Little Scientists Save Summer

ATTENTION PARENTS AND TEACHERS:

Are your kids barely into their summer vacation and already whining, "I'm boooored"??

I came across the blog The Kitchen Pantry Scientist towards the end of the school year and just knew I had to get some of these science experiments in during the last days of school.

She's a fellow Minnesotan, and has been featured many times on our local news sharing fun science experiments.  She's an actual scientist (bacteriology), and explains the science behind all of the experiments.  Best of all, all of her experiments can be done with ordinary things found in your pantry!

First we did one called Magic Potion, using cabbage juice, vinegar, and baking soda.  I wish you could have seen their eyes light up when the chemical reactions occurred.  :)

Also from The Kitchen Pantry Scientist, we did Fizzy Balloons.  Super cool!

We did an experiment called Elephant Toothpaste (not from The Kitchen Pantry Scientist), which produced a chemical reaction (foaming) and a thermal reaction (warmth).  

Look, some of my former students stopped by for the fun, too!

Yes… They should have been wearing goggles….  :/

It was fun to play with the foam after the reaction… it was SO soft!

I even repeated the experiment with my niece!  Check out that little scientist!  :)

Our last actual unit in science for the year was exploring light and shadows.  We made shadow puppets using construction paper and popsicle sticks and explored how drawings and cut holes affect the shadows.  My students LOVED when I closed all of the blinds and turned off the lights in the room… it was VERY dark!  I gave pairs of students a flashlight and told them to take their shadow puppet, find a blank wall and make some shadows!  It kept them occupied for almost our whole science period!

So next time your kids say they're bored this summer, grab some simple materials and let them explore SCIENCE!  It might just SAVE the summer!

All About the Human Body!

The 3rd graders have been learning about the human body!  It's one of their favorite units.  We focus primarily on the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems.  Be sure to read to the bottom of this post to see the cool project we used to tie it all together!

We read a selection of articles relating to each system, along with many demonstrations of how our bodies can move.

After reading some articles about the basics of bones, I brought this new student in to our class to hang out.  We called him Mr. Skeleton.  :)

We used index cards to label the main bones of our new friend.  The kids had a diagram of the skeleton to look at while we were labeling.

A chiropractor also let me borrow this awesome model of the spine.  The kids loved counting the vertebrae and looking at the discs between the vertebrae.

We had a little science lab going on at the same time, too!  We soaked some turkey bones in vinegar.  The vinegar breaks down the calcium carbonate in the bones and makes them become bendy!  See for yourself-- it worked!

BEFORE putting them in vinegar, I washed them really well to remove any bits and pieces from the bones.  The bones had to soak in vinegar overnight (or longer) to see the effects.

The larger, wider bones did not become flexible.  The only one that worked was the wishbone, and only the bottom ends became bendy.  I would suggest using chicken bones (they're thinner, so they'll work better).

Look at that bendy bone!  We also talked about WHY we need calcium and what foods we can eat that have calcium.

After learning about specific bones and seeing a skeleton, we tried to assemble our own.  I downloaded a life-size printable skeleton from this website.  Each skeleton required around 20 pages.  I made 6 packets, so the kids could work in groups.

Once they had the skeleton glued together, they could cut around it and glue it onto butcher paper.

Our next step was to label the skeleton using the same diagram we used to label Mr. Skeleton.

To tie the whole unit together, and to review before the test, we created these AWESOME human body lap books (courtesy of yours truly).  It's very interactive, so students could read, fold, and flip through facts to review for the test.  :)

Each student will need a file folder and the lap book pages.  I copied each page on a different color paper, to differentiate between the body systems.  We spent a long time cutting, organizing, and gluing the pieces into the folder.

The inside of the lap book.

Students can read facts about the muscular system, and store the little fact booklet in a pocket.

Students can open and close flaps to read facts about the nervous system.

To get the lap book pages, AND other great resources for teaching about the human body, check out the NEWEST product in my TpT store!  Just click the picture to see the unit!

The kids LOVED learning about the human body!  What science topic do your kids just eat up?

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

Love my job? Yes, yes I do!

We have moved on from World Geography to bigger and better things... SCIENCE!  Now, I am not usually too fond of teaching social studies OR science, but I have to say... this year I LOVE it!  I think it has something to do with teaching the Core Knowledge curriculum, rather than teaching straight to the standards.  Read about my new-found love with Core Knowledge in this post.  What I love about Core Knowledge is that we get to teach super-fun topics (like our latest- Classifying Animals), but our state standards are still embedded within the topics.

I had this "AH-HA!" moment today.  Kids keep coming up to me lately saying, "Miss Woodward, look!  I found the word equator in my book!"  Or, "Miss Woodward, I'm reading the Komodo Dragon book.  Yep, it's a reptile, so it must be cold-blooded."

OR.... this little guy, who chose to spend his free time making a venn diagram, instead of drawing flowers and zombies like the rest of his classmates.

Yep, that's a venn diagram comparing warm-blooded animals and cold-blooded animals.  ((Aside from the fact that octopus and fish are not reptiles, can we just take a moment to acknowledge that he did this totally on his own, without guidance from me?  Pretty neat, if you ask me.))

And then it hit me- How COOL is it that these kids are so interested in science and social studies?  How COOL is it that my ELLs are using content- specific vocabulary in their everyday language?  How COOL is it that they spend their few free minutes drawing venn diagrams?  How COOL is it that they read the animal books I brought and are able to tell me if the animal is warm- or cold- blooded, and a vertebrate or invertebrate?

I must be doing something right.  These kids are on their way to becoming lifelong learners.  They are making connections.  They are letting the knowledge stick in their brain.

And I LOVE it!

What moments have you had that totally reinforce why you became a teacher?

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward