Rock On: Geology Around Us

Red Rock Canyon NCA Environmental Education Program has an awesome rock scavenger hunt! I adapted their version to use in a school, park, or home setting. Kids find rocks for each of the categories listed below. When they find a rock that fits the category, they draw it. Carry a bucket with you on your geology scavenger hunt and collect the rocks you find. Bring them back to the classroom to study for further investigation! 

photos via cc: bricks / gravel by Titus Tscharntke

What's that made of?! Examine your school, architecture, roads, and sidewalks. What are these items made up of? Rocks and Minerals! Examples: (stone, brick, concrete, gravel, etc.) Distinguish between man-made and natural rock. Talk about weathering. Are there any cracks in the sidewalk or road? What happens to rock when it rains? Discuss sediments. What happens to rock particles (sediments) when they weather away from rock? Do man-made materials weather as easily as natural rock? Click here for this project and more rocks and minerals activities for grades K-12 from Michigan.gov. Visit BrainPOP for a short video and simple lessons for introducing rocks and minerals.

fossil via cgs

While learning about geology, make a fossil! Visit California Geological Survey for instructions!

Regrouping: 2-Digit Addition

Regrouping can be a very difficult concept for students. A great hands on way to teach adding double digits is with dimes and pennies. Kids figure out that they add digits in the ones place first. Then, they add the digits in the tens place.

First, they group their pennies together to create a ten (dime). They trade their ten pennies for a dime. Any pennies left over (that don't make a ten) represent the ones place. Next, they count the total number of dimes they have. The number of dimes represents the numeral in the tens place. Add all the coins up and you have your answer! This is a fantastic activity for visual learners. Below is an example:

Volcano, Tornado, Tsunami!

Check out Met Office to see how to make a tornado in a jar!

Then, visit Mad About Science to build a model tsunami!

Hungry Hungry Hippos - Munch and Learn

Fun learning activities with Hungry Hungry Hippos!
Place Value and Literacy Games - Raki's Rad Resources
Fractions - Cobb K-12
Greater than, Less than - Mom's Heart

Technology in the Classroom

Technology Integration Matrix is a site filled with lesson plans in all subject areas (math, science, social studies, and language arts) with ideas of ways to incorporate technology into a constructivist classroom. There are lots of experiments, videos, and ideas for teachers from educators across the nation. I was introduced to the site in my Computer Tools for Teachers course I am taking this summer. Check it out for ways to combine technology with creative learning. Click on the icons for the lesson plans. Lessons fall under various categories from entry (introducing technology) to transformation (students comfortable with technology).

photo via technology integration mix

Animal Adaptations

Featured Above:
1. A Second Grade Adventure set up a variety of stations where kids tried on different items that gave them an insight into how animals adapt, including some interesting gloves and side vision using toilet paper rolls!

2. Flower Garden has a fun lesson to demonstrate octopus adaptation, using slime and a funnel, to show how octopi can squeeze through super tiny cracks!

3. Ashleigh's Education Journey had kids use a variety of tools and instruments that represented different bird beaks. Kids tried picking up different sizes and textures of food. Check out her activity, as well as Sea World's!

4. Find out how blubber keeps arctic animals nice and warm with Steve Spangler's DIY blubber glove!

5. Teach animal adaptation with candy M&M's! Check out Science Buddies' M&M Survival Challenge!

6. Visit HubPages for a couple more adaptation experiments to incorporate into your classroom!

7. Play an echolocation game, to teach kids how bats and dolphins locate each other and prey! Click here for instructions (scroll down to the bottom of the article).

8. Make giraffe spit and see how giraffes are able to eat from thorny trees without getting pricked!

9. Herbivores vs. Carnivores - Visit Science Matters to see how dinosaurs chomped on leaves!

10. How do baleen whales eat (black pepper in water - comb and toothbrush) - MTSD-VT

11. Bird Feathers (oil glands) - Third Grade Thinkers

12. Hearing Without Ears (newts and salamanders) - Education.com

13. How do chameleons change colors? - Education.com

14. How does hair keep mammals warm? - Education.com

15. How do elephants use their ears to cool off? - Education.com

16. Butterfly Proboscis - First Grade Shenanigans

Physics Magic!

