Picnic Fractions

For a math station, set up a picnic basket of food (images for kids to cut). Students plan a picnic, create food fractions (use a ruler and scissors), glue food fractions on a paper plate, and write the fraction for each item. Kids are not only practicing their fraction skills, but division too!

Frac-Geo-Bot (Fractions, Geometry, Robot)

Frac-Geo-Bot is a fun math activity for kids to get creative. They design a robot out of various polygons. Then, they figure out the fraction for each shape and color. Older kids can design more complex bots, like the one below. Younger kids can create simpler bots, using basic shapes.

Magnetism

Featured Above:
1. Electromagnet and many more experiments with magnetism - Steve Spangler
2. Magnetism and Matter - Learning Ideas K-8 (magnet tested with a solid, liquid, and gas)
3. Magnetic Needle (Compass) - Arvind Gupta. Also, check out other magnetism experiments by Arvind Gupta here! 
4. Magnetic Money - Primer
5. Hanging Compass - LooLeDo (featured above) and Education
6. Magnetic Skeleton - Arvind Gupta
7. Magnetic Cereal - Steve Spangler

More! :
8. Basic Floating Compass - how stuff works and Steve Spangler
9. Magnetism Workbox - lots of cool experiments for kids from Karmamatopoeia
10. Magnetic Thinking Putty
11. Paint with magnets - from BIA SFClubhouse

Ready, Set... ACTION!

Xtranormal - Kids can get creative with camera shots, sounds, and their character's movement and speech! This free web 2.0 tool is fun and easy for kids to use. Kids can choose different scenes and add music. Animoto, Photo Peach, Vuvox, and Kizoa are simple, free slideshow creators for educators and students.

Project Examples:

1. Have kids create a book trailer!

Below is a quick slideshow example I made in iMovie. Kids can easily make a book trailer using any of the web 2.0 slide creators listed above.

2. Photo Peach

Example: Jack's Trade by E is for Explore (Key details in a piece of literature / Social Studies, Needs vs. Wants). 

3. Animoto (only permitted 30 seconds free)

Example: little BLUE by E is for Explore (Introduce Water Cycle for comic strip project)

S.T.E.M.

1. S.T.E.M. Sites:
eGFI - great site for S.T.E.M. resources for the classroom. Click "teachers" link for projects
EIA Energy Kids - lots of cool science experiments and printable lesson plans in pdf format
I-STEM Resource Network - numerous lesson plans, experiments, and activities for elementary

PBS Kids Design Squad Nation -  teacher resources for S.T.E.M. activities. The site includes electricity, force / energy, simple machines, and many more categories that can tie into your Project Based Learning lesson plans.

Click here for Urban Design projects: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dOUdmDhYxbrTVDiddMi-siVFqbsQCk22/view?usp=sharing

Explore angles, gravity, and friction by making your own Zip Line with Design Squad Nation:



3. The Math Lab explored gravity by creating a bungee cord for Barbie dolls to go on a thrilling adventure! This is a great activity for students to use their measuring skills. Through trial and error, they determine the best length for the cord (made of rubberbands).

barbie head photo credit: Tracheotomy Bob - flickr cc

4. Mrs. Davis, from Birmingham k12, had her class build "Out of this World Vehicles!" Students pretended that they were engineers and designed / constructed a lunar vehicle that could carry lunar rocks (wooden blocks) for a specific distance and timeframe. Check out the lesson plan here! Also, take a look at Mrs. Bushnell's 4th Grade's design / motion challenge (featured below) and Drew's Animals' rover!

photo credit: Mrs. Bushnell's 4th Grade

What Can You Do With A Leaf?!

Leaf Surface Area - Practice non-standard measuring with leaves, great way to introduce the concept of area. Visit Kindergarten Lessons for more details and measuring ideas! PBS has a fun activity that integrates science and math. Kids shine a flashlight on a leaf and trace its shadow on grid paper to find the area of a leaf!

Leaf Symmetry - Check out the cool art project Beautiful Ideas did!

Science - Is a Green Leaf Really Green? Click here to find out! Also, check out Exploring Life Community's photosynthesis experiment!
Create a Leaf Skeleton - ehow

Descriptive Writing - "Meet My Leaf, " free printable from Scholastic
Leaf Descriptions - Set up a leaf station in your classroom. Kids work in pairs. One child describes a leaf. The other child has to find the correct leaf. This activity is a great way for kids to learn the importance of detail (adjectives) and comprehension (listening skills).

