Happy Saturday! Since I fell asleep on the couch around 7:30 last night, there was no way this was happening on Friday. Lol! I'm in the midst of parent-student-teacher conferences and I'm exhausted! We've got a workday on Monday and I have six more scheduled. In between them, I'll be working on report cards. I'm tired just thinking about it. :)
Aside from conferences, we've had a lot going on this week. Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting this Linky and allowing me to share some of it with you.
This might be why I'm so tired. In the last two weeks, I see the sunrise as I'm driving into work.
By the time I head home, the sun is setting. Anybody else putting in some long hours at work right now?
We made a solar still to study the water cycle this week. I think I was as fascinated as the kids! I got the idea from another teacher at the NCSTA Conference that I attended and presented at last week. It was super easy to make! I just used two cups of sand and two cups of soil mixed. We put an empty cup in the center of the plastic tub and spread the sand/soil mixture around it. We poured 6 ounces of water over the mixture (leaving the cup empty). Then we sealed it with plastic wrap and tape. The students recorded the process and their hypotheses in their science journals. Then, we took the solar still outside and placed it in the sunlight. We put a few small pebbles on top of the plastic wrap over the cup. When we checked it the next day, we could see water droplets on the inside of the still and there was water in the cup! We're going to continue to observe for changes over the next couple of weeks.
I'm not a fan of worksheets or tests, so when it came time to assess my student's understanding of the water cycle, I used a project-based assessment. I did give the students a worksheet with the words and an illustration on it, but they did not follow the cut and paste directions. Instead, I asked them to create a model of the water cycle using a paper plate, the worksheet words, and art supplies. They had a great time creating and I thought the projects turned out well. I love seeing the same information presented in so many different ways!
I finished my Multicultural Holidays Around the World poems last weekend. Since this is a project I first conceived and started three years ago and have been working on off-and-on ever since, I'm really happy to finally have it in my store. I promised you a freebie, so I chose one of the poems from the packet to share with you. You can download it here.
Were your kids crazy on Friday? Mine sure were. They were so excited about Halloween and (for them) a three-day weekend, I'm amazed we got anything done! We did, of course, not that I got any pictures of anything. We had a blast cutting and de-gutting a pumpkin as we described the outside and the inside of the pumpkin. We also read pumpkin stories and pumpkin poems among other pumpkin-related activities. Next year, I'll have to remember to take pictures of our Pumpkin Day. Until then, I'll leave you with a picture of this adorable alien pumpkin one of my sweet boys made for me.
Happy Halloween!
For this week's Five for Fraturday, I want to share some pictures, ideas, and thoughts about our school's STEAM Night. Thank you to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!
I wrote about last year's STEAM Night in this post. This year, one of my colleagues and I wanted to try something different. We had attended a STEM Conference at UNC-Charlotte. At one of the sessions, we learned about an elementary school whose teachers hosted a parent night for Pre-K to First Grade that revolved around STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics). We were excited about the idea and discussed it with our K-2 teachers. They quickly jumped on board and we decided to add a hands-on element to our already scheduled STEAM Night. While different grade levels had different activities, I'm going to share the ones I decided to use in second grade. They are either aligned to or an extension of our second-grade curriculum.
Oobleck!
I have to start off with the favorite station of the night, Oobleck. We connected each of the stations with appropriate books and, of course, this one was tied to Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss. We've been teaching about types of matter and how matter changes, so this was a natural fit. For those of you who've never experienced it, Oobleck is a non-Newtonian liquid. In some ways, it acts like a liquid; in others, it acts like a solid. For me, the kids, and their families, it was just lots of fun!
If you'd like to try it, the recipe is simple: 1 part water to 1.5-2 parts cornstarch. Add a little green food coloring to the water before mixing and that's it. Make sure you cover your work surface with newspaper or bulletin board paper. It does get messy, but the looks on the kids' faces are worth it!
Water
This year, the kids learned about weather and the water cycle. I thought a nice extension of that would be a couple of experiments related to surface tension and adhesion. First, students explored how many drops of water could fit on a penny. I provided recording sheets from Lakeshore Learning, the water, pennies, and some droppers. Our families loved exploring surface tension! Some of them were very surprised when they found out how many drops would fit.
I'm sorry that I somehow I missed taking pictures of our other water experiment. In this one, students used a toothpick to try to drag a drop of water along a path from start to finish. We spread waxed paper over the activity sheet (a simple picture of a curvy path with a start and finish line). The students used the dropper to put one drop of water at the start. They then dragged the water along the path to the finish. Simple, but fun - and a great demonstration of the property of adhesion (water is attracted to other substances).
We also had several weather and water-related books at this station that our families enjoyed. My favorite is The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks.