Explore Inertia, Newton's First Law of Motion: "An object at rest will stay at rest unless an outside force acts upon it.  An object that is moving, will stay moving until something stops it."  with 3 magical science experiments!

1. Knock the bottom coin out of a coin tower, without it toppling over! You can use a playing card, spatula, or even flick it out with your fingers! Visit Zoom and Yahoo Voices for this experiment, as well as a whole list of activities all about inertia, friction, force, and motion!

2. Conduct the coin drop trick! With the flick of your fingers, get coins to drop in a cup! Visit Steve Spangler for instructions and a how to video.

3. Amaze your friends with your swift moves! Can you whip a table cloth off a table filled with dishes, without disturbing one item? Visit Steve Spangler for instructions.

photo via ssrsbstaff

4. Play around with inertia rings and a coin! You get different results depending on where you hit the ring. If you hit the inside, the coin will fall inside the cup. Knock the outside of the ring and the coin will go across the room! Check out ssrsbstaff, lots of cool experiments for kids!

5. Explore Egg-citing Inertia with Mr. O!

Division, the Opposite of Multiplication

Awesome ways to help kids with their division skills from The Hanleys! Click here to see ways to multiply!

The Traveler

Have kids make an inference about items in a suitcase. Why does this person need certain materials? What does he / she plan on using them for? Is the person a girl or a boy? How can you tell? How many people are going on the trip? What are they going to do there? Below is an example of how to conduct the activity:

First check out the bag:

Is there more than one bag? If so, how many people are going on the trip?

Bag design - Do you think it belongs to a boy or a girl?

Old or new - If it's old, do you think the person does a lot of traveling?

Now, open it up and take a peek inside!

Fishing rod - Someone is going to a place with a body of water: lake, river, ocean. One person is going fishing or they are all going to share the rod.

Tent - somewhere in the country, not the city. He plans on sleeping outside.

Marshmallows - He plans on making a campfire and roasting them.

Graham crackers - I think he will make smores

Chocolate bars - He is definitely making smores and has a sweet tooth.

Frying pan - He will be cooking

Bug spray - He is going somewhere buggy, like the woods with high grass, trees.

Mirror -He wants to look attractive while he's out in the wilderness. He wants to impress someone?

ipod - He likes music.

Get creative! Your pretend traveler can go anywhere in the world! 

samsonite oyster via apartment therapy

YAY for ARRAYS!

2 player, dice game: Kids take turns rolling two dice. They use the numbers the dice land on to create an array on a grid, using number counters (or cheerios, paperclips, etc.). After they make their array, they write it down (ex: 2 rows of 4). Then, they write the multiplication equation down and solve it. They compare their answer to their opponent's. The player with the largest product wins and circles his answer. They continue playing. Then, when they're finished, they count up the total number of times they won. Whoever won the most is the overall winner!

Download it free here!

Equivalent Fractions Connect 4

Kids find four equivalent fractions, horizontal, vertical, or diagonal! Also, check out Coin Connect 4!

Sun Baked Bricks

Make your own mini bricks, while learning about soil composition and solar energy, from 60 Second Science. All you need is clay-rich soil, water, ice cube tray (or mold), dry grass, and a sunny spot outside. Place your soil into a bowl, add a little bit of water, and stir around with a craft stick until you get a "thick" mud consistency. Next, mix in your grass. Then, press your mixture into your mold and smooth your bricks out on top. Now, bake your bricks in the sun! Talk about how the sun is a form of radiant energy, as well as thermal energy. The sun is a renewable resource that we can utilize to heat things up! When the bricks are ready, remove them from the mold and build something! You can keep your bricks natural or paint them. You can make houses for action figures, caves for animal figurines, etc. 

Run N Round

Practice rounding to the nearest hundred (featured above), ten, or with decimals (tenth, hundredth, etc.) with this active game on the blacktop! I was inspired by Education's Rapid Rounding Version to create my own. Write oversized numbers on the pavement and circle them. Have various numbers written on notecards, ready to call out. Call out a number and kids round it in their head and run to the correct numeral. For example, you call out the number 615 and tell kids to round it to the nearest hundred. Kids run to the number 600. 

