Have fun exploring star patterns with this fun, Constellations Printable Wheel. This hands on constellations activity is great for kids of all ages!
10 hands-on ideas for teaching earth changes and landforms in 2nd grade science with engaging STEM earth changes activities kids love!
Little 2nd grade Social Studies Thinkers is a complete social studies curriculum for 2nd grade. It includes scripted lesson plans for the teacher, nonfiction read aloud books that can be printed or projected, PowerPoints to go with each lesson, as well as lesson activities and more.
Simple, but memorable EASY weather science experiments for kids to see what happens when a cold front meets a warm front.
Who would think Economics For Kids would actually be fun? It can be! When you give students the opportunity to make money, spend money create a business, sell their products...
So today I'm focusing on the area of Science. Yes Science! To be exact I am looking at ways to make science learning both interacti...
Would you like some FREE Science Stations for your elementary classroom? We create rigorous science curriculum for second grade, third grade, fourth grade,
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My students' fascination with rocks is evident from the first day of school, when they start presenting me with the pebbles they collect out on the playground. These are no ordinary pebbles--they are treasures! Soon, their cubbies are full of these "treasures" and I find little rocks stowed away all over the room. You can download all of the free printables for my Kindergarten Rocks and Soil Unit here: Download Kindergarten Rock Unit I introduce this unit by reading a simple and sweet book about rocks: If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian Then I present the kids with my own rock collection. Some of these rocks are just everyday, ordinary rocks that I've picked up in my yard or alongside the road. Some are special rocks I've either purchased or inherited--pieces of crystals, fools gold, pumice, volcanic glass, etc. I am also a sucker for those tourist traps alongside the highway that let you purchase polished rocks by the scoopful. I let the kids explore--touch, feel, use hand lenses, sort, and just play with the rocks. Then I send a letter home to families asking the kids to bring in one or two (which usually ends up being...
Click here to download a free snowman States of Matter activity to use with Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright. Also included are States of Matter book craftivities for solid, liquid, and gas.
Help your primary grade students explore, learn, and write about landforms. See our hands-on landforms activities plus our culminating writing project!
Hello Everyone! Next week we will begin a science unit on force and motion. We will investigate how things move and what changes can occur....
Hello darlings! It's Amy from That Teaching Spark and I am honored to be an author here at All About 3rd Grade! Keep coming back for more valuable posts specifically for 3rd grade teachers! I have 15 days left of school! How about you? These seem to be the most tiring and trying days of the year. Kiddos are getting rambunctious and we have tons of testing, grading, packing, and surviving to do! But I don't want to just survive the end of the year! I want to enjoy my last days with my kiddos! Every few days I try to throw in a fun and engaging STEM activity. FINALLY science is getting its due and districts are now pushing STEM, when it used to be the subject that wasn't paid much attention. I LOVE science and am so glad there is finally a push for it in elementary schools! STEM activities are meant to be inquiry based activities. Students must work together to solve a real world problem. These kinds of hands-on investigations are open ended and require students to work towards a solution or a product in their own way. And guess what? This kind of learning opens up all kinds of higher level questioning and thinking strategies. And the best part? The teacher is just an observer and occasional guide. That's right. Your kiddos are the ones taking charge of their own learning! So what can you do to keep your kiddo engaged the rest of the school year? All you have to do is... 1. Gather the following materials. 2. Give your kids the problem to solve. 3. Give them a time limit (20-25 mins. average) 4.Watch their little minds catch fire! Kite Construction Problem Construct a kite that will rise and stay up in the air the longest. Materials: (just ideas) different weight and sizes of paper tissue paper plastic bags Popsicle sticks string tape glue Smores Oven Problem Create an oven that will melt the chocolate to create Smores. Materials: zipped locked bag foil marshmallows graham crackers chocolate (outside location that can be monitored throughout the hour or day) Water Cycle Problem Create a water puddle that takes the longest to evaporate. Materials: (just ideas) cups water (same amount of water for each group) chalk to mark the start timer Parachutes Problem Construct a parachute that will stay in the air the longest. Materials: (just ideas) different weight and sizes of paper tissue paper plastic bags string tape glue hole puncher paper clips (for weight) Spaghetti Tower Problem Create the tallest structure. Materials: spaghetti marshmallows (make it a challenge with different sizes of marshmallows) Learning Happens in the MESS! There you have it folks! A few tried and true STEM activities to keep your little rascals learning right up until the very last second of school! All you have to do is gather the materials and watch their investigating minds. Don't freak out if things get a little messy. Learning happens in the mess. They can clean it up later! Do you have any tried and true STEM activities? We'd love for you to share in the comments!
