...where everyone of my 400 students that I teach comes to me with an iPad...I needed to figure out how to use them and FAST! Should I use Google Classroom? Does my district expect me to use a certain app. My district's expectations is that I use Explain Everything and put many of my ideas and lessons into itsLearning.

In your own classroom, I can just see it...you might have each child able to use a Chromebook...go to the computer lab...or have their own device for them to work with! The learning curve is HUGE! I have an amazing team of specialists that help each other and so as a team we have been able to figure this out together!

There are lots of great resources to help you with this process. Whether it is unit for science...a reading activity that can be used from Google Classroom...even a great Math interactive for your computers...check out #nogoogleprep on TPT for ideas and products that can help you make this transition easier. 

Check out the many teachers ready to share what they have learned...

Search #noprepgoogle on TPT today!

 

Rocks CAN Rock: 5 Ways to Engage

Do you ever have to teach a unit that might not be your favorite? Did you ever have to pretend to abso-lutely love the topic you are sharing with them? Try to ever make a weak unit EXCITING and AMAZING?

Rocks are one of those topics that I have had to really work at in order to create engaging and fun lessons to get my students engaged.  Well having to teach FOSS Pebbles, Sand, and Silt as well as FOSS Earth Materials was my BIG challenge.

So how do you make science lessons more engaging? 

1. Find hands on activities to get them actively engaged! Hands on fun exploration! Bring in resources, dig around your house for ways to get your kiddos digging in and learning from letting them play with a purpose!

For example, bring in shells and sand from the beach to learn about sand. Let them play in it as a reward for working so hard! Have lots of great samples for them to learn from....rocks, rock! Introduce fossils...volcanoes...and even scavenger hunts around the school looking for how we use rocks!

2. Use digital devices to connect your students to their activities on line!

Not only do we use Explain Everything to upload our activities to our background, our first through 5th graders actually take pictures to include what we are learning about, record their voices to share what they learned, and even make animation!



 I have to say...now that we do this...my students are more engaged and are more excited about the topics.

3. Use resources that are unique to spur excitement.

Lava rocks...fool's gold, STEM activities, real fossils, dinosaur puzzles so they can be archaeologists, great video clips, great picture books, and interactive theme based games that are educational. (Write the Room, SCOOT, Vocabulary Go Fish, Match Game...)

4. Grab a great picture book and get to reading and engaging through the message of your non-fiction book! From rocks...to volcanoes...fossils...to sand... bring in an engaging story to springboard an activity off of. See the fossil puzzle above? See the play dough and an easy way to make fossils? See the buckets of sand and shells? Our rock unit is a great way to bring in the idea of soil and dirt as well as worms!

5. Find the time!

Be excited and find a small corner of time in your week to make YOUR science school yard...child's play! Need some help finding great resources that will rock?

Google Rock Unit for iPads and Computers

Rock Unit: Pebbles, Sand, and Silt Pack

IPad Adventures and AirDropping

This year, each of our over 400 students at our school received an Ipad to use at school. This adventure was something my Encore coworkers were ready for. Our Encore is made up of our PE, Art, Music, Media, and Science Specialists!

It wasn't an easy start, but we had to figure out what programs we could use, lessons we would need to teach (we had some regular ed. classroom teachers not ready to dive in to allow the students to utilize the Ipads in their own rooms let alone the specialists' rooms) so we worked as an ENCORE team to help everyone!

Our district controls all apps that are placed onto the student Ipads, so we needed to figure out what we had to work with. Here is what we focused on first:

1. How can we use Explain Everything in and out of the classroom?
2. Is there a way to make the Ipads replace some of my many science worksheets?
3. How can we easily upload those images so that the students don't have to?

Our amazing Media Specialist started with teaching lessons on the apps that we chose to focus one...most importantly Explain Everything so that we could create folders for each one of us.

To deal with the second goal on my list, I wanted to find a way to use the Ipads for assessment, uploading worksheets, and go more paperless.

In the last few weeks of this quarter, I am now savvy enough to make some fun, interactive activities that work along with our FOSS kits. Where some people use Chrome Books or laptops and can have movable parts in their activities, I have learned that with Ipads that doesn't work. What can we do with our Ipads?

Discoveries:
1. I can Airdrop all sheets that I save as a JPEG/PNG to the students!
-swipe the bottom of your screen to open the Control Center
-Tap on the button that says AirDrop
-Chose one of the options (off, contacts, everyone) I always choose everyone when I airdrop to my students. Your students will now need to accept the photos by pressing the accept button.

Now that they have the photos that I airdrop...it's time to upload those pictures. Some of my friends use PicCollage which is a great free app that could be used instead of Explain Everything.

2. Let's get into the app your kiddos will use to work on the sheets. Explain Everything...PicCollage...The airdropped pictures can be found in Photos. Follow the rainbow...
3. They can then open up Explain Everything, go to + button, go to the top add a photo (we say go to the mountains).


4. They need to now go to see the rainbow on the mountain (okay the photo key) Here they will see the pictures that were airdropped.

Have them pick the one that they want to add to their page. Once it is picked, they will need to press the bottom corner DONE button. The picture will now be there for them to use. Often I have the older students lock in the background.

5. If students want to lock in the background, we go to the i with the dots around it. I say, "Press the I...I want to ...now touch the picture...want this picture....now press the set as background...I want this picture as background...I want this picture...touch the picture again... and say to work with while you press the finger at the top.

           Check out what we are doing to integrate technology!

Find Digital Science Resources HERE!

Want to try it out first? Here is a JPEG for you to upload to your iPads using the directions above to see it in action! I used this with my first graders for our rock unit. We did a "How do we use rocks?" scavenger hunt around the school. We inserted pictures into each box to share how we use rocks in our school! They loved it! You can see one of my firsties using it above!

Rock Scavenger Hunt Freebie

Let me know how it goes! Digital Science Lessons are a great way to add engagement to your school day in a whole new way!

Integrating Science and Social Studies With Success

I am always trying to find ways to integrate different subjects into my Science day, so when our fifth grade teachers asked me if I could add some social studies into science…I took the challenge!

I was a regular Ed teacher for 20 years before becoming a science teacher. I minored in Social Studies so when I taught 5th grade for 15 years of those 20, I loved getting my students excited about something that was often ignored or but on the back burner. When I took the science job, I took on a subject that was often put aside just like Social Studies because the focus was placed heavily on math and reading.

I  actually miss teaching that topic so as three new 5th grade teachers unsure of how to teach the revolution were joking with me in the teacher’s lounge, I took them seriously. Little did they know that I could actually pull it off. I took a look at our new unit FOSS Mixtures and Solutions, remembering that I also had iPads to figure out how to utilize…I looked at any way that I could actually find connections…BAM…What Separates?

Success Strategy #1: Find a common theme

What Separates became my theme! What a perfect way to tie a social studies concept with a science concept. 

Success Strategy #2: Find common words to use

Loyal...Separate...timeline...events...they can be as simple as that. Then figure out how to weave them together. My first lesson was "What separates". We used a list to find ways that we were going to separate mixtures...screen, filter, and evaporation. Then, we made a list of what separates people. We took that list to start the timeline of the major events that led to the revolution. I had then learn the events by working with a timeline that was strung across the room. We then did our separation science lesson!

My second lesson is are controlled experiments always loyal to the outcome or do variables impact the results. Loyalists vs. Patriots...and does loyal always mean loyal...in comes Benedict Arnold next week.

Success Strategy #3: Motivation

I have a chart in my room for points that they can earn. Points can be earned by finishing their science sheets, answering questions, passing a ticket out the door test that is linked to google forms. They seem to work much quicker and with more focus when we have an intensive chart that in the end will get them a little prize...this one is a Boston Tea Party! Tea and Boston Creme Pie! Three classes, three winning groups. 

Here is a three sheet freebie for you to see what we are doing in our class and see if you are up to the same challenge! Let's connect!

Social Studies and Science Connections Freebie HERE