Leaf Hunt, Tally, Graph, Fractions - Classic activity that's always popular with young students. Go on a leaf hunt outside around the school yard. Have kids tally their leaves. Then, as a class, graph your findings! Afterwards, have kids write the fraction for each color found. Younger kids could also practice their patterning skills with colored leaves.

Leaf Art - Who doesn't like leaf rubbings! If kids color nicely, they could show leaf transformations for a geometry unit. Have them use one leaf and make their rubbings in different colors. Leaf texture via Jimmie Homeschool Mom - flickr commons

Number Operation: Place Value

Practice place value by roleplaying surgeons in the classroom! Give kids a number written in expanded form. They have to cut it apart and magically transform the number into standard form! They tape the number together and add a band-aid for the comma. If you are working with decimals, use square band-aids for the period. 

Similar activities: place value snake and contraction surgery

Mr. Potato Head Math

Students roll 2 dice and practice addition with 2 one-digit addends. They refer to the sheet below to see what part of Mr. Potato Head to add next. The sum of the dice determines what part to insert.

I'm an Expert at...

Get students acquainted the first week of school, by having them go around the room and find someone who is an "expert" at one of the categories below (for each of the categories). Drag or save to your desktop to print.

Reading Musical Chairs

Miss Sporn's Class sparked kids' interest in reading with the game musical chairs! Lay a book on each chair and turn on some music. When the music stops, kids plop in the nearest chair and check out the book in their seat! Click here to see Miss Sporn's class in action (video included)!

chairs via bambino goodies

For more twists on the game musical chairs, check out place value musical chairs and musical clocks!

Candybar Election

Which candybar will get the most votes? Divide class in 2 (or 3) - First have kids choose candy-dates (candidates), design posters / create mini commercials (ad campaigns), have debates, sample, and cast their vote! Click here for detailed instructions from Cool Cub Scout Pack Meeting Ideas. Check out the activity in action at Momnaction, and Eat.Sleep.Teach (lesson sold for a fee).

3 in a Row: Vocab.

Classic Spelling Tic Tac Toe: Kids choose three activities in a row, to do with their spelling or sight word list throughout one week.

1. Word War aka vocabulary war - explains rules
2. Fraction Words - count up the total number of letters in their word. Then count the vowels and consonants and write a fraction for the vowels and consonants.
3. Word Worth 
4. Word Search - puzzle maker, create a word search and solve it (or have a friend try to find your words)
5. Word Cloud - create a design using your spelling words
6. ABC Order Words - Type words on the computer or write them out in alphabetical order
7. Word Patterns - Write letters of each word in different colors to create various patterns.
8. Scrabble Words (free printable tiles, as well as other nice looking freebies)
9. Flash Words - flashcard maker, also use for word war. Kids could simply write words on index cards if they don't have access to a computer or printer at home.

What's Living In Your Area?

photo credit: treehouse 1977 - flickr cc

E-nature Zip Guides - Discover the various plants and animals that reside in your area! You can also search endangered or poisonous species. Earth's Endangered is another endangered species search engine, easy for kids to use, that lists animals in their region.

EOL - has lots of biodiversity experiments for kids to conduct in their own backyard! Their tools section includes fun ways to implement technology into science lessons. Kids can also create customized field guides, build / explore ecosystems with an interactive tool, and create their own bingo games.

The Butterfly Site lists butterflies found in each US state.

Once you discover the different plants, animals, and insects in your area, see if you can find them!

Forget X's and O's

Replace X's and O's with synonyms and antonyms in the classic game TIC TAC TOE. One player thinks up synonyms for the given word. Player two has to come up with antonyms. Great way to expand kids' vocabulary!

Name Synonyms

photo via anna langova: public domain

What does your name mean? Can you find synonyms for your name's meaning?

REWRITE!

Practice using a thesaurus by rewriting a simple song or poem. Check out Oh' Boy 4th Grade and Brannack's Bobcats take on The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Brannack's Bobcats demonstrate how to use VoiceThread in an elementary classroom (click slideshow link)! Students broadcasted their version, so parents could view all the kids' work and hear their voice. Voice Thread is a fantastic, free tool because parents are able leave a comment on students' work (text, video, or audio commentary).

BOGGLE for the Smart Board

How many letters can you chain together to form a word? Point value: 3-4 letters = 1 point, 5 = 2 points, 6 = 3 points, 7 = 5 points, 8 or more = 11 points. Goal: Try to form as many words as you can before time runs out! Visit Teacher Led for a free letter generator to project on the Smart Board (just click the Go button)! Click here for Boggle Rules from Hasbro.

