Experiments – The Teaching Texan

Animal STEAM Activity for Kids

theteachingtexan — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 15:08:33 +0000

Last week I shared 5 ways that hoopla digital makes lesson planning for STEAM so much easier. If you missed that post, I highly recommend reading it FIRST, then returning to this post. Don’t worry – I linked this post for you at the end of the previous post so you can find your way back!

Now that you know WHY hoopla digital makes lesson planning easier, I want to show you HOW to use it!

First off, searching for resources is SO EASY. You literally type in the title you are looking for into the search bar at the top and hit search. You can even specify if you would like to find an eBook, audiobook, movie, or more. Once you find what you’re looking for, you simply “borrow” it and everything you check out is stored in a digital library right on hoopla digital so you can easily access it.

I’ve seriously been in awe at the wide array of resources that are available on hoopla. I’ve searched and searched for all sorts of titles for all kinds of lesson ideas, and guess what? I can always find exactly what I’m looking for!

How does hoopla digital increase student engagement?

So, let me tell you friends, the benefits don’t stop with my experience with hoopla. Student engagement is where it’s at! I love that hoopla digital offers the ability to project a book, making it large enough for students to see and follow along. Anytime I’m able to make things larger and easier for students to see, I immediately see an increase in engagement.

I also love that if students have different interests on a particular topic (and don’t they always) that you can borrow ebooks and audiobooks that fit their needs. Think about your Listen to Reading center – what if you could tailor audiobooks that matched your STEAM curriculum? Well, you can with hoopla!

What are my favorite titles available on hoopla?

Well, there are truly SO many, but here are a few:

Like I mentioned before, their resource library is MASSIVE!

In fact, I got so excited about what hoopla has to offer that I created another free lesson plan for you!

Using “Mechanimals” by Chris Tougas, available right on hoopla digital, students will work through the five step engineering process – (1) Ask, (2) Imagine, (3) Plan, (4) Create, and (5) Improve – to answer the challenge question: How can we design a mechanical animal that will perform a specific job for a farmer?

In this STEAM experience, students will create a mechanical animal that helps the farmer with a job of the student’s choice. Talk about opening the doors for your students to get creative!

You can truly go mild to wild with what materials students build with – from cut paper to clay, recyclables, and more. I made this turkey mechanical animal that has tons of eyes that act as cameras to help the farmer patrol for predators entering the farm – y’all literally ideas and creativity will be flowing through your kiddos’ minds!

Grab your free copy of this lesson plan guide by joining my email list below. You’ll be sent the password to visit the Freebies section of my website.

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Bouncy Balls and Chemistry in the Primary Grades? A Step by Step How-to Guide

theteachingtexan — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 23:12:00 +0000

Who doesn’t love bouncy balls? Especially bouncy balls that are a DIY and fit into science, math, and writing?! This is so perfect for talking about states of matter and what happens when you mix solids and liquids. Build that foundation for chemistry people! This idea came straight from the KOSMOS Stem Teacher Institute that I attended this summer (but I know it’s also floating around on Pinterest)!

Here’s a simple run down of how you can make bouncy balls with your class or child!

Roll up those sleeves y’all, this one can be a bit messy!

First, you’ll want to gather these ingredients and supplies. I found them all at a local grocery store for about $10, but you might be able to find them cheaper elsewhere (don’t bother looking at Dollar General for Borax – they don’t carry it). The amount listed below will make ONE bouncy ball.

1/2 cup warm water

1 tablespoon Borax

2 tablespoons white liquid glue

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Liquid food coloring (I’ve heard liquid watercolors work well, too)

2 bowls or cups

Measuring cups/spoons

Start by adding the warm water to a bowl. Be sure the water is quite warm or the borax will not dissolve properly.

Next, add 1 tablespoon of Borax to the water and gently stir until it dissolves.

In the other bowl add 2 tablespoons of white liquid glue, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, and food coloring. This is such a fantastic time to bring in art and talk about mixing colors to achieve desired results!

Gently mix the glue, cornstarch, and coloring together until you have a smooth mixture.

Poor the contents of the first bowl (water and Borax) into the bowl with the glue mixture.

