Friday, January 15, 2016

Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five For Friday! 




We celebrated the winter solstice on December 21 with an indoor campout! I set up a real life tent. I also used bulletin board paper to make some lean to's. I also brought in some real wood and set it up around a touch light for a camp fire in our meeting area. We even had smores! Well, graham crackers, chocolate bars, and fluff! :)
Before winter vacation I downloaded Hope King's science experiments file from TPT. We had been learning about matter, but the kiddos were struggling. I had a few days before winter break, and instead of starting a new unit, I stayed with matter a bit and tried out some experiments and hands on activities. Obviously, they loved it!

We don't actually have science built into our schedule in my school. (I know, crazy.) Especially for me, someone coming from teaching fourth grade for five years and knowing that there is a state science test, well, I can't NOT teach science. So, I squeeze it in whenever I can. Plus, science experiments are SUPER engaging and fun for kiddos!

The experiment above is neat. We put pop rocks into the balloon, attached it to the soda top, and flipped the balloons at the same time. The pop rocks fell into the soda, created gas, and inflated our balloons. The kiddos went nuts!!! I think it was one of their favorite experiments. 

We also made ice cream, made root beer floats, dressed up in clear garbage bags and added balloons to represent molecules for solids, liquids, and gases, AND A LOT MORE!

We finished up our life cycles unit, so I took ten minutes in a day for some fun! We each had a partner and wrapped each other up in a chrysalis! And then we EMERGED! It was a hoot.

Each child had a black chenille pipe cleaner wrapped onto their fingers to look like antennae and butterfly feet. We then dug through the Cheetohs (pollen) for the candy (nectar). When the victor emerged from the bag with the candy, their pipe cleaner was covered in Cheetohs dust. We made some great connections to our life cycles unit as we finished it up!

You may not be able to see, but my friend had the polka dot dog mat embroidered with Lucy's name! My entire classroom is black and white polka dots with splashes of yellow, so it is very fitting and I love it. :)



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