Time to ROCK Out!!

My students totally don't get my humor, but I crack myself up.  This week we finished up our Rocks and Minerals chapter in Science.  I used this pack by I Heart Recess (partly because it was put together so cleverly, and mainly because I have been super busy with life and didn't have time to think of all the details).

Here is my version of the folder.  We folded the folders into a bifold flap.  We separated it out Rocks vs. Minerals and spent a lot of time comparing the two.  

Here's the inside of my folder.  The kids' folder match - but I figured you probably would like to see my handwriting vs. 9 & 10 years olds.

Here's the outside open part of my folder.  I found this free comic strip over on TPT.  It's funny!

Smores using an iron - SO SMART!

Then we made an edible version of the rock cycle.  The last couple of years I have brought in a ton of different edible versions of the different types of rocks, this year though I simplified it with Jessica's Smores activity.  The kids each got a full size graham cracker, a marshmallow, and a piece of chocolate.  I had them make a sedimentary rock by stacking the ingredients, and then a metamorphic rock by applying pressure (with a little squish).  For the igneous rock I called them up with their Smores (on a paper plate), took off the top graham cracker, and used my iron to melt the marshmallow.  Jessica recommended using parchment paper to keep everything sanitary and clean - I'm so glad I listened to her!  

I hope this helps you!

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Science Dioramas {Revisited}

Sometimes I'm amazed at the amount of stuff we accomplish throughout the week... Even though at times it feels like herding goats.

Science dioramas

Last week was the culmination of our ecosystem unit. The Friday before the kids took Kleenex boxes and painted the inside, creating a setting/background of for whatever ecosystem they wanted to create.


Then last week they took index cards to make pop up animals and plants to add to their boxes.   I use index cards since we have a ton of them in the classroom and they need some type of cardstock/thicker paper to make the figures stand up.  Last year we used shoe boxes but the Kleenex ones were smaller. Liked the smaller aspect for trying to hang them.


After they were done designing/decorating they had to list the different predators, prey, consumers, producers, living, and non living organisms they added to their boxes.

Last year I had them write all over their boxes, but this year I simplified it since they wrote all that other information on their ecosystem interactive folders.  

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Peek at my Week

Linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings again to share a peek of my week.  

We are moving into our business unit.  For an introduction to the unit, I have students brainstorm a business that they are familiar with, and then they have to come up with a product list.  Our story this week is a short one, so it allows us time to really talk about what makes up a business.

We are still tackling doing everything in multiplication (switching from addition and subtraction), so this week is working on patterns and function tables..  I've been adding task cards into my morning math meeting to make it an easy switch out at the end of the day and to give some variety.  

I made up this freebie to help my kids review - there are 14 function tables with

 different operations to get my kids thinking of finding the rules.

The past couple of weeks we have been so focused on science that social studies took a back seat. This week is all about learning about the CA Explorers - Cabrillo, Drake, and Vizcaino.  

I'm using my pack to have the kids compare/contrast the men, writing informational paragraphs, and drawing portraits.  

We have one more chapter about Ecosystems - so this week my students are bringing in an empty Kleenex box to paint their own ecosystem - that's the plan for Friday.  I'll talk more about that in a different post - basically it's this idea - picture is from last year.  

Our Mentor Sentences this week focus on commas, apostrophes, and quotation marks.  I'll be using Where the Wild Things Learn's Task Cards to help kids focus.  

Then I picked up a box of elbow macaroni, and the students will be creating their own examples on sentence strips - gluing on the macaroni.  I'm so excited about this project!  

Have a great week!  

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Five for Friday - Owl Pellets, Spiderwebs, and the Pumpkin Patch

5 random things about my week...  Let's see...

Today we tackled Owl Pellets in class - well, really outside...  

The weather was marvelous.  Same type of set up as last year - each group had a plate (I chose foam since adults were spraying water on them), a bone bowl, gloves, tweezers (Big Lots has a 2 pack for $1), toothpick, and this year I brought wooden skewers from home.  I put down butcher paper, and the kids wanted to sit boys vs. girls.  When they were completely done, they got a snack size plastic bag and separated out the bone bowl with their partner.  Then they headed inside to fill in Jivey's Owl Pellet Dissection worksheet.  It was so cool and gross at the same time!   

 This week we had our parent art docent come in and present a lesson about art in nature.  She had a powerpoint that she shared with the class with different pictures of spiderwebs.  Some had snow on them, some had rain, they all had different designs.  Then she walked them through creating their own webs.  It totally ties into reading Charlotte's Web and Halloween...  

The kids each got a square of card stock, and she had them take a ruler to draw perpendicular lines with a sharpie.  Then she had them go through the intersecting point and draw 2 additional lines.  The next step had them drawing "valleys" starting at the outside of the square making connectors between the main straight lines of the web.  From there, once the web was complete, she had them take 2 colors and create an AB pattern going around.  The last step was optional, but if they wanted to they could draw a small spider on the web and add googley eyes.  The kids loved the project!    