Quickly stir as the mixture will harden very quickly.

When you’ve got a clump in the liquid, go ahead and use your hands to pull it from the spoon.

Rub the clump between your hands until it begins to form a ball.

There will be a period where the ball becomes very sticky – this is normal!

When the ball is no longer sticky you are ready to give it a bounce!

I absolutely adore this activity for talking about states of matter (solids and liquids) in the primary grades. It’s also just plain fun!

You can read more about my inspiration for this post by reading about my experience at the KOSMOS Stem Teacher Institute by clicking [here]!

If you want more ideas for hands-on science activities, check out one of my FAVORITE Pinterest board below.

Ready for Takeoff: My Experience with Project-Based Learning and the Solar System Part 2

theteachingtexan — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 22:41:00 +0000

Recently I wrote a blog post sharing how I tackled my first experience with project-based learning outside of our science block. My first PBL unit was anchored in the solar system. You can read more about that [here]. You can also check out more info about PBL and why I use it [here].

Today I’d love to share how the PBL unit looked during our science block.

In case you missed my first post on this unit, our challenging question was this:

Everything we did was anchored in answering this open-ended question! One thing I learned during a PBL networking event was that a good challenging questions is NOT Google-able and can lead to sustained inquiry. Definitely keep those things in mind when creating your own PBL unit.

During our science block we started out our unit by talking about the moon (we kept the entire unit focus on things we can see in the sky). We use [Crayola Model Magic] and plastic balls to create a model of the moon.

When we were learning about the moon the kids became super interested in what the moon was made out of and why it looks different in the sky on different nights. I created a few QR codes the kids could scan that linked to a Google Doc with pictures and videos to satisfy their desire to learn about what the moon was made out of.

To explore the phases of the moon, I gathered materials for a classic and hands-on demonstration.

You can learn more about how to do this demonstration in my [Ready for Takeoff] unit!

When we learned about the sun we wanted to bring in a little more art. The result? Puffy paint suns! All you need is shaving cream, red/orange/yellow food coloring, tooth picks, wax paper, and cardstock!

Moving into other stars the kids become super interested in constellations. We talked about the origins of constellations and even created our own using watercolor paint!

To wrap up our unit we revisited our challenging question (yet again) and answered it to a T!

I learned during this experience to plan the WHOLE PBL unit ahead, then sit back and enjoy the ride. Due to time constraints at the end of the unit, we didn’t end up showcasing our public product to an audience (except for the children showing their parents at home).

If you teach a solar system unit and you’re needing a few more non-fiction resources – check out my [Ready for Takeoff] unit!

I’m so excited to be in the middle of our second PBL unit of the year! What’s this one about?! You’ll have to find out when I post at the end of the year, but here’s a hint: think zoo.

Ready for Takeoff: My Experience with Project-Based Learning and the Solar System Part 1

theteachingtexan — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 12:37:00 +0000

A few days ago I posted about why I use project-based learning (PBL) in my Kindergarten classroom (click [here] to visit the original post). There was a lot of interest in what PBL is and how to implement it. So, today I want to share part one of my first experience with PBL. I can honestly say that there are areas that I need more development on and some steps that need improvement. However, after my first experience with PBL I know that it is an absolute essential in my classroom.

The [Buck Institute for Education] lists 8 key components to consider during the design process of a PBL unit. For the Solar System PBL unit that I am sharing today I did not fully plan the unit before diving in with my students. I’ve since learned that it is best practice -and things go much smoother- if you have the unit completely planned out prior to beginning it. This allows you sit back and enjoy the ride with your kiddos.

While a PBL topic can be centered in any subject area (math, science, ELA, etc.), it really is integrated into all subject areas. Our solar system project was clearly centered in science, but integrated across our curriculum. Here’s a look at how the unit was integrated into other areas beyond science. Check back later this week to see what the unit looked like during our actual science block.

