This Week In Science...

Every day I teach Kinders through fifth graders. I love it, but each and every hour you have to change gears with a different topic.Here are just a few things we did this week!  I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world right now. It is my happy place! What is your happy place in your job?

Our School Garden Tulips...learning how to be insects!

This week...in space...the moon! 

 Check out this great moon phase song!

We also used EPIC books again! Love the non-fiction book choices! The Moon Book is great! Just enough for 4th graders! Great pictures! Check out EPIC for teachers!
It's 

I love this picture! Look at my kinders looking closely at our school garden. They were looking for treasures!

Here is a FREEBIE for you!

Darkling beetles and drawing a picture of a live specimen.

Looking at the indoor habitat of the mealworm!

I love the new pack I made for myself first...but for all now that I see how it works! Next week, butterflies!

Here is my insect pack that I have been using! Sorry to bug you, but it is a fun pack! Check it out...Insects In and Out of the Classroom.  

The Sunday Scoop

Upnorth...and over 70 degrees here in Wisconsin. My boys are fishing...it's opening weekend, and Sarah and I are relaxing! I can't wait to work on a few of this week's projects. So...here is the Sunday

Scoop! Thanks to The Teaching Trio for this reflective linky!

I love insects. They are fascinating to littles, but sometimes FOSS doesn't have enough..."STUFF". So, I started making a new pack for them and it is going over big! Our painted lady caterpillars are now chrysalis...so next week we get to learn about butterflies! Our school garden is ready for planting...and this year with my 5th graders we are learning about Victory Gardens. I have been fortunate enough to have my father in laws WWII artifacts. Now that I teach science and not social studies...I don't get to use them, but I figured out a way to teach social studies in science!

So does anyone else feel that it is crunch time? I have to really start cleaning and getting ready for my summer classes that I teach for the first two weeks after school lets out. I just have to start my to do list and we are set to go...

This week, is scholarship night for my senior. Wish her luck! She is working hard to earn money for college through being a CNA this summer...she is certified...YES! But, scholarship money always helps!

Have a great week!

Currently May

It's May 2nd...my son's 13th birthday! He is my baby and now he is a teenager. Wow, time flies! It sure does...it is already May and I can't seem to be able to get everything done on my to do list! This month is going to fly by...it always does! Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade is once again hosting my favorite linky! Check out what I am currently doing...and while your at it, check out more of my science blog!

We are up at our cottage. So, let's just say we don't have a lot of options for television shows. So, MeTV has on an old black and white horror movie called Man-made Monster. 

Gotta' love that my BIG boy is now crashed out on the couch after being outside all day at dad's baseball tournament. Fresh air can do that to you, but before the kiddo fell asleep we went out to eat and all had YUMMY prime rib. We don't go out...hardly ever...it was a great treat!

It is time to start planting outside in our school garden. I have to plan what grade levels are planting outside this week! We are organizing a Victory Garden for 5th graders next week, but this week I think we can get our potatoes in the ground! How exciting!

I am needing to plan for my engineering courses that I teach at our local university for summer fun classes! I am really not ready...and I have to also set up the supplies for my oldest daughter to teach STEAM classes as well! Lots of things needing to happen this month...scholarship night this week, and graduation of our second, right around the corner! I need to organize it and so my to do list will need to be created and not lost!

MAY you have a great month!

Cardboard Arcade Fun and Games

Well...the cardboard arcade is upon us! We are in our second round of games. Take a look at these amazing games and all of the smiling faces! The idea of taking cardboard boxes and turning them into amazing carnival games...games that our students play then at our school carnival...making money for books and computers and all those things we have a hard time buying due to budget cuts...is simply amazing. This year's games outdo anything we have seen... and all our kiddos need is a bit of imagination...encouragement...a few supplies and...

Using simple machines...inclined plane and screws!

Battleship! Using pulleys and wheel and axle!

Skee Ball! Using and inclined plane!

This was a fun monster madness game using a pulley system and an inclined plane!

Seriously one of the most creative games, but lacked the simple machine aspect...

Color Dance using levers and an inclined plane to dance ...dance...dance!

The kiddos from other classes came in to play the games and vote for the ones to be in our school carnival! So many amazing games to choose from! This is a fun fishing game!

Here is my absolute favorite! Foos Ball! Using wheel and axle for the score keeping, inclined plane  for the slots, styrofoam handles, and a pickle lid for the foos ball...it was amazing!

Engineering at its best. I am using this for my College for kids class and can't wait to see what they can do!

Garden Time!

It is that time of year here at TJ Elementary! We are getting growing! Our kinder"gardeners" are busy learning about pumpkins and how to plant a seed. Remember these 6 easy words:
1. scoop
2. pat
3. poke
4. drop
5. cover
6. water

It works every time. How fun to have our kinders learning that it  takes time to grow. This video helps them visualize the process and what the pumpkin looks like from seed to pumpkin. Awesome song...time flies by and they can see the date change, see the plant grow and vine out...yellow flowers...then the pumpkin!

         Take a look at my little pumpkins!

 Here is a garden sheet that I use with them...Thanks to Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarden for such a great freebie...

Cardboard Arcade

It is time for our simple machines unit! We love the cardboard arcade. Each year, our school has a carnival as a fund raiser...and now it is an annual event that our 5th graders host a carnival arcade to see which game gets the most votes and customers so that game can be played at our school carnival. There are some wonderful games that are being created!

Building...Diagramming...and planning!

Each lever system is different and unique! A great engineering project!

Some of the cardboard arcade games were build like this...

While other arcade games were built like this...either way...the kids love to build marshmallow catapults and tie it into our cardboard arcade simple machines unit!

 We also tie in our FOSS levers and pulleys kits! We learn about the three levers: class 1,2, and 3. We then create a marshmallow catapult to use in a cardboard arcade game that the kids make in less than 15 minutes. A quick...fun connection!

Here is our quick quiz I give after all the fun! Here is a copy for you!

Here is the packet I made for our simple machines...FOSS levers and pulleys....Cardboard Arcade Simple Machines Unit on TPT. Check out the video link for our inspiration!

FOSS Morse Code Connections

This week in 3rd grade science, we are working with sound discrimination. We are learning that sounds can be identified by their characteristics. To make connections, we are suppose to use the items in our bags and our sound chambers to associate the sound with a letter. What better way to connect history in science! No student so far knew what morse code was. We watched a small video...I am sharing it here...

Then, we looked at dashes and dots... We projected this image on our smartboard and had the kids write their names.  Here is the Morse Code Link we used. Next, the FOSS connection lesson... This is a great way to make FOSS fun and connect it with other subjects.