Science is for Kids!

Source: scienceexperimentsforkids.us via Pamela on Pinterest

Tons of science for kids stuff here! 

Thank YOU Sale!

I am having a Thank YOU Sale this weekend in both my TpT store and Teachers Notebook stores just as a small way of thanking you for your support, kind words, feedback and inspiration. I am so blessed to be a part of your teacher collaboration. 

Recently added to my stores:

I loved the book One Bean after reading it to my Kindergarten class for the first time. 

We had fun deciding which type of bean to plant. 

But we really had more fun planting our beans! 

We set up our own bean planting investigation. 

Not much talking going on... too much to concentrate on. I think that might be referred to as, hmmmm engaged! 

We saved a bean in our Science Notebooks just so we could remember what our bean looked like from the very beginning. 

I have had a lot of emails and questions about HOW young children learn to investigate independently and what that exactly LOOKS like. I really think the key is finding the right investigation and modeling the appropriate procedures. Once you have an appropriate investigation it really is simple. The children here did not need my help. I was close by only because I wanted to take pictures. One thing I have learned is that young children have the tendency to over water something and I can remember doing that as a child too. We have learned that if we over water our plants they will not grow. Even though this investigation had soil and water it was not messy. So, this is what it LOOKS like and HOW to set it up was simple for this investigation. I used the steps and pictures from the book as visuals. All in all, this was one of the easiest investigations we have done. 

EXPO News

Please join me for the expo! For more information please visit virtualteachingexpo.com 

OOZING Pumpkin

I am sorry... I just had to post this. Just blame the kid in me! 

Top 50! Best Science Blogs

Just got home and found this little award in my mailbox. 

Baby Fish!

OM~gosh... we saved the babies! We have them in their own little fish tank and they seem to be doing ok! One of these tiny fish is going to Lily a pre k friend and the other one is going to 2nd grade Science teacher Leslie! And the third... I just can't let that one go! 

Wild Texas Bluebonnets!

These have to be one of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. When I see fields of Bluebonnets, I know I am home. I have ordered my seeds and I am excited about planting these with my class this year. After a little reading about planting Bluebonnet seeds, we are going to try to help them along a little so our Spirit Garden will have some bluebonnets this spring. If you would like to follow along there is some excellent information I have found here! And it is not too late to get your seeds and start planting! 

Just A Little Giveaway!

Welcome to our little GIVEAWAY! Each winner will have the opportunity to select an item from each of our TpT or Teachers Notebook stores! How fun is that? That's FIVE products in all. Best of all, you have 11 chances to win. 

Here is how:

Follow each blog and comment stating that you do. And that counts as FIVE entries. 

Follow each store and leave a comment stating that you do. And that counts as FIVE entries.

Blog about the giveaway and leave a link in your comment. That counts as another entry! 

Five lucky winners, one from each blog, will be announced October 28th! 

Are YOU ready? 

(no need to have a blog to play)


The Little Miss Kindergarten TpT store!



The Creative Apple TpT store! 

Ashleigh's TpT store! 

Tales of Frogs and Cupcakes Teachers Notebook store!

Mandy's TpT store! 

Pets In The Classroom!

We have had so much fun with our classroom pets and I am happy to say that our crabs are having way too much fun in the crab shack! And they all three love to be in there together. 

We especially like it when we have to give them a crab bath because they all come out to play. 

Last week we added our aquarium plant bulb to our aquarium. We noticed this morning that the water was cloudy in our aquarium and that our favorite (and I mean FAVORITE) mystery snail now has white cloudy stuff on his shell AND our sucker fish and ghost fish are nowhere to be found.... Bluebonnet is ok but things are not looking good in the aquarium at all. We are all hoping that our fish can survive the plant bulb nightmare. We have taken the plant bulb out and we will clean the aquarium together. 

Fall Crop

As we continue to learn about plants and plant parts, we had a few moments to plant lettuce seeds in our Spirit  Garden. We are hoping for a good fall crop of lettuce to enjoy and share together. 

Last spring our lettuce crop was bountiful and we enjoyed weeks and weeks of salad parties. It was the best lettuce I swear I have ever eaten in my life. 

These baskets are filled with just ONE harvest, there was TONS of lettuce still in the garden. We had a lot of fun cleaning and preparing for our salad party. 

Science Freebies

Wow! Science resources are really popping up all around blogland and it is hard not to blog about this stuff! I just came across a post from a blogging friend Tales of Frogs and Cupcakes that has some super Science freebies! What I am loving is the Science Role cards!

Makeover!

Thank you for all of your emails and kind words about what has been happening inside the classroom during our Science time. I have to say we have had a lot of fun. I have added the Scientific Processes Posters to both stores so you can start your own Science Center makeover! In this download you will find 5 processes posters, 2 I Can Be a Scientist posters and a Science Safety contract. I hope you have as much fun working on your Science Center as much as I did. This packet is available at Teachers Notebook and TpT! All you have to do is print, laminate and display... the easiest DIY! 

What's Been Going On?

We have been learning about Living and Non Living Things in the classroom. Since we have reorganized and set up our Science Center, we have had lots of opportunities to observe living and non living things.

In our tiny Science Center we have:

2 Aqua Frogs

3 Hermit Crabs

1 Beta Fish

1 Ghost Fish

I Sucker Fish

1 Mystery Snail 

1 Growing Aquarium Plant

6 Mini Greenhouses

AND... 20 Budding Scientists! 

Every morning we check on our classroom pets and see what they are up to. 

We have used tools to help us observe our crabs and crab habitat. 

We have learned that animals need:

Food

Water 

Shelter

We have noticed lots of crabby play goes on in that crab shack! 

We have seen the changing of shells. 

We witnessed our crab problem solving as he was trying to get in his coconut hut but his shell was stuck. He came out of his shell and pulled and pulled on it until he finally got it inside! 

We added a live plant to our aquarium and we are hoping it will take root and grow! 

We read The Tiny Seed and learned about seed dispersal and about the basic needs of plants. 

We learned plants need:

Water

Nutrients

Sunlight

Space

The Tiny Seed is a great book that actually addresses the importance of space. 

On a field investigation we found two objects that look like berries. We think they might be figs from a fig tree but we have to do a little more investigating. 

We have completed our first Science Team project by putting together Mini Greenhouses. Right now we are growing:

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Sweet Peppers

Zinnias

Sunflowers

We have learned the parts of a plant:

Petal

Seed

Stem

Leaf

Roots

We are recording our observations and new understandings in our Science Notebooks. 

We have had way more fun than we should...watching our Growing Brain actually change instead of grow. We have been able to observe these changes and record our observations in our Science Notebooks. And we have discovered that although things can appear to grow, if they do not have basic needs, then they are not living. 

We have had fun learning that Scientists share information with others and discuss their findings as we work through the Scientific Processes.