The planning for the unit began by taking a look at the previous solar system unit of years past, as well as the [NGSS]. After digging through all of this and researching solar system PBL units online, I settled on this challenging question:

The challenging question in PBL guides learning and all activities, lessons, and learning experiences link back to helping to answer the challenging question. A good rule of thumb is that the challenging question should not be “Google-able” meaning you can’t simply search for the answer on Google. The goal for this unit and challenging question was to keep the focus of the unit on things we can see in the sky from Earth (the sun, moon, stars, constellations).

With the challenging question decided on I started planning our learning experiences. If you take a look at the planning forms available on the [BIE website] you’ll notice a space for an “Entry Event.” The entry event is a highly-engaging experience to kick off a PBL unit. At the networking event I attended several examples were given of entry events, but they can range from a guest speaker, Skype session with an expert, field trip, or even a simple read aloud. The important thing is to hook your students into the unit and get them excited.

For our solar system unit I found a great entry event that allowed the students to go on a virtual recreation of the Apollo 11 mission. This was originally planned as a learning experience rather than the entry event, but our guest speaker fell through. Flexibility people!

The Apollo 11 recreation was designed by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and the coolest thing about it is that you can view real pictures from the mission, listen to actual transmission between the astronauts and NASA, and you get to move through it at your own pace. We split the mission up into several days. But let me tell you, by the time we were finished with our entry event every single kid in my class was ready to learn more!

If you’re interested in the virtual Apollo 11 mission, you can find it [here].

Once our unit was up and running I used trade books, QR codes, and apps to let the kids conduct their own research. This helped satisfy the student voice and choice aspect of PBL. During our lessons on the sun and the moon I created QR codes that led to a variety of media (pictures, videos, websites) and let the children choose what they wanted to research.

Because a PBL unit extends throughout content areas, we used some Writer’s Workshop time to craft letters to astronauts. The kids were so excited to learn about both of our astronauts and then write letters to them. While we did not receive letters back in my classroom, a teammate did receive an autographed picture back. There wasn’t a kid in Kindergarten who wasn’t over the moon!

You can find information about how to write to an astronaut on the NASA website [here].

Two other cross-curricular activities (math) during the unit were creating spacecraft from 2D shapes and taste-testing astronaut food then graphing our favorite.

We are fortunate to have a shared space between all 4 Kindergarten classrooms that houses a Makerspace. We’ve been trying out the Makerspace idea during Free Choice time.

During our solar system unit the children planned their own spacecraft with the requirements of an energy source, communication device, container, and science instruments. The rest was up to them. After designing the spacecraft on paper, the students built their spacecraft using all sorts of recycled materials. This was a great learning experience for the children to see that plans on paper don’t always pan out, and that it is a good practice to return to plans to see if there are parts missing.

That’s pretty close to a wrap on learning experiences related to our solar system unit that didn’t happen during the science block. Truly integrating the unit into all content areas led to a much deeper understanding of the sun, moon, and stars than I could have ever hoped for.

During this unit I created a non-fiction unit that provides more information about the sun, stars, and the moon. This unit is full of leveled readers, close reads, magazine pages, and more! While this unit isn’t a PBL unit itself, it is a resource that is perfect for learning during a PBL unit. Check it out by clicking [here] or clicking the picture below.

I hope that this post has been helpful for you and has maybe even inspired you to venture into the land of PBL yourself! Don’t forget to check back later this week to see what this unit looked like during our science block.

Monday Motivation: Making Recycled Paper

theteachingtexan — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 22:21:00 +0000

Happy Monday!

I always say that October is absolutely my favorite month of the year, but for some reason it seems to be the busiest as a teacher. Maybe it’s the first round of report cards/development records, parent conferences, or a host of other things. It’s likely the combination of it all, but I’m forcing myself to make time for things I enjoy – like blogging.

Since it’s a Monday, why not share some Monday Motivation?!

We’ve been marching through our tree unit in science for some time now. We have wrapped up the structure and function of various tree parts and moved into tree products. You can learn more about some of our other tree activities [here].

As we near the end of our tree unit, I thought it was important to talk about the impact that cutting trees down to make paper has on our world. Even more, what impact does all the paper waste have?!

After using a couple of trade books to illustrate how paper was made centuries ago and how landfills have filled with paper products (amongst other recyclable trash), we dove into creating our own recycled paper.

