Rocks ROCK!

 

Hey Science Friends,

We have been having tons of fun investigating the natural world. I think the highlight this week was a visit from Mr. V from Real School Gardens. We always look forward to his visits with us. We were excited this time around because we knew we were going to talk...ROCKS! And we have been waiting several months to kick off this unit and we were lucky enough to kick it off with Mr. V.

 



 

So here we go getting ready for our scientists meeting. We always start with a meeting and we love it when we are outside. With our Science Notebooks in hand and pencils sharpened we are ready to go!

 

 

 

 

We sure knew what we were in for when we saw this. Yep, we are going to sort rocks by properties and I just bet we can add a few more categories to that. We are kind of good at that if I say so myself. I think we are super sorters by now.

 

 

We start our lesson with three simple rocks. Just playground rocks. At first glance nothing really that special...until you take a closer look! Scientists look and look again and discuss what they find. And when we discuss our findings and take a closer look, we begin to see the differences in even playground rocks.

 

 

We begin sorting and I think even Mr. V was impressed at how fast we can sort. We decided to sort big and small rocks.

 

 

I wonder how many rocks we sorted?

 

 

Great idea... we needed an organized method for counting our rocks. I guess our counting strategy worked and it helped make counting easier and accurate.

 

 

And we found more ways to sort our playground rocks.

 

 

And we start to realize that someone is not adding to our sort... It's ok, we know everybody needs a rock and sometimes, just sometimes, it is hard to let go of that special rock if even for a minute...

 

 

You sure didn't see me letting go of my tiger stripe rock!  

 

 

We add lots to our Science Notebooks for our rock sort. And then we were off for more investigations.

 

 

 

 

We found some pretty big, rough rocks and we had to get a good feel of those. And then we realize it is time for our field investigations to end. It is amazing how time passes by so quickly when you are in the moment and we all sure were. We learned that rocks can be sorted by their properties and we learned that even playground rocks have different properties when you take a closer look. And some of us learned that it is hard to let go of a favorite rock. I am like that too! I even bet Mr. V has a favorite rock in his pocket!

 

 

So Mr. V we wanted to post this video for you. We thank you for teaching us to be better scientists and how to explore the natural world and for teaching us to see the beauty in our world in our garden. Best wishes to you as you continue to inspire science teachers and help develop young scientists...especially the small ones.

 

 



What's Up With The Weather?

Hey Science Friends,

You know for most of the year we have had the same old weather and we tracked it and graphed it day by sunny day. It seemed as if the weather would never change and if it did it was sure to be on the weekend! Early last week we had over three days of rain! And considering we could not go outside, we had plenty of time for some special weather reports and some fun weather reporting. We had fun talking about rain, wearing rain clothes, reading about rain and reporting about rain. 

And we found some new favorite rain books along the way! 

And wouldn't you know after our huge big deal about rain...it snowed!!! 

Take Two!

Hey Science Friends,

Just letting you know that if you purchased my Rock Unit from TeacherspayTeachers please go and grab your update! If you purchased this unit prior to this post you should have received the notification for the updated file. I will be busy printing mine and getting ready for some fun, engaging hands-on science fun with rocks. And soon you will find out why...

Winter Is The Warmest Season!

Hey Science Friends,

I have tried and tried not to blog about books again but I just can't help it. You know when you find a good book that you fall in love with you just want to share. Winter Is The Warmest Season is one of those books. I think what drew me in was the fact that this book talked about the season of winter. And the title naturally has you thinking why is winter the warmest season? 

When the book arrived I was excited to read it. I like how the book talks about winter being the warmest season as it compares winter to summer. This would be a perfect book to read before some discussions on seasons and it would be a great intro before a seasonal thinking map. And just perfect for some notebooking too! It also talks about the clothing and food in winter and addresses plants and animals in winter too. This book is perfect for seasonal sorting as well. My class has loved any and every sorting activity this year and I love that because it has been a challenge in the past to reach the goal of describing their own sort without prompting. In class we use Sorts for all Seasons as an independent sorting activity. I print these cards on cardstock and laminate them and then glue magnets on the back of the cards. The children sort the seasonal objects on a big magnetic board. After they have had a lot of practice sorting and I am ready to work on the goal of describing their own sort I run to these...

These are from Lakeshore and worth every penny for the Science classroom. These are super durable and after a few sessions of modeling how to create a sort, the kids are off and running with this one. I think the best part is that there are lots and lots of ways to sort these animals and they are realistic, photographic pictures of each animal. And the more you sort these animals the more sorts the kids come up with! 

Kick the Can Ice Cream Fun!

 



Hey Science Friends,

I had a special request for this activity re post and I was happy to write about it considering that we just finished our unit on Force and Motion. One of my favorite culminating activities for this unit has been Kick the Can! The Kick the Can activity is the perfect activity to review Force and Motion and Position and Location terms with developing young scientists. All of the items needed for this activity can be found at any local store.

I used the recipe above for one batch of ice cream. I added extract to flavor the ice cream and when we were finished we added candies on top. The candy and extract are optional. As a special note... I have made this recipe several times with Kinder kids but just simply due to time and everything else in the classroom I also make a few batches of ice cream in a small ice cream maker to take to class. The only reason I have done this is because one or two batches of ice cream in the cans is just not enough ice cream for the entire class. I have found that making one batch and tasting it as soon as it is ready works great but the ice cream is soooo good we always want a little more. That is the only reason I make a little ahead of time. The science in this activity is the activity itself and the children need to be involved in it.

 

 

After the cans were prepared we were able to keep the cans moving while using Positional terms such as above, below, behind, in front of, beside, inside, outside, between, right and left. To review Paths of Motion we kept our cans moving in a straight line, zigzag, up and down, back and forth, round and round and fast and slow. We had such a good time with this! This would also be a perfect activity to discuss freezing and melting because the can does get cold and forms crystals that are wonderful for investigating with magnifying glasses! Oh and think of the notebooking...

 

 

This is what the mixture will look like as it freezes. Your freezing time will vary based on your ice and rock salt mixture. This is one reason why I suggest a batch or two made ahead of time because you may need to freeze this soft serve mixture in the freezer and who wants to wait to taste it after all that work? Another tip... get your cream and milk as cold as possible before you start. I added mine to the freezer before we used them.

And here was our Kick the Can ice cream. It was soooo good and now you know why we wanted more! I hope you and your class have fun with this just like we did. And if you are looking for more fun with Force and Motion...

Have fun investigating Science friends!