We have been working on our science process skills using Shells! The kids have loved the projects! We made models of different shells using model magic and then completed a field guide page. I compiled each of the field guide pages into a book for the kids and had them printed for them. They loved having their own Shell Book!
The persuasive essays that the kids wrote for our Adopt an Animal Project look great displayed in the classroom! I color-coded the essays by using a different background color for each one!
I start every year with a very engaging persuasive writing assignment! We have to select an animal to “adopt” from the zoo! Our local zoo has about 5-6 “Adopt Specials” every year and the package includes a certificate, photo, stuffed animal, and informational sheet for a $65 adoption fee that goes towards animal enrichment. Here is the FREE link to the packet I use…feel free to use it to develop your own!
My kids had five animals to choose from this year –> the tiger, the sting ray, the white rhinoceros, the manatee, and the flying fox bat. They began the lesson by selecting the one that they personally wanted the class to adopt.
Once the animal was chosen, I gave each student an informational sheet from www.enchantedlearning.com (love this site!). This site is well worth the yearly fee, it has great informational pages for kids!
The students then fill out a “Bold Beginnings” sheet based on a poster I purchased from “Really Good Stuff” onto a sheet of notebook paper. The students use a sheet of notebook paper to write the different types of bold beginnings.
Using the bold beginnings they have come up with, students then use these to write their persuasive essays. Once the essays are written, they join up with other students who have chosen the same animal. They need to share the essays with the students in their groups. Once they have shared, students will choose one (or mix them to make one) to share with the rest of the class.
Each animal group then shares with the class and then everyone votes! This year we voted on the MANATEE!
Once the vote was done, I ordered a bunch of manatee books from Amazon! They had some great ones!
We will complete some additional activities on the Manatee to share with the rest of the school. These include a scale model using bulletin board paper, informational posters, clay models, advertisements, etc.
Be sure to check out the Dollar Days Sale and Giveaway posted by tons of sellers on the Lesson Cloud! Here is the link! You will find some great deals for the next two days (July 29th and 30th)!
I have two of my most popular items for $1.00! The Playdough Monster Writing Packet and the How I Make S’mores Writing Packet! Don’t miss these deals!
In order to get my kiddos to embrace poetry writing at the beginning of the year, I have them each make their very own Poetry Pen. We use an ink pen, quill feather, some pipe cleaners, and colored duct tape. It is really easy and very inexpensive! They love to write with their special poetry pen!
We have Poetry Notebooks (spiral journals) that the student use throughout the year. I have the students glue in a poem about a topic we are studying or that uses a skill I want to reinforce on the left hand side of the notebook (the back of the opposite page) and then they write their own similar poem on the right hand side (the front of the other page).
We fill in this poetry prompt page on the first day of school and it becomes the first page of the Poetry Notebook. Click here for the FREE layout for the “Poem about Me”!
Poetry is a great way to improve student writing skills and to teach them how to take risks with using vocabulary, etc. If you have not yet trued using poetry on a weekly basis in your classroom, you should!
Love love love this science lab! You need PVC pipe (1/2 inch in diameter), a sheet of copy paper, and a few index cards as well as some scotch tape. Roll the paper tightly around the PVC pipe and tape it. Add the cone and the fins with tape. I used the Stomp Rocket launchers–you can find them here. The kids has a blast! I also created some labs to go with the project!
I was visiting my new school and I saw this great idea! Several of the teachers have attached rain gutters to the tops of their bulletin boards. They use the tray the gutter provides as a place to keep theme books or student work. Such a great idea!
We read the picture book, Down Down Down, by Steve Jenkins. It is about what lives at each level of the ocean. I love his books! After reading the book and completing several activities, the students worked in small groups to create an Ocean Layer Tower using bulletin board paper and construction paper. These turned out great! Here is a link to a FREE animal chart activity to do with the book! Here is a link for an inexpensive packet that contains comprehension questions and project sheets!
Play-doh anything is always a hit with the kids in my class, even if they are 5th graders! I created a Play-doh Botany Lab Packet for them to complete as a way to reinforce the concepts we were learning about plants in a fun and engaging way! They had a blast and learned a lot in the process (yeah!). I bought two suitcases of Play-doh from Amazon and they pretty much covered the projects for the entire class. We used very little play-doh for most of the pages, if you use too much it cracks and it is too heavy to hang up! The link to the Play-doh Botany packet is here!
I wonder what other ways teachers use play-doh in the classroom?
We have been raising mealworms in order to study life cycles! The kids are completely fascinated with the mealworms! i will post some pics of their containers soon! I already posted some pics of our bulletin board display! I created a huge packet to use with mealworms for only $9.00! Check it out! It is pretty cheap to buy the materials needed and the kids are totally engaged in the project! I have gotten some great writing and science out of them during this project!
I found a great book on Amazon to use as well! Click here for the link!
Enjoy!
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