UNO Place Value: Build a Number

2 player game for a math station. Players take turns pulling a task card from a basket and reading it. They both pull uno playing cards from a face down deck and follow the directions the task card states. They lay their uno cards on the playing mat and build a number. Kids decide where to place each uno card (in the ones, tens, hundreds, or thousands). Next, they write their number on the recording sheet. Then, they determine who won by what the card asked them to build. If it said build the smallest number, the player with the smallest number wins. For the cards that say one more, one less, ten more, ten less, and double, both players win if they answer correctly. When kids are finished playing, they count up their total number of wins for the game. Then, they write their number in a box and their partners in the other box. They use greater than, less than, or equal to symbols and determine who the overall winner of the game is.

Penny Shooter

All you need is a toilet paper or paper towel tube, balloon, scissors, and tape! How to instructions from CamNCurtis:

ROLL 3 and do the math!

Practice making equations with 3 addends and using addition and subtraction within the same equation. Grab 3 die, use your subitizing skills, and get ready to roll! Instructions are on the game board.

Place Value Pictures

Fun place value idea from Teachin' First. Kids use paper base ten blocks to construct an original design. Kids can get super creative. They could make a robot, rocket ship, scenic landscape, an animal, or even a TV! Then, they figure out their number. Visit Teachin' First for a free paper base ten blocks printable to go along with the activity! You can use the paper base ten blocks to create Place Value Initials! Click here for details.

Math and Creative Writing

monkey photo via uc davis

Over at Mrs. Jump's class, students let their creativity shine while working on their math skills, for a morning warm up math routine. Give kids an answer to a problem. It's up to them to write a unique word problem that goes along with the answer. For example, Eight monkeys were munching on bananas in a banana tree. Three jumped out of the tree because they wanted to play. Two more monkeys followed them to join in the game. How many monkeys stayed in the tree to hog all of the bananas?

After they write their problem, have them draw an illustration. Then, another day or for homework, have kids create an original word problem and answer about anything they'd like. They trade their word problems with a friend (don't share answers!) and see if their buddy can solve it!

The Sticky Note Experiment

Turn sticky notes into a slinky with Eepy Bird! Two fun experiments: make a rolling pinwheel and a cascading waterfall!



For how to instructions and more experiments for "curious minds," including how to make your own 3D glasses, visit Eepy Bird's site!

How to incorporate in your lesson plan: 
Measuring - Have kids work in teams, make a pinwheel, and measure the distance it rolls. Experiment, try adding more or taking away the recommended number of sticky notes. What happened? Did it roll as far?
Geometry - Talk about symmetry and transformations.

WANTED!

Uh-oh, numbers and shapes are on the loose! It's up to kids to find them! First, kids create a wanted poster for a geometric solid. The wanted poster will help them retain a geometric solid's attributes. It will also help them with recognizing 3D solids in the real world. Then, they create a wanted poster for a numeral. This activity will help kids improve their number sense. Will their descriptions catch the mischievous culprits? After they complete their posters, you can incorporate writing with the project. Have kids write why their numeral or shape is wanted. What did it do to get into trouble?

Perimeter Magic Triangles

Perimeter Magic Triangles - Great addition, thinking game that deals with three addends! All you need are 6 milk caps labeled 1-6. Kids slide the milk caps around, forming a triangle. Their goal is to have all 3 sides add up to equal the same sum. For another milk cap addition game, check out Magic Square Milk Caps!

Shake and Number Bond!

Help kids with number sense (understanding parts and wholes) as well as fractions! All you need is a cup with a lid and two-sided counters (a color on one side and a different color on the other). Kids shake the cup and pour the counters on the table. Then, without flipping any of their counters over, they count how many of each color landed face up. For example, 6 red and 7 blue landed face up, with a total of 13 counters. Six and seven are both parts of thirteen (the whole). Not only does this game help with addition skills, but also with fractions. Have kids write the number bond and fractions for each color.

