The Digestive System

A few weeks ago we wrapped up our study of the digestive and urinary systems and thought I'd share some of the activities we did. Since I'm in a new grade level this year, just about everything is brand new and I'm having to do lots of research and learning. It's been hard, but really rewarding. I absolutely LOVE to teach science, and had a blast doing these activities with the kiddos.

First up: Digestion in a bag: What happens to food as it enters your mouth and travels through your body? We modeled the process using a crackers, water, orange juice, paper towels, zip-lock bags, and our hands. Stephanie over at Teaching in Room 6 posted this awesome activity, and as soon as I read it, I knew I had to do it. What a blast! The kiddos were a little grossed out, but that's part of the fun, right?

The next day (amid cries of, "Mrs. Kilgo, please tell me this isn't going to be gross!"), I pulled out the Play Dough. Who knew the level of excitement a bunch of fifth graders would have at just the sight of Play Dough?! I put together four learning stations.

1. Promethean flipchart on the board
2. Build a model of the digestive system with Play Dough
3. Links with videos and games to explore
4. No Saliva, No Taste? experiment

Each child received a lab sheet (which you can snag for free here). We worked in groups at each station, with me guiding the last station. What a blast!

Do you have a favorite activity to do during this unit? 

Pic Collage

Apple    Amazon

This is a great little FREE photo collage app that I found last night and tested with the kiddos today during science. What can you do with a photo collage app, you ask? We made collages of opaque, transparent, and translucent objects today. It was so much fun to see the kids learning the "tricks" of the app and showing one another, not to mention seeing them figure out which items to take pictures of. Here are a few examples of their work:

   

This was such a fun learning activity, and the app is really simple to use. When students open it, this screen appears:

The stickers, text, and background options were pretty popular with my kiddos. Items on the page can be turned and sized using the standard pinching gestures. Once finished, students emailed their collages to our class email account. I can't wait to use this again soon! Some ideas I have are to make collages of:

• real life examples of planes (we're starting geometry soon)
• acute, obtuse, and right angles around our school
• items that are insulators
• items that are conductors
• equivalent forms of money ($1.00 shown in several different ways)

Have you ever used this app or one like it in your class? Please comment and share an idea!

Science AND History? A Necessary Decision...

Call me "old school" if you want, but I've always felt strongly about trying to teach both content areas each day. I just feel like 1). By 4th grade, the kiddos need to be exposed to both, especially since they'll have them both in 5th grade. 2). For some kids science or social studies is the highlight of their day. Back and forth I've gone, trying to decide if its best to teach both subjects each day or simply rotate every few weeks. I've even blogged about it before here.

However...

Our new math program takes about an hour and a half. I have to find another time to do my own reading and math intervention groups. We have 45 minutes of PE and 30 minutes of computer lab everyday (for which I'm very grateful). Language arts encompasses so many skills and strategies that we could literally spend all day doing it. Something had to give!

So, I decided to try swinging to the side of some colleagues and teaching only science OR social studies each day. My coworker and I decided to do a chapter of one, then do a chapter of another, and flip-flop. Although I've agonized over this, after only two days I've found that there are some really great advantages to this set up:

• Focus: This one is for me and the kiddos! I can do a much better job planning and teaching for just one, and I think the kiddos can absorb more this way. 
• Quality: This sort of goes with focus, but now I have more time to plan more engaging lessons.
• Less Pressure: Teaching one subject at a time frees the students and myself from yet another "thing" to cover each day. 

I think I'm really going to like this new set-up, but I'd love to hear what's working for you and your class. Have you been in my position? What do you do in your room? 

Text Structure Magic (and a Freebie)

Don't you love it when everything comes together? I had one of those magical moments today during reading and had to share! Like all of you, I'm working diligently to implement the new Common Core standards, and this week I decided to focus on 4.RL.5:

Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.

I knew I'd need to start small with this one, so I chose two texts to begin with and made a graphic organizer for my students to use.

We started by simply comparing and contrasting the features and structure of a chapter in our science books about rocks and a short story about a mountain eroding called The Sun, The Wind, and The Rain.