A Day in the Life of ...

Class 12 students wrote from the point of view of their class fish! This project got me inspired to have students tweet what the class pet is thinking, feeling, or viewing each day on twiducate. Twiducate is like twitter, but it's kid-friendly. It's a safe environment, no predators or obscenity. Plus, student's info is protected. Encourage students to get creative with their tweets. Kids will have a blast reading what their peers come up with, just make sure to tell kids to be nice (nothing derogatory about the pet).

Another idea for the classroom is to start a profile page on edmodo (facebook for kids) for your pet. Students can leave the class pet a message! 

If you'd like to create a writing prompt about your pet or have a different student helper write a weekly update from the pet's point of view, like Class 12, you could create a class blog. Kidblog is a blogging site for students. Like twiducate and edmodo, kidblog is completely kid-friendly. Plus all of these web 2.0 tools are free!

Let's Rock Fractions!

Create a rock band of fractions! Afterwards, have your students create an avatar of one of the band members in voki! 

Gaming in the Classroom

photos via nintendo and xbox

Kids nowadays are extremely tech-saavy, to keep them engaged in lessons, as well as out of their seats and moving, bring a piece of their world to the classroom - video games! There are lots of educational games for Wii and XBox. What's great about these tech tools is that they promote movement and motion!


Wii
Great post from Teach Hub! Visit the site to check out ways to use video games that relate to the common core standards! Link includes:
- Make your own Smart Board for $50
- Endless Oceans - Marine Life (featured above)

- Wild Earth African Safari - Combine Science and Geography

- Big Brain Academy - Problem Solving

- Also, check out Squidoo for the latest learning games from Wii

XBox Kinect

- Body and Brain Connection (featured above) - Students use their body to solve math problems. Example: Move your arms to show greater than and less than, when comparing equations. Check out the game in action here!

- Avatar Kinect - Students can practice their reading and presenting skills without feeling self conscious. Click here for a demo!

- Yoostar - (green-screen system) Kids can give presentations from all over the world, even on the moon! Link provides student sample work.

- Other games: 

Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster

National Geographic Challenge!

Kinect Adventures

Kinectimals

Kinect Fun Labs

Kinect Sports - even sports require math skills!

Kid QR Codes

Free QR Code Generator: KAYWA is a fantastic tool for the classroom. It's super easy to use! Kids simply insert a url, text, phone number, or sms in a box to generate a QR code for free!  Students can embed their QR code or download it as an image, cut it out, and paste it wherever they want around the classroom! Kids have a blast scanning QR codes! 

Ways to use QR Codes with Kids:

1. Teachers can set up various learning stations around the classroom with different codes. Children can scan the code to take them to a variety of online activities. What's great about using codes is that students don't have to remember a website address. QR codes make access to online games and learning activities quick and easy. Students can use an ipad to scan the code and access the games. All you need is an app, such as i-nigma.  

2. Learning badges - If students do really well on a spelling test, they can scan a code and be awarded a spelling badge. Many people would say why bother, just give the students a sticker or a stamp! However, I think the process of scanning and earning a surprise badge is much more exciting than earning a sticker! 

3. Scavenger hunts - Students can work in teams, scan the codes (which would be set up at different stations or locations), and receive a clue that will lead them to the next destination. iLearn Technology demonstrates how to conduct a QR code scavenger hunt. If you've never visited this site you must! It has so many ways to implement technology into your classroom. It is always up to date on the newest web 2.0 tools as well. 

4. Inside the Classroom Outside the Box had the idea of putting QR codes on books in the classroom. Each student created a QR code for a book they read. The QR Code revealed their  recommendation for the book. They even made mini book trailers using iMovie! Check out the site for more QR code ideas!

5. Sample work -  you can also create codes for students who would like to see a good example of work. If they are questioning a project assignment or need a few ideas, they can scan the code to view examples of excellent work.

6. QR code generator makes the classroom greener. Teachers can post instructions to an assignment and notes, without wasting paper. 


Overall, QR codes make access to online links quick and efficient. Also, they make learning fun! Students are used to traditional teaching methods of earning a sticker or a happy face when they produce good work. They have also been exposed to scavenger hunts that lead them from clue to clue written on a strip of paper or a post-it note. QR codes make activities more interesting. Moreover, if you are working with pre-readers, QR codes are more universal for students who are struggling with reading. A QR code will take them right to their game destination without having to be able to read and type in a web address.