This may seem like an impossible stretch for a Kindergarten classroom – but I promise the kids absolutely LOVE it, and it really helps them see how much effort it takes to recycle just a small amount of paper. (We’ve been discussing using paper wisely so there is less waste, but we still have a huge tub of scrap paper. I’m sure not a single Kindergarten teacher out there is surprised about that!)

If you’d like to re-create this activity in your classroom you’ll need: scrap paper (construction paper, cardstock, newspaper, magazines, etc), a blender, felt, sponges, 2 $1 frames from Michael’s, screen (can purchase at Home Depot or Lowes), tubs filled halfway with water (big enough to submerge the frames).

I grouped my kiddos by their table groups to decide on a color for their recycled paper from the scrap paper we had available. We had construction paper, cardstock, white printer paper, and some newspaper. All 4 groups ended up mixing several colors to see what the outcome would be.

We needed all hands on deck to rip the paper into smaller pieces to make the blending process go a little more smoothly. I don’t have an exact amount of paper vs. water ratio, but I’ll say air on the side of more paper – you can always add more water to the blender AND you squeeze the water out in a future step, so you really can’t use too much.

I operated the blenders while the kiddos helped “hold” the lids on. Lets be honest, the lids weren’t going anywhere, but keeping them involved in the process was important!

After we had a nice looking “pulp,” we added a bit of glitter to the mixtures as well as some seeds. The seeds add texture AND the kiddos were excited to know they could plant the recycled paper and grow plants from it.

I poured a bit of the pulp onto each groups’ frame apparatus. These are just two $1 frames from Michael’s (one that has screen attached and one without). The screened frame acts as a sieve to allow water to drain out while the top frame acts as a mold for the paper’s shape.

After the pulp is poured, the kiddos used sponges to help flatten the pulp and push out extra water.

I helped them transfer the wet paper to a piece of felt (absorbs more of the water) by flipping it onto the felt. It takes a good day or two to completely dry, unless you use a blow dryer or iron on low heat with a barrier between it and the paper.

The finished product looks a little something like this. I know there are ways to make it thinner, flatter, etc. but for the purpose of our lesson this was just fine! Sometimes keeping things simple (as hard as it may be) is really the best.

This makes a great addition to a unit about trees, recycling, or even for Earth Day! Happy October y’all!

Monday Motivation: Exploring Trees and Bark

theteachingtexan — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 22:58:00 +0000

Welcome to the return of my weekly blog series, Monday Motivation!

Now that I’ve gotten into the “groove” so to speak at my new school, I feel like it’s time to kick off my Monday Motivation series. This series is all about lesson ideas, classroom tips, behavior management ideas, and more! Make sure to follow my blog if you’d like to keep up with this series.

On to the good stuff…

As a bit of background, we’re in the midst of our Tree Unit in science. We’ve reviewed concepts the kiddos learned in Pre-K about trees – needs, basic parts of a tree, etc. This week we dove deeper into trees by exploring tree bark. Using some hands-on centers to anchor our learning, I think my kiddos came away with a solid understanding of what bark can look like, why trees have bark, and a basic intro as to how it is formed.

Here’s a look at 4 centers focused on exploring bark. They’re easy to set up and lead to GREAT conversation!

Using modeling clay or [Crayola Model Magic], students press and roll tree cookies to create imprints of tree bark. This is a great way to explore how different types of trees create bark that make different imprints. It’s also a fantastic activity because you can leave the clay out to dry for a cute take-home piece.

A large function of tree bark is protection of the tree from outside elements (like the skin of a human). To help illustrate how tree bark keeps things out, students hypothesized how many water drops it would take for water to soak through tree bark. Then, they tested their hypotheses.

I definitely recommend using a piece of bark that is large enough to place across the top of a bowl (as in the second picture above) because it keeps the bark out of any water that runs off the bark. Kiddos can pick up the bark and see that it takes quite a few drops (and some patience) for the water to soak through to the other side of the bark. Even then, it doesn’t simply run through.