I modeled at first, then allowed students to work with partners and contribute to the organizer. Above is the neat copy I typed up. Trust me, you DON'T want to see my dark, doc camera, chicken scratch on the board version.

Next, I gave everyone a blank organizer and assigned two short texts from this week's basal lessons to read and compare/contrast with their table groups. One was a narrative, and one a newspaper article. After the students worked with table groups, we regrouped so that every person was in a new group and able to share what their group mates had discussed and written on their organizers. (Sorry I forgot to take pics of the kiddos' work). I'll try and add them tomorrow.

What was really great about this lesson was all of the connections we were able to make. We're learning about rocks in science, narrative story structure in writing, and plot structure in reading. At one point, we even reviewed subject/verb agreement as we were adding things to the class chart. Love it! Such a great lesson, using a simple idea.

And here's a little freebie for you: the blank graphic organizer. Just click on the link text below the picture to snag it!

Compare/Contrast Text Features Graphic Organizer

Hurricane in a Bowl

We've all made the tornado in a bottle, right? Well, how about a hurricane in a bowl? I wish I could take credit for this activity, but I found it in my science book and just knew we had to do it. All you need are clear bowls, water, spoons, food coloring, and newspapers to help with spillage. Here's how:

Imagine the red swirling around really fast. 

I used the 5E model for this lesson (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate), and placed my students into groups of about 4 or 5. 

Engage: Activate Prior Knowledge: We had already discussed students' schema for hurricanes and read some sections in our book about how they form, how they're forecasted, etc...

Explore: Have students use a spoon to swirl the water around very quickly. As a group, the should work together to time the next part carefully. Once the water is swirly rapidly, raise the spoon out of the water and add food coloring. The food coloring should swirl around in the water, showing "arms" like a hurricane. *NOTE: There is a bit of a learning curve to this. If students continue to stir the water, the food coloring will mix and they won't see the model.

Explain: We discussed what each part represented. What does the food coloring represent? What does the water represent?

Elaborate: Discuss how the model is similar to and different from a real hurricane.

Evaluate: Okay, I didn't really get to this part, but if I did, I would have had the students write a journal entry explaining what they did and how the model helped us visualize the bands of a hurricane.

We had to repeat this about 3 or 4 times so the kiddos could all get to use the spoon or the food coloring, but even so, it was a very quick activity. What's even better is that the kiddos were having fun and learning the whole time.

Photosynthesis Lift the Flap

As I prepared for our unit on plants the other day, I was searching through Pinterest and was "Pinspired" by this amazing pin:

Source: theinspiredclassroom.blogspot.com via Farrah on Pinterest

I loved the concept of lifting the flap, so I decided to tweak this idea for teaching photosynthesis. Here's the finished product:

 

"Plants use sunlight energy to change these ingredients into food."

"Leaves absorb Carbon Dioxide from the air that we breath."

I knew I needed a way to teach this concept that would make it stick in their minds because they are expected to be able to describe photosynthesis in detail. After reading and discussing the concept in our books, and watching this video from YouTube, we brainstormed ideas for what students could write under each flap. After all the information was added, they colored the picture. 

Want your own copy? Visit my files page or click here for the file. To make the picture, I traced over this one from How Stuff Works.

Switcheroo Zoo

I just spent the last 30 minutes playing on this awesome site! Switcheroo Zoo has games, videos, lesson plans, animal profiles, and more!

Build your own animal:

Facts about the animals you choose are listed in the blue boxes. Once you've finished you can take a picture of your animal, and there's an option to Add a title and add a story. There are even sample poems and stories that students have submitted. How cool is this?! I could definitely see having my kids create Pourquoi tales about their new animals like, "How the Zebeara Lost its Stripes." (No, spellchecker, I didn't misspell my new animal's name :)

Watch videos and listen to animal sounds and music:

I LOVED Dance of the Sugar Plum Furry!

Build and Online Habitat:

Change the animal, plants, weather, and location. What's great about this is that animal gives you feedback as you change the habitat! My lizard is telling me that he'll get eaten quickly in this habitat. 

