Peek At My Week

Oh, my dear...with two days of inservice my days one-five are all mixed up. Tuesday will be a day 4 and then I start with new lessons on Thursday. Yikes. Hard to keep that straight. So, thanks to Mrs. Laffin's Laughings  (it is her birthday weekend!!!) I can systematically plan what I am going to do next week...even if my week doesn't start until Thursday this next week.

Our circus act in first grade will start off with...



This book gives an idea of what kinds of acts are at the circus. We will then review how we balanced our crayfish on our finger by demonstrating using a little circus music.

I then want to take a little assessment of where they are at. Can they show where they would place the counterweights?

                       Crayfish sheet

In second grade, I want to make sure I use some common core writing ideas to assess what they remember about separating soup mix. I had the kids create factories of workers to process the separation of the mix. They had to work as a team to see what company could separate more mix faster, cleaner, and safer. Here is the sheet I am using to see if they remember...

                     soup mix writing

Now onto the Water Unit. We finished up last week with ice in water. We are going to do the ice cubes in water activity for a review of hot water rises and cold water sinks. One of my science coworkers presented a question of the day on the board: You are in a pool and you notice a big temperature difference from the top of the water to the bottom of the water. Why would the water at the bottom be cooler and the top be warmer? What a great connection! Here is the sheet...

                     Ice In Water Review
As for the bigs... 4th grade is all set for the week, with the ligaments and tendons lesson from last. They are my day four and five. So with inservice I didn't get to see them yet. But my fifth graders are doing an activity with George's Marvelous Medicine. I read the chapter Grandma's Medicine and then we make marvelous medicine. I give them lemon juice, water, and sugar. They have to measure exactly and make a recipe unlike George. Then, they have to test someones...it could be there own. I have them pick numbers and label everything.

Snatch a free copy of my Marvelous Medicine...Mixtures and Solutions Lemonade Lesson here:)

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!

No Bones About It

No bones about it, this week the fourth graders had fun with bones. We were doing the FOSS lesson comparing bones. We stepped it up a notch. We have a school forest that our 5th graders always do an owl pellets lesson, so we had to fill it with an introductory lesson. First I read the A to Z book Animal Skeletons. I used my new Ipad to read it and show it.

I then had the kids guess the animal using What's Inside Animals. Coolest thing ever... there are 16 cards that have a skeleton on one side and the animal on the other. If you use a flashlight, you can see the bones inside the animal. The kids love it! This product is by Roylco.


We then shared native animal bones at each table. We had teams guess what animal the bones came from. They used back ground knowledge...canine teeth, ball and socket, antlers...

After the teams were done guessing, they worked on the sheet that wraps everything up.This great TPT freebie did just that thanks to The Teacher's Cabinet . I put it on one sheet to save paper:)

Peek at My Week

Linking up today with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings, a fellow Wisconsin blogger. Didn't finish my reflection sheets my fellow teachers...I was enjoying the heat wave here. The winter votex is coming back to our neck of the woods this week. That means indoor recess AGAIN. Poor kiddos. They have suffered over two weeks of indoor recess in the last month already, but the train must move on.

The end of the quarter came and went, but the FOSS train keeps chugging along... chuga, chuga...

Our kinders are at the beginning of their weather unit. First lesson....the sun...then the night sky...now the weather. The kindergarten teachers and I have come up with one I can statement a week for our kiddo to show us. This week: I can draw my favorite type of weather and graph it.

 The first graders are starting their balance and motion unit by learning the key concepts. We will create a chart to show what we know with our new vocabulary. The kids love make and takes, so they will color a  balancing parrot to take home. Balancing Parrot Pattern...

Second graders are still working on solids and liquids. We are working on the messy one... solids in containers. You know the one... lima beans, rice, pinto beans... all over. I am going to make a science notebook sheet to share for reflection. I will post this week for you.

Our third grade kiddos are going to be doing two water and ice lessons this week in FOSS...water as ice and hot and cold water. I am working on a quick sheet for reflection for their ticket out the door. Stay tuned...

Fourth graders are in their human body unit and my post before this shows just what I am doing.  Same goes for the bigs in 5th grade. Mixtures and Solutions continued... Happy Sunday. Have a great week.

FOSS Friday

Hey, time to add some ideas that I used to add to the FOSS science program. This week, our fourth graders are learning about joints. You know the lesson, making a joint model...a thumb...a leg...but, the kids really don't really know the new vocabulary. So, here is this week's idea: I show the quick video and the kiddos fill out the sheet. They now have the vocabulary they need. I also have the groups reading a reading a to z book that preps us for next week: Animal Skeletons. I have a 3 question quiz to see if they comprehended the story. Here goes...the reading quiz first.  A to Z reading quiz for Animal Skeletons:)

The video...

And the sheet...

