Anchor Charts, Journals and Sooooo Much Going on!

So I haven't blogged in a month, and there are 10 thousand things going on at school. Space Night was on Friday, and I thought to myself, "Well, now that Space Night is behind me, things should settle down a bit." Uh, what was i thinking?!?

Between RTI, and SSI, and CBAs and missing work, and department stuff, and testing preparation, and curriculum callibration, and getting lessons together, and making my fun anchor charts, and kids in ISS, it is just another normal day at  school :)

Here are some recent anchor charts I have made:

Energy Resources

Moon Phases

The Sun

Water Cycle

Weather Maps

I am really loving how nice and useful our journals have become this year. We don't have textbooks, so our journals are our resource. Most students take a lot of pride in keeping them  nice and neat. We do a foldable or notes on the left side, usually an activity afterwards with the new material, then they complete an application or evaluation journal prompt on the right side so I can see if they got it. Usually there is a diagram or something involved along with writing, so I can tell pretty quickly just walking around who got the material and who didn't. Here is an example of our Sun foldable and journal entry.

Well, I hope you are having a week that is not as busy as mine, but you are probably a teacher, so probably not :)

A Peek at My Week - Earth Science

So I realized it had been a long time since I had done a Peek at My Week with Jennifer at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings, so here are next week's activities.

We are still working on changes to Earth's surface. This is a big TEKS for us because it is a readiness standard and can cover so many different types of landforms. We have to cover them all :) I can just see the influx of anchor charts that we will get to create!

WU Soil from Science Penguin's Upper Elementary Weekly Warm Ups

Monday:
WED Foldable and Activity

Tuesday:
WED Foldable and Activity (lab part today)

Wednesday:
Writing Science From 5.7D STEMScopes and sharing

Thursday:
Glacier Foldable and Activity

Friday:
Caves Foldable and Activity

Enjoy your (hopefully) 3 weeks of school until Christmas Break!

Thankful for time to create new activities and a sale!

It is already Wednesday, and I feel like I have gotten so much accomplished since school was out Friday.

So far, I have...

• created 3 new foldable/activity sets for our interactive science notebooks
• created 2 task card sets
• created 3 holiday think tanks
• made a Robot Researcher station for my classroom
• baked the most delicious pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodles
• went to the grocery store...twice...
• saw Santa
• did all the kids laundry (folded and put away!)
• did my laundry (folded, but not put away)
• cleaned the entire playroom...twice...
• beat LEGO Marvels (I snuck in some video game time!)
• went to the doctor, dentist, and scheduled the eye doctor (what else are holiday breaks for?
• painted my toes

I am sure there is more, but I cannot think of it all. Thank goodness my youngest still naps 2-3 hours a day and my 3 year old "rests" during that time. 

We are into Earth Science in our curriculum, so here are our newest activities we are using.

I really don't think I like the cover to the WED foldable. Everytime I look at it, it just makes something in my brain go crooked. What do you think?

Oh, and...................................................

TeachersPayTeachers.com is having a Cyber Monday (and Tuesday) sale! Many authors are putting their stuff up for sale, too, so you could get up to 28% off all sorts of things! My whole store will be 20% off and then the TpT code on top of that will make my whole store 28% off. Have fun shopping!

Have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, everyone!

Thanksgiving Break is here!

I don't know what I am more excited about...having a week off with my kids to play or having a week off from school to create more activities for my classroom kids and Teachers Pay Teachers!

What am I thankful for this year? I am thankful for a healthy, happy family, great friends, a husband who loves me "just the way I am," and a job I love. I am thankful for a place to find and share great teacher ideas, like Teachers Pay Teachers, where I can get wonderful products for my classroom and share ones I have found or made that work great.  I am thankful for a teacher blogger community that supports one another and affirms that we are, indeed, doing the right thing in our classrooms and lives.

We had a Thanksgiving-themed day on Friday for our team (5 teachers), and I think the kids had a lot of fun. We also had career day that morning, along with the last day for kids to finish their math benchmarks, so we were busy.

In science, I had kids create a soil data disk from a soil sample from Plymouth Rock (our playground) with a brad, cardstock and a paper plate where they had to analyze a soil sample for it color, texture, ability to retain water, and it's ability to support life. Then they had to disguise the data disk to hide it from others at the First Thanksgiving. They came out really nice, and the kids had fun analyzing their samples and disguising them.

For career day, my sister, who is an Animal Behavior Analyst, got to come to my class and share with my kids how she uses data and graphs (yea! Real world graphs!) to analyze the behavior of different animals at the zoo to see how they are doing, what they prefer, and their well-being. The kids really loved seeing her presentation and playing her games and activities she prepared. I think she really is a teacher at heart :)

More bonuses, my sister stayed with us for 2 days, played with her niece and nephew while I put together a set of WED task cards, and even went with us to go see Santa. I love my sweet sister so very much! Here are the task cards I made while she was entertaining the little people.

