The Scoop on Soil

I LOVE science.

I also love math. And phonics. And reading and writing. Okay, okay, I love everything! It's all fun to teach!

I just finished working on a product that I have used in my own classroom for two years. Before we get into plants, we spend a week or two specifically studying soil and its properties and use. We learn how to identify types of soil and then describe them and compare them to other types of soil.

Here are several great books we read/use during the unit: 

We also use these two wonderful resources to learn more about soil:

And what better way to document our learning than with an itty bitty journal?!

If you are a Facebook follower and was on Facebook last night around 9:30 then you probably got to snag this product as a 15-minute Flash Freebie! If you don't already, follow my Facebook page so you don't miss out in the future! :)

Check out the journal pack in my store. It comes with the 9-page journal, rubric for grading, and explanation (for the teacher) of each page.

Have a marvelous Monday!

More Technology Camp + an Updated Freebie!

Remember this product? I posted about it 2 summers ago.

My "Science Sentence Starter" freebie is one of my most downloaded products. Wellllllll, since it is so popular, I decided that it deserved a facelift and an update! (And don't worry, it is still free!) Here it is:

At least the cover is much cuter, right?? ;)

I updated the fonts and even added a little bonus activity.

Whenever I teach Technology Camp, I want the kids to have fun but I also want them to learn and have a great educational experience. On the first day, we discuss how we are all scientists and talk a lot about what scientists do. We also discuss how scientists share their findings with others. To introduce how scientists can speak with others, I use one of my favorite things--QR CODES!!

I made each sentence starter a QR code. The students use an iPad to scan each code and then record the sentence (if you use the recording sheet on the left) or a missing word from the sentence (if you use the recording sheet on the right).

(This also introduces the kids to using QR codes because most of them have not had experience with them before they come to camp.) They always LOVE this activity and it is WAY more fun that just reading the sentences together, one by one. After everyone has had a chance to scan and record, we then discuss each sentence starter and when/how we can use them. I print and laminate a copy of the sentence starters and display them for the rest of the week. We use the sentence starters in our discussions about our experiments/investigations and in our class discussions. Love them. Here are two examples of how students use them in their camp science journal:

Don't you just love "a little less than medium"??! Lol. Anywho, the sentences can really help scaffold their thinking and explain just what they are trying to say. Click below to download your free copy: 

ENJOY!!

Rocks and Rock Buddies

A few weeks ago we finished up a rock unit in science. Of course, teaching rocks to 1st graders was WAAAYYYY different than teaching rocks to 4th graders, like I am used to! Rocks is one of my favorite areas of science, so it was fun, nonetheless.

For one activity, we asked students to bring in rocks so we could sort, describe, classify, and observe them. (The kids thought that was the coolest homework assignment ever!) After we had some fun with the rocks, we used the rocks to make a classroom Rock Museum. Next year, I think we will do a little more with the Rock Museum because we kept it pretty simple this year. After the exploration activities with the rocks, the students were instructed to write a sentence about their rock(s) so others will have some information, just like at a real museum.

While we were studying rocks in science, we were also learning how to write stories that have a beginning, middle, and end in writing. My 1st grade team and I decided to extend/solidify learning by coming up with a special project to make things a tad more exciting. We decided to bring in rock buddies!! The students were told about the Rock King who chose our class (out of alllll of the classes in the United States, mind you!) to host some rock buddies for a few days. The buddies came and hung out with us for about two days and it was a B-L-A-S-T!!

Here they are! They were so excited to meet them!

Of course, we just had to give them makeovers.

The kids cared for the buddies, documenting some of the fun times along the way. At the end, we were able to turn the adventure into a BME story! I was so impressed/entertained to watch the kids care for the buddies! They REALLY embraced the challenge of the activity and cared for the rocks like they were little babies. They even spoke for the rocks, let the rocks write (hilarious) and listened to the rocks read!

Just look at those buddies write!

And look at these happy faces!!! (haha, couldn't resist):

I also made a journal for the kids to use for the activity and for what we were studying in science. A few nights ago I went back and spruced it up so I could make it available to you!

You can check it out in either store by clicking on a link:

And since this is a new product, you can get 15% off, just like my other new product promotion. Hurry, because the sale ends tonight at 11:59 p.m.!!

Thanks for hopping over! Hope you had a merry Christmas!! :)

More Technology Camp Activities and Another Freebie

I talked about Technology Camp a few weeks ago and mentioned that I would revisit it. Check it out here, in case you missed it (and the bird poop painting!).

Anyway, we did lots of projects throughout the week and acted like the true scientists that we are! In addition to the bird poop painting, some other activities we did were a moldy potato experiment, kept a science journal, played a few games, explored germs and the importance of proper hand washing, tested diaper capacity and a few others! At the beginning of the week we went over how to hold a scientific discussion and respond in a science journal. The kids really soaked this up and did such a great job with it! We held some GREAT discussions--they sounded like little professionals!! To help scaffold their thinking and organize their thoughts, I wrote a few sentence starters on a chart (pictured below; sorry, I did not spend the time to make these charts as cute as they deserve to be--I'm a little embarrassed!):

I typed up these sentence starters on cards (so they can be displayed in a classroom) and even added a few more starters. The cards can be displayed on a bulletin board. I also made a reference sheet for students to put in science journals. Take a peek below--if you like it, click on it get your own free copy!

Foldables Week: Science

The Foldables party continues--today is science! I used to have my kids make lapbooks to go along with each science unit we had. The lapbooks included games, resources, vocabulary cards and (of course) foldables. I haven't made any this year though, so most of the pictures show foldables from then.