                      Ligaments and Tendons Sheet

Now for our 5th graders... We are working on the FOSS lesson on saturation. I actually use it as a competition between the teams. I have half of the groups test citric acid and half of the groups work with salt. The kids set up the experiment following the packet directions. They really get a sense of the vocabulary as they see,  "Which is more soluble in 50 ml of water, salt or citric acid?" I now make an anchor chart for each class to take back with them that has our vocabulary and information. I only get to see them once a week, so I had to come up with another way to get the ideas to them somehow. Here is the sheet I am using for the  Saturation Quiz. 

When they are done, they will be reading a Science a to z one page reading review based on Mixing Matter. Once again, the vocabulary and some quick questions to read for meaning.

Solutes and Solvents Science A to Z review

FOSS friends, hope this helps just a bit. Happy Friday!

FOSS FUN and More...

This week, we are finishing up our quarter... so time to assess our kiddos. The snow is falling and it looks like we will be getting around 6-7 inches by the time it is done. Time to get the snowmobiles out. Our kindergarten lessons are new this year. It was a collaborative effort of many people to use the NGSS science standards. This week, we are learning about the moon. We are reading Where Does The Sun Go?  This one had great real pictures of the moon. You could also use The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons. I had the students work on a sheet from my new unit Patterns and Cycles that is being uploaded this week on TPT and Teacher's Notebook. We also tested how craters were formed by dropping rocks, "meteors", into flour bowls.

First graders are learning about fossils to go along with our Pebbles, Sand, and Silt Unit. We started off by watching a little Bill Nye on You Tube...it won't link. Then, we worked on a sheet to see the process of fossilization: live, die, bury, dig up. This is in simple first grade terms and what they seem to get. The Fossilization Sheet helped them organize their thoughts in how fossils are made.

2nd graders are working on solids and liquids so we are doing some hardening and softening of solids. We are observing chocolate and crayons to see the different states of matter and what makes them change. We are also watching a video on how crayons are made on How Stuff Works.

Here is the sheet I am going to start using today with them as we tour the stations. 

Solid and Liquid Stations

Onto third grade. I am working on water activities with the kiddos after their quick quiz to see what they remember. We will be sinking and floating objects to make inferences as to other objects that might sink and float. I found a great open ended sheet for free on a cute blog Really Roper. 

Fourth graders, oh, my fourth graders...what can I say... we took our first round of quizes and sad to say that even with a study guide, going over the vocabulary, studying before the quiz, they still made a lot of excuses as to why they didn't study. I am sad. I will be grading it today, but I told them that I wanted a nurse or doctor or even a waitress to care about taking care of me. What would happen if they didn't know what they were doing or didn't care? I will be working with the students that didn't study to redo the test. Any suggestions for getting kids to care and study when I only see them once a week. (assignment notebook, on board, in take home folder, poster in room already:(

Fifth graders are working with solvents and solutes. We had a friendly competition to see which table's solid reaches saturation first. FOSS has it as a separate, but they seem to understand it better when they see the difference. Saturated solutions, solvent, solute review and then guessing the solid by using similar methods. This week's focus:)

It's Friday My Friends...FOSS Friday

It is Friday, a day four and it is a heat wave here in Wisconsin. This morning already it is a whopping 21 degrees! Warmest day in ...like...forever!  This next week, is the last week of the quarter so it is crunch time for getting in one last quiz. Our poor kiddos haven't seen an outdoor recess in a while so in science we have done as much hands on fun stuff as we can. Our kinder kiddos are learning about the sun. I read...

They learned that the sun gives plants energy to grow. They learned that the sun is a star that looks big because it is the closest star too us. They learned how the Earth rotates each day and how we also revolve around the sun. It sure helps that we have four seasons so they can understand how we lean toward and away from the sun. We rotated, we revolved, we got closer and farther away and tested how something seems smaller as it moves away from us. We also did a drawing to show what we like to do in the sun. We sang Mr. Sun, Sun...

Oh, sun, how I have missed you!!!!

Our first graders are working on the FOSS unit pebbles, sand, and silt. Who doesn't like to go to the beach! I read the book Sand and then we traced the word sand, played in buckets of sand, and even got to take a shell home! 

They drew their favorite thing at the beach. Check out their ideas!

Our 3rd graders are learning the FOSS water lesson on thermometers. We practiced using real thermometers first and reviewed what we knew about reading and measuring temperature.

Fourth graders love the FOSS lesson on immobilized thumbs. I have been giving my bigs vocabulary sheets to fill in as they go so that they can take a sheet with them to review and study. Here is the link to what I gave the fourth graders. Joint Notes and Vocabulary (sorry no picture...I did it in word)

Fifth graders are focusing on solutes and solvents. The only good way that I could thing of for them to remember those words is that a vent must be turned on when you are boiling liquid. Solvent=liquid. We combine the citric acid and salt saturation lessons to do a competition...which is more soluble...citric acid or salt? The competition seems to be a lot more fun then doing the lesson separately. Here is the sheet I gave them. Saturation Sheet

Just some quick show and tell this week and how I made FOSS fun and academically sound.