It is a set of 20 task cards following Santa as he travels through the United States delivering presents, noticing landform changes, and getting a little side-tracked along the way. This is one of the things my kids will do the last week of school in December. Click the picture below to get to the cards.

I really hope my students like it as much as they liked Frankenstein's adventure without electricity for Halloween! I love doing themed stuff to help remind my kids that they can always have fun while learning; it does not always have to be an either/or kids of situation.

Stay tuned to see what else I get to create over the break. I am already 3/4 the way done with 2 earth science foldables and have a bunch of other ideas getting ready to roll....

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Veteran's Day and Heroes Project

I will be holding a Veteran's Day Sale for my entire Teachers Pay Teachers store this weekend. Sunday 11-10 and Monday 11-11, my whole store will be 10% off. Also, 50% of what I make on these two days will be donated to Heroes Project, a non-profit organization that support veterans who have returned from active duty and need support. It is a great organization and has done a lot for people around me.

I hope you get a chance to honor a veteran Monday and enjoy some smiles with those in your community!

Halloween Fun and a Freebie!

Today is Halloween, and I teach 5th graders. I think my team of teachers were more excited about it than the kids! I had all these ideas for today: dry ice flowing out of my classroom, cobwebs everywhere, and all sorts of decorations, but that sounded too expensive for a day of excitement and there would be lots of kids coming through my hall who would not be able to help tearing it down :( I decided a while ago to make them a Halloween themed review activity, so I made a Forms of Energy Task Card set using Melonheadz clip art. I love all of her work!

The kids really seemed to like this. Then as they finished, they went back in the classroom and created a Halloween crossword puzzle practicing their critical thinking skills. It takes a lot of planning to come up with words that can link up, clues that are not obvious, and put it all together without having to fill in letters and erase them. They enjoyed this, too. I think that they were excited to be doing Halloween themed stuff without having to be all engrossed in it because they were "too old for that." I love the crossword puzzle activity for a few reasons. It helps them practice their vocabulary, learn how to plan ahead, and they enjoy trying to solve someone else's crossword puzzle. They don't even have to have that many words on there. Five to Six words done correctly shows they can do it. I never give them a minimum amount on anything or I will have too many kids just doing that exact amount. Here is a freebie for you. It is a crossword puzzle maker set with a planning sheet, instructions, and an example. I hope you enjoy it and can use it for all sorts of things :)

Happy Halloween!

Depth and Complexity

Just to get my post started (which has been sitting open for 45 minutes now thanks to 2 adorable little ones who want to play with mommy in the ball pit)...

I felt like the day needed an icon to go with it :) Between playing with the kids, breaking up hair pulling fights, trying to clean anything, and the constant question, "When is Aunt Gwenie getting here?" I may never finish this post!

So I have been constantly looking at my classes and students this year to find a way to motivate and engage them. They have needed more in these areas than any group I have had before. One of the things I had purchased this summer was a set of Depth and Complexity Science Task Cards from TpT. I loved them! I could not wait to use them in my classroom this year. Well, here we are at the end of October, and i just got a chance to use them. I knew before we could use them, I would have to go over what the cards meant, the different icons and so on. 

Well, a friend emailed me this news story Friday about a small town using reflection to help their city get more sunlight, and I thought this was a great chance to get started with depth and complexity. 

 Depth and Complexity (developed by Dr. Sandra Kaplan) is a way to integrate higher level thinking skills into every day learning. It is geared towards GT studies, but I think it has a purpose for all students.I loved that there were so many ways for students to show they understood the material. My first impression of depth and complexity was that it had to be based on a reading selection. Now that we used it, and I researched more this weekend, I can see its use on just specific topics that we are learning. I found lots of great resources that all sparked ides. There are a bunch on Teachers Pay Teacher and at JTaylorEducation.com, and you will start to see some pop up in my TpT store soon, as well. In the meantime, if you get a chance, take a look at Depth and Complexity and see if it is something that would benefit your kids. 

If you want to start using Depth and Complexity, I recommend these resources to get started.

Icons:

http://www.pvusd.net/icons

Activities from TpT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:depth+and+complexity/Page:1
How do I use it? http://www.sracs.org/media/assets/Depth_Complexity_Icon_Chart.pdf, http://kc3rd.pbworks.com/f/GATE-ICONS-final.pdf

On another note, I posted some new physical science interactive notebook foldables and activities. I hope you find them useful!

FYI: I was able to write the last 85% of this post because Aunt Gwenie and Grandma did indeed get here. Thank goodness for them :)

500 Sales Sale!

I just saw that I have sold over 500 items in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, so I am saying a huge thank you to everyone who has found my products useful! I am having a 10%off sale for the next 2 days to celebrate. Had your eye on something just sitting on your wish list? Now is the chance to get it!

Enjoy!

Peek at my Week and New Think Tanks

Welcome to another week of 5th grade science!

