Forces and Motion Song

It's been a while!  I've been super busy since school started!  I just wanted to post a video I uploaded to YouTube last night.  It's a Forces and Motion song...  I didn't write the lyrics (someone else in the county wrote them) but I created the music/lyrics video to make it easier for the kids to sing.  Feel free to use it if you like it! :)

Ecosystems: Terrariums

After teaching math and reading first thing this morning, we spent the rest of the day talking about terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and building terrariums!  The kids had a great time.  It stressed me out a little. :)  We followed the TASC Kit lesson in building the terrariums, and I tried to read as many of the articles as possible.  We had to rush, so I'm afraid the building day wasn't as educational as it should have been, but we were able to get some good discussions worked in... especially while the crickets were going to sleep in the refrigerator.  I'm am excited to say that we didn't have any animal casualties (other than the floater fish.  For whatever reason, we had a TON of fish die this year!!)  We are going to spend the next week or two making observations in our science journals.  Funny story: I don't do bugs... at all!  When it came time to add the crickets, I told myself, "You can do this!"  As soon as I took the paper towel out of the container, I felt the anxiety start to rise in my chest.  Mind you, all of the kids were surrounding me and SO CLOSE!!  I kept on going, but as soon as I saw an antenna move, I dropped it and said, "Ehhhhhh!  I can't do it, I can't!!"  The kids laughed at me and collected the crickets for my terrarium for me.  Great kids!  We have about a week of ecosystems left and only 10 school days until SPRING BREAK!!!  Hallelujah!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I'm driving up to my brother's outside Fredericksburg, tomorrow, and spending Saturday in DC!  :)

Making Clouds {So Cool!!}

I really wanted to write this post yesterday, but I left my Mac at school.  The Blogger iphone app is not so great, so I'm writing it at school.  I got here early just so I could write this post... and because I woke up 2 hours before my alarm... and because I couldn't go back to sleep. :)

With our weather unit, we are studying clouds right now.  Surprisingly, our kids have a good bit of background knowledge on the types of clouds.  Well, some have the background knowledge.  Yesterday, we { I } made clouds using a water bottle and matches.  The kids and I both LOVED the activity.  I've never taught weather before, so I'm having to learn most of this information.  There is nothing like being thrilled like a kid when you're learning the info with the kids and something cool happens!!! :)  One of my students took pictures for me.  Please don't judge me by the second picture.  I was, literally, in the process of saying, "OH COOL!!!" :)

Global Awareness?

Today was the first day back at school, and I must say, it was a really good day!  I was expecting craziness and non-stop talking, but it didn't happen; however, by no means were they asleep!  Well, I take that back, I did have two sleepers today.  Miss R. definitely wasn't ready to come back to school today.  I couldn't read correctly, write correctly, spell correctly, or speak correctly.  The kids had several laughs at my expense today. :)

We started our gigantic science unit on weather today.  I prefaced it by letting my students know how much and deep the content goes with this unit.  I think I scared a few of them, but I need their attention!  :)  Besides, after the crazy easy unit on genetics, they can put forth the effort.  While I'm thinking about it, I never shared anything about the genetics unit.  Basically, what it focused on was inherited vs. learned traits.  I had them make "Trait Trees" and they turned out pretty cute... I think.  We (teachers) did this activity at one of the County Office meetings last year.  They traced their hands to make the "leaves" of the tree.  On their left hand, they wrote their inherited traits, and on their right hand, they wrote their learned traits.  (One per thumb/finger)  I had to laugh at my hall display, though.  It reminded me (because of the handwritten "title") of 1990s hall displays.