Note: You could also use ten frames with this game. After kids spill their counters on the table, they place the counters on ten frames. Kids see that 13 equals 1 ten and 3 ones, which helps with place value skills!

Have kids compare their number bonds. One friend could have 9 red and 4 blue. While someone else ended up with 3 red and 10 blue! Kids see various combinations of two numbers that equal the same whole: 13. 

If you want to take the activity further, you could have kids write out the fact family for their number as well. However, this would take the fun out of the game!

Place Value Musical Chairs

Have fun building numbers with the game musical chairs! Split the class in two. Set up chairs (labeled with place values) on both sides of the room for each team. The number of chairs you need depends on what place values you are teaching. Next, throw single digit numbers (0-9, written on scrap paper) in a paper lunch bag. You will have to repeat numbers so all kids will have one. Each kid pulls a number out of the bag and tapes it on his shirt. Start up the music and play musical chairs! Both teams dance around their chairs. When the music stops, kids quick sit in a chair. Write the numbers both teams made on the board and compare. Which team created the largest number? The winning team gets a point.

Next, challenge the team that lost to rearrange their number to create a larger number. Is their new number larger than the winning team's? If so, they get a point! Then, instruct both teams to rearrange their numbers to create an even or odd number. Which team was the fastest in building a number? The fastest team gets a point!

Start the music up again and play for as long as you'd like!

chairs via container store

Slingshots and Catapults

Demonstrate projectile motion, exertion, force, velocity, potential / kinetic energy, and angles with slingshots and catapults! How much force is needed to project objects of different weights? What angle will fly your object the farthest? 

As a class, or an individual homework project, have kids design a catapult or slingshot. Experiment using different amounts of force. What angle creates the best launch? Try launching objects of different weights. Did heavier objects need more force and require more energy? Measure the distance of the objects you launch!

Featured above with how to instructions:

Slingshots
Hand Held Classic Slingshot - The Risky Kids. You can also make a pvc pipe hand held slingshot, click here for instructions!
Chair Slingshot - Kitchen Pantry Scientist
Pyramid Slingshot - Visit DIY Life
Construct an oversized slingshot for water balloons, balls, toys or anything else you'd like to launch! Visit Instructables, click here and here for two different designs! You can also purchase one from SSWW (featured above).
Indoor Slingshot - Design Squad Nation

Catapults
Ping Pong Ball Scoop Catapult, as well as a wide assortment of designs, click here! 
Popsicle Stick Bottle Cap Catapult - Do It and How
Tissue Box Pencil - Disney Family Fun

There are tons of different designs for slingshots and catapults! You can use different components from various designs to create your very own unique launcher!

Now Showing!

Practice telling time while looking up a movie you'd like to see! Have kids find a movie online or in the newspaper. They choose a time that the movie is playing. Next, they draw the starting and ending time on an analog clock, as well as on a digital clock. They record the duration of the movie (the total number of hours and minutes). Then, they design a poster for the flick! Afterwards, they find two other movies and record the time and duration. The other two movies must be different and none of the movies can share the same time. Have kids compare their movie choices. Did anyone choose the same flick? As a class, make a graph of the movies the kids chose. What movie was the most popular? 

Click here for the free printable: https://drive.google.com/file/d/106RIoF0l5CoFKkcn9uihN8qL8AAswVLg/view?usp=sharing

Pea Pods - Similarities and Differences

Do all pea pods contain the same number of peas? The pea pod experiment fits right into Common Core's Life Science: Behavior, Growth, and Changes. This demonstration shows kids that even though pea pods come from the same plant, they're not all alike.

ESTIMATE - Lay out pea pods, all varying in size, and have kids make a prediction. Do long, thin pea pods contain the most peas or do short, fatter ones? Will pea pods of the same length have the same amount of peas? 

MEASURE - Measure the pods and sort them by size.

TALLY - Have kids tally how many peas are in different pods. Make sure they draw a picture or write a description of the pod near their tally marks for each pod, accuracy is important!

What were your findings? Did similar pods contain the same number of peas? Could you predict which pods would contain the most peas just by looking at the size and shape? Does size and shape even play a role in how many peas are in a pod?

Conclusion: Plants of the same species aren't always the same.