Pumpkin Day Fun

How much did we have today! My after school class celebrated pumpkin day for our harvest of the month festival. We used some great resources from Mrs. Ricci's Kindergarten! We also read The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons.



after doing a sequence activity and singing a song. Love this video!

Now, after reading the book and singing a song and even doing our sequence activity, we watched this great time lapsed video to watch the sequence in action.

We used this sheet for a cute book.

 Here is my little cousin in our after school class. You go Alli. Pumpkin Day rocks!

 Do pumpkins float or sink? Our little kiddos predicted, all said sink. We started with a small pumpkin...it floated. We put a medium pumpkin in the sink, it floated. Then, we put the big pumpkin in the sink, it overflowed and floated! The kids were amazed. We discussed why they float. We then cup open one of our pumpkins and it was HOLLOW! They got it!

Spooky Science

I am using these stations with my enrichment group this week and my after school class for my intermediate kiddos. Check it out.

We Flip for FOSS Catapults

Soooo, I was thinking. How can we make the FOSS lessons extend to really get our olders connected. How about frontloading the idea of medieval  catapults? I am giving my fifth graders a piece of tag board this week and as a team they must decorate the sheet to look like a castle. I am then sharing the following sites with them.

https://sites.google.com/site/physicsofcatapults/home/history-of-catapults

And a video of a catapult at Warwick Castle. Short and sweet.

After the students build there flipper system and you have them read about the physics behind the catapult, have them try to get them to get the silver ball over the castle they built. This will help them connect history to science! Or if you want to share another type of catapult at a circus perhaps, then this one may be the one for you.

Either way, this will help our 5th graders understand the flipper system a bit better. I sent along a tag board paper that each group is making that they will make into a castle. We will place the castles around the room and after we practiced the height and distance and recorded we will then have 5 chances to make it over the wall of another groups castle. They are super excited.

Over, Under, Around, and Through

Here is a little ditty to go with our push and pull lessons for kindergarten... sung to London Bridge

Over, under, around, and through
around and through,
around and through.
Over, under, around, and through...
now look behind you.

Looking left and looking right,
left and right
left and right
Looking left and looking right,
now sit down.


Here is a great book that works for our littles as they learn where they are.
How about giving our kiddos a paper carrot that they can place in different locations, sharing the words on the board for them to follow...

Push and Pull Unit: Cars Move

In our conversations during in-service this last week, we as a group of 8 science teachers all have a different feeling toward our kindergartners. So, in order to make it more STEM based or get them actively engaged and still keep us going ourselves, I made this quick lesson that you could use for lesson 3, Cars Move lesson. If you are looking to teach your kiddos a lesson on fast and slow, big and small, motion, graphing and science and don't know what I mean by lesson three here it is for you my new friends. This lesson connects to FOSS balance and motion and FOSS water. 

We are going to be using hot wheel cars to test the size of the slope.

I am going to be using the cars to cut out and make into a graph for them to predict if the low or high slope will make the car go faster.

Push Pull Cars Move

Birds Of A Feather

My colleague, Heather, had a great idea for our first graders when they are learning about birds. I thought I would put together a sheet for our kiddos as they "research" a species. The idea is to give them exposure to looking at non-fiction. Each of our kiddos would get one book about a bird. Our library seemed to have a ton to choose from. I would pick the loon. Summer at the lake, remember?  They would look at its beak and its feet to determine what it may eat and use its feet to do. They can draw a picture of their bird and share the color and even label the parts of the bird for their poster. What a great intro to research. Thanks for sharing!
                                                   

bird research paper

Our firsties are doing a great job "researching" a bird. Using picture clues, reading, and then following directions!

Going On a Bear Hunt

My friends, we are starting a new unit this next week with our kinder"squirmers" that is what one of my science colleagues called them. Cute and so true. How can we make it more STEM based and keep them actively engaged for our half an hour we have with them? How about reading this book to start...

Then with our kiddos, go on your own bear hunt using a box with a stuffed bear in it. I will share my pictures MONDAY. Again, left my camera at school. Inservice got me. Give them our wonderful new direction words like: is it on top of the table? Is it under the chair? Is it Over by the door? Am I getting closer?  Once, you find your bear, have them tell you where the bear is in regards to the box. They love it. Next, hand out one of those cute plastic bears that at least one of your kindergarten teachers should have, if not I will load share my sheet on Monday, it is at school, go figure. I then have them place there bear on their own piece of paper I give them. You can then do a quick check-a-roo to see if they are understanding directions. I so want to use real gummy bears, but food allergy guidelines in our district...dicey. I am working on a STEM lesson for the book 3 Billy Goats Gruff where our littles can build a bridge to help the goats across. Did you hear that? Build as in Engineer! And how about using our yellow and red circles to build a car that can be pushed and pulled. I am on it science friends. I will keep on sharing. My oldest is home from college this weekend...so... I may need to wait until Monday rolls around. Have a great weekend.

          The bears are next to each other!

            The bear is under the paper.