New this year with the NC Teacher Evaluation (I think or it might have been new last year), is a "Global Awareness" standard.  I was lucky in that I met this standard in my first observation, but a lot of teachers have been stressing about it.  How exactly are we supposed to get Global Awareness in every lesson?  (Well, that's irrational.  I can't always happen and be genuine.)  What are we supposed to do if the principal doesn't see it in the particular lesson he/she observes, but the teacher does it on a regular basis?  Those were just a few concerns that were vocalized.  Our principal suggested to us that we have examples of global awareness on our walls... Maybe keep a folder with examples throughout the year.  One of the first year teachers took her suggestions and went into action.  He came up with the idea of recording whatever global awareness (I prefer to say global connections because we're connecting it to our lesson) that come up on the whiteboard, taking a picture of what is written, marking it on a map, and printing everything out.  It was a great idea, but a lot of extra work, I thought.  I took his idea of writing it on the whiteboard, but I decided to have a poster of the world printed/laminated so I can record the locations of the connections.  This map stays up all the time.  I also made a folder where I can store the articles or slide of the connection that was made.  We're not quite sure this is what NC wanted when they added the Global Awareness/Connection standard to our evaluation, but my principal/assistant principal are happy with it, and it works for my classroom.

Next week is going to be a full week!  That hasn't happened in a while.  I will need to rest up this weekend.  :)

Until next time...

Oh What A Feelin'!! :)

You know that feeling you get when a lesson goes really well and the students really catch on to what you're teaching?  I had that feeling today!  My Matter Unit might be the death of me, but my students are doing REALLY well! :)

Yesterday, we poured different amounts of water into Solo cups and labeled each cup with it's mass.  We put them in the freezer and today, we determined their mass again to see if it changed.  More than half the class predicted that the frozen water would have a larger mass.  They were blown away when they saw that it didn't change! :)

After the water, I determined the mass of a ball of Play-Doh.  I manipulated it into a "bowl" and asked them if they thought the mass would change.  There were more this time that said it wouldn't change.  I even had responses like, "It will be the same because you're not taking anything away."  WOOOOOOOT!!!  I was jumping for joy on the inside when I read responses like those! :)

Next, we did an assessment probe called "Cookie Crumbles".  After this assessment, I still had a few students who didn't quite catch on, so what did I do?  Pulled out a box of Ritz Crackers and found the mass of one cracker (3 grams).  I asked the students to write what they think will happen when I break the cracker up into pieces and weigh it again.  FINALLY, every student got it!!  It was amazing!  It was great!!! We all went to lunch in a great mood!! :)  By the way, if your school doesn't have the NSTA Formative Assessment Probe books, you should make a request... They're great! :)

Tomorrow, we're going to have a Candy Bar Lab.  We are going to observe the qualitative and quantitative properties of fun size Snickers, Milk Way, and 3 Musketeers.  It should be fun! :)

Tomorrow is also the last day of Red Ribbon Week for us.  The kids (and teachers) are dressing up for their future career, so, naturally, I will be wearing my Polamalu jersey. :)

Everyone have a great weekend!  We have Friday and Monday teacher workdays! Woot! :)

Oobleck in 5th Grade? Why Not!

Today, we made Oobleck to go along with our unit on matter.  It didn't exactly fit in, but I thought it would be a fun activity.  And now that I think about it, it did fit in!  I made the students think about the properties of liquids and solids, and determine which properties the Oobleck possessed.  The students also made qualitative observations (even though they don't realize they did).  :)  A little note:  if you see a recipe online that says 1 part cornstarch to 1 part water, it's WRONG!!!  None of their Ooblecks worked, but I made a BIG batch using a whole box of cornstarch and 1 1/2 cups of water.  It turned out perfect and they were all able to observe/feel my batch.  It was fun... and messy.  (Since I was putting  my hands in it, I didn't put any food coloring in.)  :)

Y'all, I have literally cried over planning this unit.  It was added to the NC Essential Standards this year, and there is very little across the internet on a 5th grade level.  The hardest part about planning has been finding a way for students to discover quantitative and qualitative properties.  I have used practically every resource I've found.  I just hope it turns out well.  I don't think I would be so stressed out if I were just planning for my class, but I'm planning the unit for the entire grade level.  It's just been rough, but we're half-way there! :)  Tomorrow, we are going to use balances to see how weight changes when you remove parts.  (we're using rice)  I've had to beg and plead to borrow enough balances from the lower grades.  5th grade got rid of them a few years ago.  Dumb.  Later on in the week, we are going to weigh water before it is frozen and then after it's frozen to show that weight doesn't change.  On Thursday, we're going to observe the qualitative and quantitative properties of fun-size candy bars.  That should really be fun, and I'll let them eat the candy bars when we're finished. :)  But that will be a surprise!!

Hope everyone has a great week!