Little 2nd grade Social Studies Thinkers is a complete social studies curriculum for 2nd grade. It includes scripted lesson plans for the teacher, nonfiction read aloud books that can be printed or projected, PowerPoints to go with each lesson, as well as lesson activities and more.
A fun and easy properties of matter cracker lab where students use their senses to observe, describe and then taste the physical properties of crackers.
Help your primary grade students explore, learn, and write about landforms. See our hands-on landforms activities plus our culminating writing project!
When I taught 2nd grade we always celebrated the 2nd Day of 2nd Grade. Well I transferred to a new school four years ago to teach 3rd gra...
Teaching landforms to your primary students can be super fun with my ideas for experiments and resources to make your job easier. Plus, get a freebie!
Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Here in Texas, the weather has been CRAZYYYY!!! Temperature has dropped below the 50F,...
Hello Everyone, Just a quick post today! Taking my son suit shopping. Yes, it's interview time!! He will soon graduate with a double major, computer science and software engineering! Believe me when I say he has helped me out of some technical situations more times than I can count!! Anyway, I know some of you (my teacher friends) will be teaching about magnets soon. We will hit our little unit next week. I put together a little mini unit with a final activity where the kids are combining what they know about force and motion with what they just learned about magnets. I also tried to fit in a hint of spelling!! Here's a preview! Add caption Inspired by AIMS science! Hope you're "attracted" to this unit! :) If so, click HERE for your free printable unit! Okay! Off to spend some quality and probably quantity time with my baby!! Stay tuned! I want to share our "Tell Me Towers" with you!! Remember our retelling ropes? I put a new fun twist on them!! Till then! Have a great weekend! Joyfully! Nancy
This blog post makes me ALL KINDS of EXCITED!!! Katie and I have created a Sample Day of Rooted in Reading for you! AND, I got to use it with a
Plenty of interactive ideas and activities to teach landforms for kids. Find videos, worksheets and even experiments to help.
Wow, the week just flew by but I'm happy to say we accomplished quite a bit which is a good thing since testing starts in another week! It i...
My daughter has one of the best kindergarten teachers imaginable. She is caring, patient, and so imaginative. Her activities seem to seamlessly flow together, integrating all content areas. In short, she is amazing! One of the activities, that I really loved, was her newest addition to the blocks center. My daughter came home and told me that their "Blocks Center is really rocking the house!" That is high praise coming from my baby. A few days later, I got to go in and see this "rocking" center for myself. It really is amazing. It's so amazing that I decided to put my own spin on it and share it with you! The center has pieces of felt (or foam) for different symbols on a map. All the pieces are hand cut and are just a quick shape in different colors. The center that I made includes: rivers, lakes, roads, houses, bushes, and trees. You can get a free copy of the map key here. Print out the key and cut out felt, then you have all you need to make "Interactive Maps"! Cut out some pictures from a magazine and label them for specific places in the community. Simple and fun! The part I love the most about this activity is that it can include math, writing, science, social studies, and so much more! I wanted to include specific places in my version, so I went through my clip art and whipped up a few. I love how every map will be different and each child's personality can shine through. When I started making our version at home, there were only straight roads. This created a lot of protesting from my kids. Thus, a variety of roads were created. They were right, it does make the maps more interesting and realistic. As we played with the concept, I added task cards. This will allow kids to create maps with a model. It is really great for kids that have a difficult time starting an activity without direction. Sometimes, open ended play seems to overwhelm these children. Adding task cards with directions, allows these children to work from a task. AND task cards give kids practice reading numerals and using one-to-one correspondence. I also made blank task cards, so that partners could create tasks for each other. It's more fun to do a friend's activity, than one provided by the teacher. Why not capitalize on their enthusiasm for "being the teacher"? Adding onto the idea of "being the teacher", I love adding in partner games. Each child can have a turn I love adding a recording sheet to the activity, because it holds each child accountable for their learning and provides a physical record that is sent home to their parents. One thing I