Last week we had a fabulous time at camp, going to the UTA Planetarium, and lots of great activities. Now it is back to the normal routine of science :)

So first, a Peek at My Week with Jennifer at Mrs. Laffins Laughings.

Monday:
WU: Seeing Science Structures Physical Properties
Forms of Energy Foldable and Scavenger Hunt

Tuesday:
WU: Seeing Science Structures Physical Properties
Light Energy Foldable

Wednesday:
WU: Seeing Science Structures Physical Properties
Light Rays Slow Down (AIMS)
Just Passing Through (AIMS)

Thursday:
WU: Seeing Science Structures Physical Properties
CBA (district created testing)
Reflection Refraction Choice Board

Friday:
WU: Seeing Science Structures Physical Properties
Present Choice Board products
Bill Nye Light
Warm Up Wrap Up

Our district requires us to use think tanks during our intervention block, and since we are about to start a new six weeks, I needed a new set. So I have posted my 6 newest think tanks in my TpT store. I also included them in a bundle. I like the bundles. Maybe when we finish Physical Science, I should put all my interactive notebook entries in a bundle...hmmm...

Enjoy your week!

A Peek at My Week #3

It's time for another Peek at My Week with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings!

We have covered safety and tools and graphing, so now we are ready to put it all together and start Physical Properties and the Scientific Method!

Monday:
Seeing Science Structures Think Sheet Models
Scientific Method (6 Flap Fold)
Penny Drop Lab

Tuesday:
Seeing Science Structures Think Sheet Models
Changes in Matter (TpT States of Matter Flipbook from Lita Lita)
Temperature Mini Lab ( modified from Free Matter Notebook Activity from The Science Penguin)

Wednesday:
Seeing Science Structures Think Sheet Models
Mass and Volume Foldable (TpT Mass and Volume Foldable from my store)
Mass and Volume Lab (TpT Mass and Volume Lab from my store)

Thursday:
Seeing Science Structures Think Sheet Models
Length Foldable
Length Mini Lab (TpT Graphing Lab from my store)

Friday:
Seeing Science Structures Think Sheet Models
Bill Nye Measurement and video response
Warm Up Wrap Up

I am trying to add the links for these items, but Teachers Pay Teachers is having some kind of meltdown at the moment :) I will add them as soon as I can. In the meantime, I added in parentheses where on TPT you can find them in case you can get to the website before I can!

Have a great week teaching science!

Check back this week for some looks at our science notebooks and our new anchor charts!

C.H.A.M.P.S

This year, already as week in, I would like to implement C.H.A.M.P.S in my classroom. I had seen a few of these floating around other blogs, and I thought this would be a great idea in my classroom. It is a classroom management tool that allows you to easily set up guidelines for basics like conversation levels, how to get help, activity level, movement allowed, and participation required during different classroom activities such as labs, testing, independent work, journaling, and other activities.

I will post a picture this week once I set it up, but I made the printables for it. You print them, and laminate them stacked on top of one another. Then you can put them on the whiteboard and use magnets to show what the guidelines are or stick them to a wall leaving the left side unattached and use clothes pins to show the guidelines.

 

The top page has a spot to write the activity you are working on (use dry erase markers after laminating). I also included a grid page that had the different activities we would be using in my classroom and the guidelines for those quickly so students could have a reference in their binders to refer to, too.

There are two different versions; a bright version, and a robot version (to match my classroom, of course!). You can get the bright version on Teachers Pay Teachers and the robot version up above!

If you download it, let me know if you are able to implement it and how it goes or if you already use this system :)

Partnering Up and a Freebie!

A few posts ago, I had shared some iPartners, a fun way to partner up your classroom kids. Well, since school is starting Monday, and I have a team this year, we all decided to use iPartners. So I made each of them their own set based on their class theme.

Now I have iPartners Science,

iPartners Hollywood,

iPartners America,

and iPartners Math.

I also made a special one, just for y'all for free. Introducing iPartners Roberson Family (a.k.a. Duck Dynasty)!

If you like this idea and would like to custom order an iPartners, just let me know!

Now, my classroom is done, my roster will be finished in October (J/K), and I am done with school prep for the weekend. I can focus on kids, my husband, family and friends so I can be relaxed and ready for the crazy on Monday!

Teachers Pay Teachers Sale

Now that we have all had the chance to get an idea of what we want for our rooms, and some of you have already started teaching, how about a sale to get new resources for your kiddos?

How about a Back to School Sale at TpT? August 18th-19th use the code BTS13 to get up to 28% off. I am already stocking up my wishlist with some new items from some of my favorite TpT authors!

Of course, there is The Science Penguin Weekly Warm-Ups. I already have the first set, and now I need the second!

The Rachel Paper Collection and Lab Equipment Clip Art by Ashley Hughes matches my robot theme so well! I will have to have that!

Scientific Method Measurement Task Cards by Lisa Michalek

What are you going to get?