There are so many great ways to use this site:

• Learn facts about different animals during your animal unit.
• Learn about habitats by actually constructing them.
• Create new animals for fun!
• Write stories or poems.
• Do research for projects or reports.
• Practice map skills and learn about endangered species
• Learn about carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, and scavengers.

For even more ideas visit their lesson plans page. I am so excited to have found this site and can't wait to put it to use next year! How about you? How do you see yourself using something great like this?

Objective Display for Monday Made It!

How many of you are required to display your daily/weekly objectives in your classroom? I'm not really required, but it has been suggested. My problem...I'm not so great at keeping things like that up to date. I worry that I'll get so busy I won't update the objectives. And then I saw this adorable idea on Pinterest:

That is so stinking cute! Surely I'd be motivated to keep these up to date! Enter this week's Monday Made It project: Dollar Tree frames + cardstock + awesome pages I made = Tadaa!

They're laying on the concrete around my pool, which I should be in, but...there's so much to blog about! Anyway, I'm sharing the file with you! If you're addicted to polka dots and love owls, just click the text below the picture, and you'll be taken to the Google Doc. I did make a page that says Social Studies since I realize many of you may not teach Alabama History. :) Enjoy!

Click here for your copy!

Thanks again, Tara for doing the Monday Made It Linky! I've loved all the great ideas!

BeeClip: Digital Scrapbooks for Students

Have you seen this free tool yet? I came across it while reading a post over at CristinaSkyBox. Beeclip is a free digital scrapbook for students. You don't even have to log in! Similar to Glogster, students can upload images, add text, audio, or video, and change the backgrounds. You can even download and print when finished. Something else impressive--I tweeted my find, and almost immediately received a reply from @BeeClipEDU saying thank you and offering assistance. I had a few questions, which they answered almost immediately. They're on top of things!

Here's the one I made in NO time: I used some pictures and a video my kiddos made at the end of the year.

More than one student can edit the same project at the same time on different computers. You can enable or disable the ability to use Google Images, Flickr, and YouTube. And even after you embed, if you make edits to the project, the embedded project changes right along with it!

I can think of so many uses for this that would definitely take a whole different post. Stay tuned...

What Worked...A Look Back

The end of the school year is a time that we tend to look back and think about what seemed to work for us and what to do differently next year. Here are a few of the things I want to remember for next year:

What Worked:

Daily Facts Practice: I know, I know, I should've been doing it all along, but let's get real--school days are PACKED full of curriculum. In previous years, I've skipped fact practice during math occasionally because of time restraints. Not this year. I made it a point to spend 5-10 minutes every single day reviewing facts (usually multiplication), and boy did I see a difference! No matter what math program we use, I will definitely continue to do that short, daily practice. 

Separate Time for Read to Self: Every year I try to some how fit in Read to Self as one of the students' choices while I meet with groups, but I always go back to scheduling it all by itself. It just works better for my students and me. There are no distractions because everyone is reading to themselves at the same time. It also gives me a set time to do reading conferences, which quite honestly get pushed to the side if I don't set this time aside. 

Science and Alabama History First Thing in the Morning: Please don't get me wrong. I know we've been told that reading should be first thing, but...in my class we have one hour between arrival and PE. Having the content subjects first ensured that I would actually teach them each day. We've all done it, right? Skipped one of them because of any one of numerous reasons time constraints? This is probably the first year since ARI (Alabama Reading Initiative) implementation that I feel like a did an awesome job in science in social studies.

Went Back to a Four Blocks Literacy Format: I've struggled for four years with trying to implement the Scott Foresman reading series as it is written (and still have students pass the tests). I've used the Daily 5 Framework to structure my LA block, but I worried that my students weren't getting enough practice with specific skills and strategies. After Christmas I started gradually re-implementing the Four Blocks framework, and it really worked for us (more about that in an up-coming post). 

Well, that's all for now. Within the next few days I'll dig in to the scary part--the stuff that didn't work! How about you? What will you plan to do again next year?

