September is the month of apples. This is the month where teachers delve in and teach the life cycle of the apple tree, conduct apple investigations, and explore fiction and non-fiction books surrounding the delicious subject. To enhance the apple studies in my classroom I have developed a craft that will help culminate our learning of all things apple.
While the construction of the apple looks somewhat challenging, when given direct instruction of each step of construction, first graders in my class have risen to the challenge and successfully constructed these adorable fruits! They are great helpers when someone at their table gets stuck on a step and I of course monitor them and help when needed.
Check out these adorable apples here. Card stock is not necessary, just regular copy paper works great. What is also fun is the ability to copy them on green, red, yellow paper so there is a variety of apples on display in the classroom. They look adorable hanging in the classroom and brighten up the space before all the fun fall projects begin.
Fall is inching closer and closer! Once the cool weather creeps its way in I start to think about fun units to teach. One I always like to present to my kiddos is the study of spiders! To make the learning even more exciting I created these 3-D Spider Reports for the students to create. There are a few different versions included. One contains report pages with lines and a blank report page version. I also included a blank template for those teachers who would prefer to keep this an art project rather than include a report component. Check out the video tutorial below! You can grab the spider template here!
I can't believe it is almost September! With the end of summer brings planning for fall in the classroom. I always love teaching the pumpkin life cycle during the fall while celebrating fall holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving!
I created a fun and hands-on way to study the life cycle of a pumpkin with these adorable 3-D models! Check them out at the link! Happy fall planning! Stay tuned for more fall inspired ideas soon!
With St. Patrick's Day rapidly approaching, It made me think back to the past few years and the fun I had with my first grade students on this special day. You may have seen photos of Leprechaun Rocks floating around on the internet and I am going to teach you how to make them. I also wanted to share a free resource with you that kindergarten through second grade students would love!
For the last two years I conducted a St. Patrick's day science experiment with my students. I explained to my students that the Leprechauns know I am a teacher and they leave me a cauldron full of leprechaun rocks to investigate with my students.
We use a recording sheet to predict what will happen when we place a leprechaun rock in vinegar. Then I hand the students a plate, cup of vinegar, and a leprechaun rock. We normally do this outside because it can be messy. We then countdown from 10 and watch what happens when we place the leprechaun rocks into the vinegar. The students are amazed to see the bubbly reaction and are always thrilled to discover the leprechauns left a gold coin in the center of the rock for them to keep! I then have the students record the outcome of the experiment on their recording sheet and it is glued into their interactive STEAM notebooks.
Check out the video tutorial on how to create Leprechaun Rocks just like the leprechauns do! :)
If you are interested in this project, click this link to grab the free resource. It includes directions on how the leprechauns made the rocks (and how you can recreate them), how to conduct the experiment, and recording sheets for the activity.
Here is another resource you may want to grab for your St. Patrick's Day festivities!
This year in my 4th/5th grade combination class we have been having a blast with science. We have spent quite a bit of time perfecting our simple circuits. After learning about current electricity and circuits we dove right into the experiment portion of our investigation. We created a number of simple circuits using a variety of materials.
Index Card Circuit
The first circuit was a very simple circuit using a minimum of supplies purchased from Amazon.
1 Index Card
2 pieces of Copper Tape (one piece needs to be slightly longer than the other)
1 LED
1 3-Volt Coin Cell Battery
I introduced current electricity with a Bill Nye video (the kids LOVED it). I then modeled how to make the simple circuit and then turned the kids loose! The foil took a little getting used to and the kids were able to manipulate it with a little practice. I taught them how to use both hands while taking off the white paper, and a partner also came in handy for this step.
Step 1: Label one side of the index card with a + and one side with a -.
Step 2: Peel off the white paper for the short copper tape. Open the LED lead wires slightly and place the cooper tape over the lead wire and run it down the index card.
Step 3: Peel off the white paper for the long piece of copper tape and attach to the long LED. Run the rest of the tape down the index card but fold the tape over on itself at the bottom to create a switch. The long LED lead and long tape side will be the positive side and the short side will be the negative side.
Step 4: Place the negative side of the battery on the negative side of the circuit on the copper tape. Place the switch on the positive side of the battery to turn on the circuit.
Troubleshooting: If the circuit does not turn on, make sure the copper tape is adhering to the LED leads. Use a fingernail to smooth it out. Also check that your switch is not tearing, causing a break in the circuit.
My students then created a diagram of their simple circuit. To grab the diagram click here!
We began with this circuit because it was fairly basic. We tried a more complex circuit next!
Aluminum Wire Circuit
This circuit was definitely more difficult than the index card circuit. We talked a lot about growth mindset before we began so students remembered that this circuit would take some adjusting, trouble shooting, and lots of persistence!
I created a tutorial for my students and you can check it out below!
Once we completed the creation of the circuits, I had my students create videos describing how their circuit works. This was a great assessment and really helped me see which students had a in depth understanding of current electricity. You can check out my example video below.
The used these circuits to test the conductivity of materials in the classroom. We recorded the data on a conductors and insulators page. You can grab the page here.
Circuit Landscapes
The last circuit project was an arts integration activity. The students were to research a landscape that would be created out of oil pastels on cardboard. They then would be creating a circuit on the back with a switch to light up their art with up to 4 LED. The students got really creative and created space scenes, night scenes, the Eiffel Tower, and nature scenes. Take a peek at some of the creations below!
I am so excited to share an engaging unit my class has been immersed with the past week. Frogs and toads are the perfect subject matter to engage first graders and incorporate important informational learning. We have used the informational coloring book to learn facts about frogs and toads. We have compared frogs and toads with a venn diagram and have used the cut and paste life cycles and diagrams to check comprehension from information learned from the book. Of course there must be an art portion of the unit and the students had a wonderful time creating their cut and paste frogs. Check out the unit below! You can get it here!
We have enjoyed writing about frogs and toads while comparing and contrasting facts learned. This unit has been a perfect accompaniment for our fiction Frog and Toad study using the wonderful works from Arnold Lobel… more on that soon!
Lately I have been encouraging my students to add more detail in their writing. They have great structure and conventions, but their detail was lacking. One way I decided encourage their use of detail was to introduce my students to the five senses. Including sensory words can help their writing to come to life!
I knew I needed a hands on way to explore the senses so they really understand what each sense involves. I wanted their five senses exploration to be as interactive as possible and that is how I decided to create the My Five Senses Interactive Science Book. Today I want to share the experiment we conducted to explore the sense of smell.
I created interactive pages that can be compiled into a book or used in an interactive science notebook.
My Sense of Smell
Here are some photos of the interactive foldable page. This page will be added to our My Five Senses book after each experiment is conducted.
I had a parent volunteer help with this project and we conducted the experiments in small groups. When all groups had completed the experiment, I revealed the scents inside of the cups. It was so funny to see the students' reactions to whether their predictions were correct. I will share the touch experiment soon…
I also wanted to share the five senses anchor chart that my students have been using in the classroom. The experiments have been great to introduce the senses and the chart reminds them to add sensory words in their writing.