Sound
We had two activities at this station along with several books that dealt with sound.
Mystery Sound Canisters is a great activity to explore our sense of hearing. I put several different objects in separate film canisters: marbles, rice, pennies, rubber bands, dry lima beans, and paper clips. I labeled the containers A, B, C, D, E, and F and then taped them shut. Students and families tried to identify the objects by gently shaking the canisters and listening closely to the sounds. Not an easy thing to do! I tried to share this activity with you, but because I created it on my workplace google drive, I wasn't able to. Here are the pictures of the slides so you can create your own if you'd like.
We also explored pitch, vibration, and sound waves using tuning forks. We were lucky enough to get a set of tuning forks with our new science kits last year. The kids had a blast making the rice "dance" on the waxed paper using the vibration of the tuning fork.
Here are the directions for this activity:
Life Cycles
It really bothers me that I didn't take pictures of all the books we had out. What was I thinking? Anyway, we brought out a ton of books about animal life cycles. We haven't begun this unit yet, so I wanted to do a simple activity just to introduce the concept and review prior knowledge. I had several life cycle models on display. Some came from our science kit; others I had picked up at Michaels. A colleague also had a cute center with pictures of animal life cycles that students could put in order. I provided life cycle sheets, paper plates, and supplies so students could create their own model of their chosen life cycle. Not many of the kids completed this activity, but a few of them really enjoyed it!
STEAM Night was a welcome reminder of why I enjoy teaching. I didn't have any data to record. I didn't have to complete any paperwork. I didn't have to mediate any arguments. I didn't have to motivate anyone to complete their work. Students were naturally engaged and excited about learning. Some parents had to literally drag their children away. The event was supposed to end at 7:00. The last family reluctantly left at 7:25. Our principal had to do an all call to tell them to go home.
While we had a willing audience - only about 1/3 of my class was there - I wonder how our days would go if we were always allowed to teach this way. The students who did come were excitedly sharing their experiences with their friends the next morning. The ones who couldn't make it begged me to do some of the experiments in class that day.
It was a reminder that I need to make learning fun and engaging everyday. It isn't always easy, because I'm bound by district and state mandates, but I can try.
Our STEAM Night was awesome - for the students and for me. Have you ever hosted anything like this? I'd love to hear about what you did. I'm planning to do this again next year and I'd love some new ideas. Please share them in the comments!
I'm back with the Saturday edition of Five for Friday (also known as Five for Fraturday). Thank you to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!
I don't care what the calendar says - February is a ridiculously long month! Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, Dental Health month, Black History month, snow days, picture days, Science Fair projects, parent conferences - it's exhausting trying to fit it all in and also teach the curriculum we are required to teach. I'll be glad when this month is over. Not that I'm counting, but, at least there are only 5 weeks to go until Spring Break!
Here's a picture of my cat, Boots. He loves boxes. We're getting some things together to donate, so I pulled some boxes out of the garage. I set this one down and he immediately jumped in. Isn't he cute?
My class and I love the videos and inspirational quotes from Kid President. When we found out he had surgery on Monday, we just had to make some get well cards to send. Here's my favorite one:
For those of you who don't know, Kid President, whose real name is Robby, suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta. He had surgery to replace a rod in his leg. I follow his Facebook page and, according to his brother-in-law, Brad, the surgery went well and they hope to get back to making videos soon.
Presidents' Day was originally supposed to be a Teacher Workday for us. Then it was a snow make-up day, so we were supposed to have school. On Monday, there was a last minute cancelation due to the weather forecast of a wintry mix in our area. So, no school for students and an optional teacher workday for us. Now we have to make it up on Memorial Day. To add insult to injury, although there were reports of ice and slick roads in the northern part of our county, we didn't get any snow/sleet/ice at all where I live. Sigh. The joys of living in the south during the winter.
So, we learned about the President's job this week. I shared my One Day When I Am President poem from my Patriotic Poems and Activities for Primary Grades.
After we read and discussed the poem, we read this book:
We talked about what would be important to us if one of us became President one day. Here are a few of my favorite written responses. If only our elected leaders would listen to the nation's children, right?
Don't they all look very presidential?
This one's my favorite. It gave me a giggle and a warm fuzzy as it reminded me of the innocence of children.
Our STEAM Night is next Thursday. We're scrambling to get our science project done in time. This year, I decided to have my students investigate what happens to a liquid when it freezes. I found a great project idea on www.education.com. My kids were so excited about it. I wish we had time to do more activities like this.
We'll probably do some follow up activities and finish up the board next week. I'll try to share some better pictures in next week's Five for Friday.
So, that's it for this week. Now I better get busy and get all my weekend chores done. Don't forget to check out this week's other great Five for Friday posts!
