Which Came First?

Riddle me this, Batman.

Which came first

Easter

OR

the Egg?

Truth be told. I really, really, REALLY wanted to teach oviparous animals before Easter, but that didn't happen! Then, I was hoping to get to it right after Easter. That didn't happen either. So, today, April 30, a good month after my intended start date, we began learning about oviparous animals finally.

Crazy, I know. Nothing seems to go as planned this year.

I began the unit by passing out a bunch of animals cards to the students.

(I got this idea from Pinterest.)

They shared their animal(s) with the class.

Then, I asked them what the word "Oviparous" means.

Silence. Absolute silence.

It's the first time they have been silent ALL year!

I got nothing! Not even guesses {and, boy, do they ever love to guess.}

I told them I wasn't going to tell them. They'd have to figure it out on their own. 

*I'm really bad about trying NOT to say the answer to something, but then blurting it out accidentally. I hate it when I do that!

Moving on...

Each kid walked up to the pocket charts labeled Oviparous (blue) and Not Oviparous (red) and added their animal(s) to the section they thought it belonged.

After the cards were all put up on the chart. We took a good look at it. 

I did let them know that some were incorrect and we may have to change some cards.

So Wrong!

But first, I had to read a book. Not just any book. A special book. A book that may help them with their cards...

Afterwards, I asked them what they thought "Oviparous" means now???? 

And guess what? They knew the answer this time. Phew!

We took another look at that chart. They asked if they could make those changes now.

Now they're interested!

Move the shark, Emmie. It's the shark!

They did a pretty good job at fixing the cards. They got stuck on the whale and shark.

 That's all for today. More to come.

I purchased April's (Chalk Talk) unit, Chicken's Aren't the Only Ones. It is so awesome. Filled with loads of great lessons, books, and snacks! Totally Worth It.

Please shoot me an email if you'd like a copy of the animal cards I used for this lesson. {andi_monroe@yahoo.com} I just made them myself. I had bought some of the clip art from KPM Doodles. The rest, the internet gave me. :)

Ta ta for now!

Oh my goodness. I almost forgot!
Guess what's on its way to my very impatient hands?

So cool!

Do You Like Science Fair Projects and A GIVEAWAY!

The question part of my post title is definitely a loaded question. Most of the teachers at my school {If I were to give a guesstimate = about 98%} don't really like science fair all that much.

I'm quite certain if our fearless leader had decided to skip science fair this year, there wouldn't be any tears shed or mad dashes to the office to picket the decision.

I honestly don't think it is because teachers don't like to teach science. I know lots of teachers that enjoy performing demonstrations and having their students work on their own science experiments.

What gives? Why is it that must teachers literally shudder and frown upon hearing the news that the science fair is coming to town? Is it the collection of data? Trying to come up with a great project idea? Or is it the laborious duty of creating the almighty science fair board!

When I peruse the projects during my school's Science Fair Night, I see the same project ideas again and again. By fifth grade, wouldn't you think our students are well aware of how gravity, force, and friction work? Really! Then, I'll look at the class projects the K, 1, and 2 teachers have completed with their students. And I'll see more of the same project ideas. One teacher has submitted this M & M project (which isn't even an experiment but rather a demonstration) for the past five years in a row! Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations for things like that? It's painful.

Now that comment might sting a bit for some of my readers because you are guilty of this crime. Most people just want to get science fair over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible, like ripping off a band-aid. I get it. I'm sure I've phoned it in with old overused ideas in the past, too.

My big sis Jill, a Kindergarten teacher, has been an advocate for science fair for as long as I can remember. She has spoken to teachers within our district and at major conferences about science fair. She is one of those crazy 2% {okay, maybe 10%} of teachers who actually enjoy the science fair. So, I really have no excuse with an available resource like this!

She has opened a TPT store and is selling some of her great science fair project ideas. So far, she has only 4 in her store, but she is working on adding more. You know funny things like a 14 and 12 year old, soccer practice, horseback riding lessons, chickens, dogs, crazy Kindergartners, mom's taxi service, and a husband, kind of get in the way of her having a bigger store. But, she's working on it. Slowly and surely.

She would like to giveaway one of her four projects to four people!

All you have to do is comment below that you are a follower of her TPT store and add your e-mail address!

Easy!

Click {HERE} for a link to Jill's TPT Store.

Here's a sneaky peek of the projects:

You have until Monday 1/16 to enter. Then, I"ll select the winner on Monday night {either before or after the Bachelor :) }

Happy Weekend!

Week 4 Done!