Transparent, Translucent, Opaque

We made these awesome foldables last week and I thought I'd share:

 

Not Enough of Me to Go Around

Today I was blessed to welcome my 26th student into my room. I'm not being sarcastic. I really do love each one and know I would miss them dearly if they weren't part of my class. But with this many blessings, comes worry...how can I possibly meet all their needs? There is ONE of me and 26 of them.

How can I possibly deliver instruction suitable for each one? Within my time restraints and curriculum demands (and let's not forget the demands of NCLB), it is impossible difficult to give each student the time and instruction they need in the way that they need it.

I see three hands raised asking for help while I crouch beside the desk of the first child I could get to. As I make my way to the other three students one by one, still more need help. My frustration is not that I can't keep up--its that they are having to wait so long for the help they need! Sure, we do peer helpers and all that, and students know how to help themselves, but usually the hands go up AFTER those things have already been tried.

I just worry that there's not enough ME to go around. All I can do is try each day to meet the needs in front of me and hope and pray that my best is enough.

Heating Up a Lesson with Photo Booth

 

While learning about heat and thermal imaging today, one of my students quipped "My iPad has an app that takes those kinds of pictures."

"Hey, MY iPad will do that too!" I said. (Good thing I had a kid there to remind me of that app). So, of course an impromptu experiment began. We took thermal images using PhotoBooth and showed them on the document camera. Then I had the kiddos rub their hands (same kids from this post) together and snapped a picture real quick to see what color their hands were.  Then we compared the colors in the pictures to this scale from NASA's website.

Yet another use for iPad in the classroom!

Why We Must Find Time for Science

Boy, were my eyes opened today during a science activity. I learned (again) to not ever assume that kids know something.

As an introduction to our next chapter, Heat, we were exploring the idea that heat can be generated and make things warmer. First step, observe a paperclip (room temperature). Next step, bend the end back and forth quickly a few times and feel it. Amazed shouts and wide eyes predominated the class. Of course, several had to repeat this experiment because it was so cool. We also rubbed an eraser on a piece of paper for one minute, with the same result. Shocked exlamations arose from my 4th graders. (I was loving this).

The next part of the experiment produced a shock to me---The final activity was for students to rub their hands together for 15 seconds. Most of my kiddos were SHOCKED! They had no idea that rubbing their hands together would produce heat! Really?!

While I loved the fact that I got to see those awe-struck faces during that precious moment of learning, I was a little sad for them...

We have got to find time to teach science, and not just from a text book...kids need to do science to really get it.

Matter Foldables

This week we're learning about the states of matter, and I knew it would be difficult for the kiddos to grasp the concept about how molecules behave in each state, so here's what I came up with. After we acted out how molecules would behave in different states of matter (with the students being the molecules), we made these matter foldables:
1. Fold a piece of construction paper in half hot dog style.
2. While it is still folded in half, fold it into thirds like a billfold.
3. Now there is a section each for solids, liquids, and gases.
4. Students drew the pictures on the front and added happy face stickers molecules as they would appear in each item.
5. Finally, they used their books to find facts about each state and wrote information.

Another thing my students really loved was this video: They literally laughed out loud EVERY time we watched it!

Earwigs, Saguaro, and Polar Bears, Oh My!

Today in my class we took a free day. A day free from test prep. A day free of state testing. A day free of time restraints, schedules, and programs. Today we were free to learn what interested us, and what a day it was!

I planned to conduct a theme day with one of our science standards at the forefront: Discuss how living and nonliving things interact in an ecosystem. We started by reading Once There was a Tree, which led to quite an interesting debate/conversation about earwigs! It was spontaneous and one of those precious teachable moments that we crave. Without the time restraints of our usual schedule, we were able to research the earwig, find out what it looks like, where it lives, and that it DOESN'T enter a person's brain through the ear--although some students still aren't convinced. (Gotta love 4th graders).

Here in Alabama we're having gorgeous weather which was perfect for our next activity from Science Netlinks: Investigating Local Ecosystems Can you even imagine how excited students get to simply observe and record what they see in the schoolyard? Exclamations of "Look what I found!" and "Can you believe this?!" and "Mrs. Kilgo, come look at this!" echoed throughout the playground. Those precious children were SO excited to learn (and hunt for earwigs).

