Don't you love a good sale? Well, I sure do. I also love being appreciated, I bet you do too. So...happy teacher appreciation week! We are all working so hard to make a difference in the lives of our kiddos. Thank you! Did you know that Teachers Pay Teachers wants to appreciate you, too?
I am throwing a sale in honor of teacher appreciation week. Stop on by and check out my TPT store for 20% off of all of my products May 6th and 7th. Here, is a sneak peak of some you will find...
My Butterfly unit that I start next week...painted ladies are on their way!
Roller Coaster Science...great for the end of the year!
Who doesn't love a good life cycle unit!
Reviewing Variable has never been so fun! Check this out!
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Remember...what you do does matter even if you don't hear it that often!
Today, May 2nd is my son's birthday. My baby is 12. TWELVE. That is crazy. I want to thank Farley over at Oh, Boy 3rd Grade for hosting the Currently linky. I love checking out the blogs that appear each month. What inspirational teachers out there. It is quiet right now. My husband has a baseball game...as a head coach in a state that has had snow until April and rain once the snow melted, it is hard to get the games in. So, a dryer field was available so off his team went to play their game at 7 o'clock tonight. Then, our daughter at noon was told, get your uniform, we are playing a softball game tonight as well. Yikes. Two gone. Now, for our third daughter, she is babysitting. So, now I have one left and it is the birthday boy. I love how kind he is to the boys in his grade. He invited some friends over that he knew couldn't bring gifts. He wanted me to get some special gifts for his friends instead. They were so excited. After a night of nerf gun wars, hot tubbing, and legos, it is now quiet and the boys are settling down.
Tomorrow, when Matt's other family members are around...we are off to go fishing. It is opening day and I can't wait to get outside. It has rained ALL week. Let's check out what is happening Currently...
I got the TV tonight. So, it was DVR time. HGTV it was. I agree with Farley...I am good with being me at this time in my life. I feel very lucky to have my family...even if at times we don't understand each other...I am working on that...I love teaching science...I feel so lucky to go to school and feel proud of what I am accomplishing to help kids be inspired. I can't wait until all of my children are under one roof. Preparing for a new apartment for our daughter will be a fun project for us to work on together. I can't wait to see us all slow down a bit when summer approaches. I can't wait until we can plant plants in the ground and start our own family garden now that I see how amazing gardening can be! Happy May! 6 more weeks and summer break!
I like FOSS and all, but the sound kit needed to be consolidated and added to a bit. I wanted to add some writing, vocabulary activities, and STEM. A conference I went to with other elementary science teachers and loved the engineering activity that our teacher had us do, so I tweaked it and I had my students engineer a communication tool as if they were grounded from all electronics and their best friend...who is their neighbor need to "talk" without getting caught. It was great.Forgot my camera at school, soooooo...I can post pics tomorrow. Hope this sounds good!
Tuesday...prep day...first day of my new lessons...here we go. At our last in service we took a peek at our writing scores and oh man...we need to rock and roll in science. My goal is to really work the reflection and writing component in each grade level. I have worked hard on the vocabulary piece, but one thing we discussed for our olders is to continue to use our science reflection questions as great short answers. For our littles, we must continue to ask them to use their writing to show what they know. Any great writing ideas for a science classroom teachers that only see kids one hour a week?
Kinders-
This week, we will be learning about what can hurt and help plants. We will be using The Tiny Seed as our book focus...we will use our writing to answer the question "what helps plants...what helps you?"
Firsties-
Our first graders will be focusing on life cycles and mealworms. We will read a quick book on mealworms...not before we take a quick quiz. We will use our observation and writing skills to show what we know.
Seconds-
We will be focusing on Wisconsin fast seeds and our kindergarten pumpkins. We will watch time lapse photography and writing about the similarities and differences between fast plants and annuals.
Wisconsin Fast Plants
Versus.... typical annuals... like the pumpkin...
Thirds-
We will be using an engineering activity to help us understand how to send sound through a solid. They will be using an engineering lesson based on "telephone" which I am adding to my new packet on sound ready by the end of the week...I need it by the end of the week, so I guess I need it done. (procrastinator, oops). We will be using other sheets to review the process we take to figure out how to communicate with our best friend next door, after being grounded, with no electronics...problem solving 101.
Fourths-
We will be working on understanding the solar system along with the planets. We will be reading Postcards From Pluto. Each person will be picking out of the hat to determine what planet they need to write a postcard about and then that will turn into their group for planet research and presentations. We will have a cloze reading lesson and then each group will get books to help them create their own postcard to share next week.
Fifths-
We will continue the lever lessons from FOSS. We are working on setting up an experiment and following directions. Side note... I am giving them a rubric and reflection sheet to fill out on our cardboard arcade. They will self assess and then share with their groups what they think they should get. We will also be using an activity out of my packet that has students picking a card with a major invention. They must illustrate and explain that invention as it was in the past, how it is now, and what it could look like in the future.
Well, it is that time of year when the sun is suppose to be out and insects are flying about. Well, it has to stop raining and be warmer than 45 degrees. Brrrrrr. The cold won't stop us though. The insects are on there way. So, I am getting ready by making a TPT resource for myself, my classroom teachers , and you my friends. If you, as followers, would like a free copy...leave me a comment with your email... Or email me...at k5sciencegal@gmail.com, and I will send you a free download of my Life Cycle of the Butterfly and Insect Connections. Check out what you could get.
This Picmonkey is GREAT! I think I've got it. I was planning out what our garden club will be doing as it rains all week. We have to figure out activities that will sustain us inside. We will be packing up tomato seeds and other choice seeds for our Plantapalooza and we will also be making our stores for our farmer's market veggies that the kids are growing and selling. We will also plant some more seeds inside so that we can get a jump start on our shorter season due to the cold. We will also be creating scripts for our veggie videos and invitations for our plantapalooza event. Stay tuned...
I goal set this weekend...I want to add some cool things to my blog. How about a widget, what's a widget? Pinterest button...html...huh???? How about cool pictures with frames and text? Why not. Two amazing bloggers helped me on my way. So check out the side...Danielle over at Crayonbox Learning has a great post to help anyone, even me figure out how to make a widget for TPT. I also was helped by another great blogger, Jennifer over at First Grade Blue Skies who gave me an idea on how to make these cute photo collages. So here is a collage of my classroom when I first moved in this year. Now...let's just say it is a bit messier. Time gets by you and I know I have to get that paperwork in order.
Thank you blogger friends. I am so excited to learn something new. My homework...how to add a slideshow called... A Moment of Science...cute huh?
Check out a few garden pictures, too. We are on our way to year two...bigger and better!