I'd love to come up with some clever title for this post, but this week has been wild, weird, wonky, and quite frankly has wiped me o-u-t! We had our back to school Open House on Thursday, so the majority of this past week has been busy prepping for it.

And then came the big night...

Wait - for -it...

I had a whopping 6 families come.

Actually, I had more of my families from last year come to visit me then this year's class. At least I had somebody to talk to. Ha!

Needless to say, I am a little disappointed. I've had low numbers in the past, but I guess I was spoiled because last year's class was so attentive to all of our school events. Even if my parents couldn't afford to buy things or help with homework, I knew they cared because they always came to show support. Let's hope this one event isn't indicative for the rest of the year!!

However, our class did have lots of fun together. We are becoming budding scientists and learning all about those important "Senses."

Here's our Anchor Chart. The kids helped complete it.

Then, they made their own examples of the anchor chart.

Some didn't complete their chart before I took the pictures, but they have since then.

I cut out the head, hands, and t-shirts for times sake. They did the rest.

Currently, we are working on a flap book as we test all of our senses. I'll post more about it when it is completed. It is a great lesson to help my students to become more aware and observant as they grow and learn.

My Five Senses Labels

On a side note, have you heard of Smilebox?

It is this great program that allows you to use your photos to make great products. You can make digital scrapbook pages, ecards, calendars, photo pages, and slideshows.

I love to use it to make slideshows for my class. For example, for lessons like this Senses one, I will take pictures throughout the lesson and make a quickie slideshow. Then, I can upload it into my class website. By the end of the year, I have almost 20 slideshows from events or lessons throughout the year! My parents loved to see their child participating in school. Some even told me that they would send the link of my website to their family members (ie - Grandma). 

Screen shot of my Smilebox Page

Such an easy and great way to document a wonderful year in first grade!

Senses Kid Tracers

A Rockin' Good Time

Rocks, man, rocks!

How much fun does teaching about rocks sound? About as much fun as teaching about soil!

 Thanks to Reading A-Z, an Aims science project, and our iPod Touches, we managed to learn a lot about rocks and enjoy ourselves at the same time. Oh, thank Heaven!

We began with the question: What makes rocks break?

Reading A - Z has this great little book about rocks. It is a level C book, but it is totally appropriate for the lesson.

Screen shot of the book.
Readinga-z.com is awesome!
I love their leveled readers.

This book is great for building background knowledge and learning the proper vocabulary on the subject. Many of my kids have never seen a "mountain" mountain (landfills don't count) in their lives, so reading the word boulder was brand new for them.

Then, we matched the vocabulary words with the proper sentences and added them to the anchor chart.

On to the science project...

The project is called Ice Breakers and it is from an Aims activity book. First, we discuss how rocks can break in nature. The kids speculate how rocks break to make boulders, stones, pebbles, sand, and dust. When one of them finally brings up water, I asked them how would water break the rocks? Do you think it will break if it was frozen?

We fill out the prediction chart:

For the project, you will need water balloons, plaster of paris, and the freezer. I prepared the water balloons ahead of time. I called the kids up one at a time and had them help me mix the plaster of paris and add it to their model rock.

We let the rocks dry in the classroom. Then, we put them in the freezer for two days. After the two days, I took the water balloons out and the kids were amazed to see that the plaster had cracked off and the balloons had broken.

We concluded the activity by using our iPod Touches.

The kids had to verbalize the activity and explain what they had learned using the app Sonic Pics.

The app has them add pictures, text, and their voices to create a little video project (like a power point.)

*I'll have to add one of their projects in another post.

Then, for some writing fun, we wrote about what we would build with a bunch of rocks. They were cute and enjoyed thinking about how we use rocks.

Here's a copy of the writing activity:

Download (60 KB)

Enjoy!

What's the Matter?

Currently, we are having fun with Matter. We've had fun with size. We've had fun with shape. We've had fun with temperature. NOW, we're having fun with texture.

Here's the activity:

Prior to class: I'm going to place five items of different textures in brown paper bags. (The five textures I chose were feathers, leather, metal, cotton, and plastic.) 

First, I'm going to have the students feel inside bag #1 and make predictions of what they think the item may be based on their texture. Next, they will write their prediction in their books. After everyone feels the item and has written their prediction in their book, I will reveal the item. Last, they will record what the real item was in their books.

I'll repeat that whole process for bags 2-5.

Throughout the activity, I'll refer to the Texture Power Point  to reinforce their learning and provide another visual connection.

Happy Wednesday!