Soon thereafter, we settled into a reading of Cactus Hotel. Many of my students didn't realize that a pack rat is an actual animal. "Is this book true? Is there really a cactus that can grow that tall?" Of course this led to an exploration of the Saguaro National Park website. (Are there earwigs there?)

The mention of polar bears in a Brainpop video led me to ask, "Did y'all know that a polar bear can catch and eat a whale?" (This is amazing to me---I had to go into the story of how I learned this fact after reading a book to third graders). Guess what? There's a Youtube video for that! (I made sure to play it full screen so the kiddos didn't see the comments below the video).

Finally, came the best part of all: the making of terrariums. Back outside we went (3rd time so far) to gather pea gravel, plant our 2-liter bottle terrariums, and gather worms. Kids were everywhere! They found worms, crickets, and---you guessed it: earwigs! (Or maybe insects that look like them). Every group shared with the class about their terrarium, then we went out again for a long recess. What do you think my kids spent their recess doing? Checking out rocks, dirt, and other things outside!

It took a lot of planning on my part, which I really enjoy, but the freedom of being able to veer from the lesson plan and take little "bird walks" when the occasion arises is what made it really work. What a fantastic day of learning!

Can We Do This Everyday?

Don't you love it when you hear this? It's a magic little 5-word phrase that says to me, "Yep, you pulled it off today!" For someone whose goal is to inspire students to learn for the sake of learning, and to teach them that LEARNING is FUN, this magic phrase is music to my ears. 

In a world of high stakes testing, report cards, and higher standards (accountability), I sometimes worry that my instruction tends to lean toward the "preparing for the test" end of the spectrum. To counteract this, I strive daily to incorporate "fun" activities, keep students engaged using multi-sensory, interactive lessons, and provide choice within their independent work. 

So, what brought about the magic phrase? A science lesson about vertebrates and invertebrates. My student teacher and I front-loaded some of the content information during small group reading this morning, using our science leveled readers, so during science today I set up rotating stations: 

1. Streaming online Bill Nye Invertebrate video

2. Cute flipchart on Promethean board about vertebrates/invertebrates that students went through without my help.

3.  With me: Students were given play-dough and told to build a person as tall as possible and see if it would stand on its own (of course it wouldn't). Then they were given toothpicks to be used as backbones and they repeated the activity. We discussed the differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. 

And the best part of all, is that after it was over and we met as a whole group to discuss what they learned, the students mentioned ideas that I probably wouldn't have even covered if I had lead the lesson in a "traditional" way. I really feel like today I met the needs of my diverse learners, leaving me with the question,

Can we do this everyday?

The Content Conundrum

Just as education at large seems to be on a pendulum swinging back and forth, I am on my own personal pendulum when it comes to teaching science and social studies. Back and forth I swing, wondering all the while, "Will I ever find the perfect balance?" Time constraints, daily demands, delays and time killers, mixed with the continued push to spend more time teaching reading and math (which I DO love to do), all put the squeeze on content area teaching and learning.

And so I swing...teach them both in one day or alternate between the two every so often? I can't figure out what the right answer is! Or even IF there is a right answer. Back and forth I argue with myself. It goes something like this:

On teaching them both:

I should do them both every day because students need to be exposed to the content area at this age. For many of them, science or social studies is the most exciting part of the day. When they get to fifth grade they will have them both, so I am helping to prepare the students. If I leave one out, what about the History Buffs? What about the emerging Scientists? Is it really fair to NOT cover them every day?

On alternating:

You know, if I only teach one or the other, we can really 'dig in' to the content and go deeper. We'll have more time to spend on the content and be able to do more hands-on activities. I can prepare for lessons and teach better when only preparing for one content area because my focus and time will not be divided. Students are used to this format. It's what they've done in the primary grades. I can always try to integrate the "other" subject into reading or writing. 

So it goes--back and forth---one or the other. I'm currently on the "Alternating" side of the issue. I like that I don't have to rush through one subject to get to the other one, and that students can dig deeper into the content.

Perhaps one day I'll find the balance, or maybe I'll simply chose the side that works best for me and my class.