so appreciate about my daughter's teacher is that every center has some written or physical component that comes home. I am able to infer from the directions, or completed project, what my daughter is doing that day. I am able to ask her more specific questions about her day, after looking over the work that comes home. It allows me to get more meaningful information about my daughter's learning that day. I love having different recording sheets for the same activity. It can change the whole focus of the activity and it makes it very easy to differentiate. I hope you found some easy ideas to use with your kids. I love that you can just add felt and open up a whole new world... Get your kids excited about maps and the parts of their community with these hands on activities. Make your own, or find mine here. Head over to my blog, Differentiation Station Creations, to find some more activities to add your Blocks Center! Until next time,
Hi Friends….Hope this blog post finds you well! We just started our unit on the Branches of Government in class this past week and my little ones are really enjoying it. I have always found that teaching this subject is somewhat difficult for my students to understand and I hadn’t found any materials that I … Branches of Government & a Freebie!!! Read More »
You all probably know that I moved to a new school and grade this year... I love it! :) But, I wanted to post today because my building is...
Thanks for the wonderful feedback on my Transformations Foldable! I am so glad that everyone loved it as much as I do. I seriously look at it everyday. I swear I have a life. So I have been lucky e…
Teaching students about immigration can be fun and engaging for your students! We always kick off this unit with a study on different cultures from around the world. You can find more information about these lessons in our culture blog post. After the culture unit we learn the key points below: 1. Definition of immigration. 2. The history of Ellis Island. 3. The why's and how's of immigration. 4. The influences of immigration on American culture. Below you will find books on the topic of immigration. The documentary below is a little boring, but it does a good job of showing why people left their countries and what they found in Ellis Island. Just click on the picture for the link to youtube. While learning about immigration we learn about Ellis Island and different famous Americans who have immigrated from other countries. Students are assigned a research project for homework. They get to choose Ellis Island or a famous person who immigrated to the U.S. They can make a poster, book report, display or anything that their heart desires. They have to include: topic, birthdate, death date, key details and what the person or place was famous for. Students have a lot of fun presenting these projects in class. Everyone gets to learn about all of the people that their peers found interesting. During the unit, I use passages and task cards written on immigration, Ellis Island and Cesar Chavez. I wrote these passages to fit in perfectly with the unit. If you want to just print and teach, you can find these units by clicking below.
Teaching states of matter in kindergarten can be a tricky! Here are some resources to help students gain a solid understanding of the topic!
Social Studies Interactive Notebooks are a great tool to reinforce learning in any classroom. Give your students a forever resource this year by ...
Plenty of interactive ideas and activities to teach landforms for kids. Find videos, worksheets and even experiments to help.
Demonstrate the 3 distinct states of matter with jello! via A Fly on the Classroom Wall
Teaching Light & Sound from the NGSS standard CAN be fun! Check out simple light and sound activities & worksheets for 1st grade here!
Lucky number thirteen! I love the number 13 - it's my favorite. Hubby and I were married on Friday the 13th and 13 has always felt like a ...
This last week we began our geography unit in second grade. We began by learning the mapping essential vocabulary of map, globe, key, scale, grid, birds eye view. We practiced making our own maps and creating symbols for our map keys. The students love making their own maps of our neighborhood where the school is...
Little 2nd grade Social Studies Thinkers is a complete social studies curriculum for 2nd grade. It includes scripted lesson plans for the teacher, nonfiction read aloud books that can be printed or projected, PowerPoints to go with each lesson, as well as lesson activities and more.
Learn about World War 1 for kids with this free printable reader for your history lessons. WW1 for kids readers are filled with facts!
Matter here, matter there! Matter, matter everywhere! This science unit on the three states of matter- solids, liquids, and gases is full of fun ways to deliver to your students' mandated curriculum. My students have a blast doing these hands on activities. These activities are perfect for an Englis...
