Tag: fiction

Are you Teaching Fossils this Year?

Posted on by smartchickteacher

Fossils are one of the science topics I love to teach in 4th grade! The kids are immediately interested in learning about fossils and the organisms that created them. I have been collecting fossils from numerous places over the years. Today, some nice sets can be found on Amazon!

Where can you find fossils?

https://amzn.to/4cN6HQt – A set of over 100 fossils for around $32. This gives a nice assortment for students to identify by giving a handful of fossils to each group.

https://amzn.to/4vYD4oe – A 2-pound set of fossils for around $36. Another nice set for showing different types of fossils to students. There is a good assortment in this set.

https://amzn.to/4sZz1VR – a 3-pound set of assorted fossils for around $38. This set comes with an easy to read guidebook.

Looking for a Fossil Unit to use in your Classroom?

This is one I created to use in my own classroom! Click here to check it out on TPT.

There are vocabulary cards, interactive notebook pages, information sheets, research projects, and hands-on labs included in the pack.

How do Fossils Form?

This can be tough for students to understand, so this lab shows them how their little “critter” that is made up of wooden toothpicks and dissolvable packing peanuts leaves only the hard parts (the toothpicks) over time in a container of sand and water. Click here to see this lab pack on TPT.

What are the Four Types of Fossils?

There are four types of fossils. They are cast fossils, mold fossils, trace fossils, and true form fossils. Using an individual pack of model magic and some plastic dinosaurs and dinosaur skeletons, your students can make an example of each one while learning about how they form. Click here to check out this pack on TPT here.

This is a lab my students always look forward to doing each year! They check out their sponge daily to see the progress. Click here to check out this lab pack on TPT.

Who were some of the most Famous Paleontologists?

This picture book, The Dinosaur Expert, by Margaret McNamara, is a great read aloud to use while studying fossils. We write our own reports about different paleontologists using this pack. Check out this file in my TPT shop.

Who was Mary Anning?

Mary Anning was a paleontologist who didn’t get the credit for her many discoveries until recent times. Learning about her life and discoveries is always interesting for students. This pack gives students the chance to build a dinosaur using a sheet of bones just like scientists do today. They make mistakes all the time when they put dinosaur bones together! Check out this pack in my TPT shop.

What Picture Books can I use with Fossils?

There are so many picture books to use with fossils! Here are some of my favorites!

https://amzn.to/4sSPwCZ – Fossil Huntress, Mary Leakey, Paleontologist by Andi Diehn and Katie Mazeika

https://amzn.to/4tsSJdA – Fossil by Bill Thomson

https://amzn.to/4waYONN – The Fossil Keeper’s Treasure: With Amazing Fossils to Touch by Amy Atwater

https://amzn.to/4cLSyDb – Stones and Bones: Fossils and the Stories they Tell by Rob Wilshaw

https://amzn.to/4mPI5uW – Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones by Sara Levine

https://amzn.to/3QwX4Ol – Fossils Tell Stories: Fossils by Yu-Ri Kim

https://amzn.to/4uab7b2 – Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist by Linda Skeers

https://amzn.to/4ubuQXY – The Fossil Whisperer: How Wendy Sloboda Discovered a Dinosaur by Helaine Becker

https://amzn.to/48qA21J – Above, Below and Long Ago: Animals, Plants and Fossils in Hidden Places by Michael Bright

https://amzn.to/3P3WnLZ – The Dinosaur Expert by Margaret McNamara

https://amzn.to/3R3ICxm – The Bone Wars: The True Story of an Epic Battle to Find Dinosaur Fossils by Jane Kurtz

https://amzn.to/4e5sHZ8 – Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki

https://amzn.to/4mVgUiz – Dinosaur Tracks by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

https://amzn.to/4tydKU5 – The Clues are in the Poo: The Story of Dinosaur Scientist Karen Chin by Jane Kurtz

Check out even more dinosaur and fossil resources in my TPT shop! It is one of my favorite science topics to teach each year! Click here to check out my store, just search for fossil!

*Affiliate links are included in this blog post. I use the proceeds to buy school supplies for my students each year.

Using LIVE Jumping Beans to Learn about Insects!

Posted on by smartchickteacher

Bringing LIVE animals is one way to increase the excitement and engagement of the classroom experience for your students. These jumping beans are something we used to have as kids, and it is fun to bring them back to today’s kids. These jumping beans do take a little time and work to get hatched, but it is rewarding when it works! We do these labs in May and I send the jumping beans home with my students. They have usually hatched by the end of the summer. I also tell me kids they should keep the moths as a PET and not release them into the wild as they are an invasive species.

This pack will guide you through a bunch of different lessons as your students learn about insects and jumping beans! Click here to buy the pack!

We set-up a bulletin board of the vocabulary words included in the pack.

I order jumping beans from Amazon! They are inexpensive and arrive quickly.

Click here to grab 30 jumping beans from Amazon for around $20!

There are many different activities included in the pack. The kids were AMAZED by the jumping beans and how they moved.

They were able to do a lot of research on-line and we figured out the best ways to keep the larva alive as they are developing into moths.

Storing them in a cool, dry place and spritzing them with water a couple times a week seems to be the best way to get them to hatch!

There are lots of materials included in the pack I developed for my own classroom!

The pack linked above includes:

1. Jumping Bean Vocabulary – There are 15 vocabulary cards with definitions and pictures and an interactive notebook page for recording these definitions.

2. What is a Jumping Bean? – There is a pocket for recording the definition of a jumping bean and an information page. We also read the book, Not a Bean, by Claudia Guadalupe Martinez. There is also an Observe a Jumping Bean Lab (we use a real jumping bean for this observation).

3. Life Cycle of a Jumping Bean – There is information about the life cycle of the jumping bean. Students need to create their own life cycle chart for their notebook. Copy the front page on cardstock if possible.

4. Prediction/Recording Sheet – Complete a sheet making some predictions about the jumping beans and record some data about the beans you have in the classroom.

5. Science Lab for Temperature Reaction – Find out how the jumping beans react to different temperatures by completing this lab.

6. Science Lab for Water Reaction – Find out how jumping beans react to water by completing this lab.

7. Science Lab for Touch Reaction – find out how jumping beans react to being help between two fingers by completing this lab.

8. Make a Game Board – Make a game board for the jumping beans to be placed on. Record observations. A completed game board is included on a second sheet of the pack.

9. Fun Facts about Jumping Beans – Do some research using books and/or the Internet. Find 6 fun facts about jumping beans. Make a mini-poster with your findings.

Keep your students engaged at the end of the school year with LIVE animals! There are many to choose from, but my class really enjoys learning about jumping beans!