Number 3 is easy... my preschooler had his first official field trip to the pumpkin patch today.  Since I was up to my eyeballs in owl pellets my husband got to chaperone.  

Lucky him!  His shirt is so cute - he actually made it in class with his teacher.  They tie dyed the candy corn shirts specifically for this field trip.  S is so proud of it!  

What else?  Today was a minimum day to work on report cards and I actually FINISHED!  We always have the afternoon to get it done, but I never actually get it done on time during the day... it usually takes me into the next week.  Somehow miraculously I did this year.  Yay!  It being the end of the trimester - I will completely enjoy this random weekend with no grading!!  :)  In other classroom news - I totally fell today.  Tripped over a backpack during prep and went down.  OUCH!  Got a beautiful bruise that has formed...  

Last up I wanted to give a shout out to Fifth in the Middle.  That girl is now celebrating 1,000 followers over on TPT.  Make sure to go enter!   

Well, I'm linking all of this up to Doodlebugs.  I hope you had a great week too!  

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Tried it Tuesday: Showing Off My Folders

The other day I posted about my Social Studies and Science Interactive folders.  A nice person commented asking me to share what they look like - so here they are. These are my examples that I do with the students, so not all the information is filled in.  

We took the file folders, opened them up, and then folded them in to make bifold flaps.

Folder #1: Land of CA

Front: Definitions and pictures of Compass Rose, Latitude, Longitude, Prime Meridian, Equator

Inside flaps: Flip up region notes - top has land information, underneath has business information

Middle inside: Students colored/shaded the different regions.

Back: Paragraph of favorite region.

Folder #1 - Beginning of Ecosystems

(folded so we could have more flaps)

Front: Definitions

Inside Middle Flaps: Notes on the Land vs. Water Ecosystems

Inside Middle: Paragraph of favorite ecosystem (with facts)

Back: Research notes of ecosystem

Basically, you can see I tend to have them put more definitions/vocabulary on the front, then inside and back are notes with an informational paragraph or two thrown in.  

That's basically what we've finished so far...for some reason the computer isn't allowing me to upload pictures of my Native Californian folder...  This week we are working on the beginnings of Science Folder #2 for Ecosystems...  

Linking up with Holly and Tried it Tuesday.  

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Throwback Thursday: Hands On Science

Hi everyone!  My Throwback Thursday post is from last December.  I completed owl pellets in the classroom - and while I am glad I did it, I wish I had tackled it when I was "supposed" to in October. This next year - bring it on!  

Linking up with The First Grade Parade to share my post from December 2012

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I made it!! Owl pellets are complete! I took pictures of some of my happy (and slightly grossed out scientists). A mom donated a box of masks for them to feel official. It didn't help the smell though.

Here's my list of how I chose to prep:

*Butcher paper to keep the desks clean - the plan was to do this outside but it was still extra cold after recess, so we set up inside. Windows and door open... It was smelly!

*Each partner group had a bag of pellets, a heavy duty paper plate to dissect on, a bone bowl, tweezers (borrowed from the middle school science class),a plastic spoon,and a toothpick. I also had skeleton and bone sorting sheets in sheet protectors for the groups to use throughout the process. These came from the company.

*Each kid had their own mask, gloves, and recording paper from Scholastic's printables. After they were done they also got a piece of cardstock to glue their bones on and a Barn Owl Food Web sheet to color from Google Images.

*Each parent helper had a spray bottle full of water to help soften the pellets.  I borrowed these from my old grade level - it's always nice to visit and chat.  :)

So what were the steps for us?

- Students predicted what would be inside and filled out their paper to also describe what the outside looked like. While they were doing that the parents were helping me pass out supplies, open pellet bags, and spraying the pellets to make them moist.

-They started dissecting and putting bones into their bone bowls. One kid seemed to like digging in more, so while they dug the other person cleaned the bones. This part easily took 45 minutes to an hour.

-The second hour was spent deciding which partner got which bone, gluing their bones onto the cardstock, labeling each bone on the paper, filling in the reflection part of their worksheet, and then finally cleaning up.

-As they finished the adults cleaned their desks thoroughly with disinfectant spray and the kids colored an owl food web on the carpet. My kiddos love to color!!

All in all my class completed all this in about 90 minutes. I did need to encourage some kiddos to keep moving.

I'm sure dinner discussions are great tonight.

Well, that was this morning... Hope you had a good day!! One more day...

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I guess the moral of the story is that hands on science is fun (even though it's also sometimes gross).  Don't be afraid of it, have fun with it - and give the kids a memory at the same time.  

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