New Anchor Charts

How do you do anchor charts? Sometimes I make them before school so all my classes see them. Then they are nice and neat. 

Sometimes I start from scratch and make them with one of my classes. You can tell when I make them while hung up because the handwriting is all slanted 

Other times I make a shell before school...

 

...so then we can fill it in together in class and match our notes. 

How do you use anchor charts in the classroom?

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!

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!

Busy, Busy with Physical Science and Peek at my Week

Wow! I guess I am not going to get the chance to blog but on the weekends with school as busy as it is :)

As many of you have read, I wanted to redesign our science interactive notebooks this year. I had seen how many other teachers had done it and how I was currently doing it. We don't really have a textbook for 5th grade in Texas that is useful (ours is from '00-'0ish and still have some VERY old standards in it), so our notebook is what we create as our resource. Most students take a lot of pride in making it nice and neat and accurate. So this year I am doing a left side/right side notebook. On the left we put notes, foldables, observations, and then on the right we put diagrams, data tables, graphs, and write out answers to questions that show what we know.

With this new style, I am having to re-write EVERY single notebook entry, which is worth it, but very time consuming. Since I do most of my planning with my teacher buddy on Thursday, and we almost always have notebook entries on Mondays, I am always typing away on the computer during my kids nap time on the weekends or on Sunday evenings if we just had too much fun playing.

That being said, here are two new ones for forms of energy and light.

I won't really have my Peek at my Week because...we go to camp next week for 3 days! Woo hoo!

We will be watching The Incredibles this week on Monday and Tuesday analyzing superpowers to help us collect some info for our Physical Science Superhero Project. Are you doing the same? Here is the page I made to go with the movie, just for you!

A Peek at My Week #5

Welcome to another week of 5th grade science! I am linking up again for another Peek at My Week with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings.

This week, we are wrapping up physical properties with a little review from all the properties we covered over the last 4 weeks.

Monday:
WU Seeing Science Structures Understanding Models
Physical Properties Foldable and Mini Lab

This is a review of physical properties using the 5 senses to describe an item. It is new in my store.

Tuesday:
WU Seeing Science Structures Understanding Models
The Orange's Secret AIMS Activity

Wednesday:
WU Seeing Science Structures Understanding Models
Matter and Energy Test
The Orange Secret Conclusion

Thursday:
WU Seeing Science Structures Understanding Models
Review test

Friday:
WU Seeing Science Structures Understanding Models
Assign Superhero Project
Warm Up Wrap Up
Bill Nye Magnetism

Students love the superhero project every year. They get to design a superhero or use one that has already been created and show what they know about matter, force and energy by applying it to their superpowers. They make trading cards, too, that they get to trade after everyone has presented their superheroes. It is a lot of fun.

Enjoy your week!

Separating Mixtures

We worked on separating mixtures in class this week. We took notes on mixtures, solutions and separating them. Then, using the Separating Mixtures Lab, we looked at the physical properties of sand, salt and iron so we could use them to find a way to most effectively separate them. Students designed their procedure based on their thoughts with their lab group.

After we looked at everyone's procedures, we talked through what we decided as a class would be the best way. 

In our interactive notebooks on the right side, we described and illustrated our final procedure. Here is an anchor chart on what we put in our interactive notebook. 

Sorry my anchor chart handwriting is not beautiful, yet, but I am working in it :)

I hope to get to do many more anchor charts with my students this year!