Another simple, yet effective, center is observing tree bark using touch, hearing, sound, and sight. Adding in hand lenses, or magnifying glasses, is even better. The kiddos started to notice things beyond the bark – marks on the wood layer, what looks like tunnels, etc. Perfect priming for us to move into the cambium layer and xylem/phloem next week!

Last week I went outside one day after school and took pictures of the bark of several trees right around our classroom. I printed and laminated these to create a tree bark matching activity. This center is super versatile! Students can go outside in teams (with adult supervision) to try and find the tree that each picture matches. This led to some of the best conversation of the day because students were unknowingly using great description words to justify why a certain picture match a tree or not.

I’m fortunate enough to have an assistant that was able to go outside with groups, but I know many teachers don’t have an extra set of adult eyes. Therefore, this could be done with a whole class. Additionally, you can make two sets and students can match the pictures in class OR sort them by characteristics they observe.

I hope that these centers will be useful to you or at least spark an idea for your classroom! If you have any hands-on activities for exploring trees, please share! I love new ideas!

Looking for more resources to add to your Tree Unit? Check out my [Think Green: A Non-Fiction Tree Unit] resource! It’s packed full of resources to build vocabulary, boost writing, and increase comprehension of non-fiction texts/concepts.

5 for Friday: Unexpected 3-day weekend?!

theteachingtexan — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 12:47:00 +0000

Hi y’all! It’s 7:00 am on a Friday, and I am still sitting at home drinking coffee! Why? Well, Dallas had a storm last night that has knocked out power over much of East Dallas. As it happens, my school is one of the schools without power, so now school today! Happy Friday for sure!

I thought that since I’m already up that I’d link up with [DoodleBugs] for her 5 for Friday linky.

Here are my 5 randoms from this week!

One occurrence from this week is first and foremost in my mind right now…

A little background first… 2 Teachers who transferred from other districts have put in their 2 weeks notice. I don’t know all of the details on their choices to leave the district, but I would venture to guess that it’s because DISD has a lot more “extra” stuff to do than their previous districts. So, yesterday my principal called me into her office.

I immediately knew why…

She proceeded to tell me that she was 99% sure that she would be moving me to the 4th grade Math position that is opening. WHY OH WHY??? I have no experience in 4th grade and no experience teaching a tested grade/subject. I finally feel like me feet are underneath me since I am in 1st grade again. I don’t want that feeling of being in the dark feeling again. I could understand if my classroom was being disbursed due to lack of enrollment, but it’s not. Another teacher would come in to take my current class. Math is also the tested subject in 4th grade in Texas, can you say mega pressure?

This morning I typed up a long e-mail explaining why I did not think that moving me was good for the students or my personal life. Fingers and toes are crossed that I can stay where I am.

On the brighter side (literally), I purchased my first set of Scentos this week!

I have been using them during Daily 5 with my small groups, and the LOVE them. I’m all about adding in those little extra things to help my kiddos get excited about learning.

For most of this 6 weeks in Science we have been learning about classifying matter. It’s been a slew of classifying by color, shape, size, texture, weight, etc etc etc. This week we focus on viscosity and fluidity of liquids. I was a little worried about using these terms with my kiddos, but they did great because of the hands-on experiments.

The kiddos got to test fluidity and viscosity of several liquids using aluminum foil as a makeshift ramp. They timed home long it took for the liquid to travel from the top of the foil to the bottom. I modeled this whole process one day, then let the kiddos do it themselves the following day.

We were going to wrap up fluidity and viscosity with a fun experiment today of making a rainbow in a jar – but maybe we can move this to Monday! I did it last year with my kiddos and they were in awe! You can find the directions for that experiment [here].

This next “random” actually happened last week, but who’s checking? I whipped up a [My Hispanic Heritage Book] to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage month! The kids had a blast learning about important Hispanic leaders such as Sonia Sotomayor, Cesar Chavez, Ellen Ochoa, and more! I think it is so important to show students of diverse backgrounds what people of similar backgrounds have accomplished. It was definitely an inspiring week of Social Studies!

This week I created [My College Book] to celebrate college week at school. Each day during Social Studies we have been learning about what college is, colleges across Texas, and the college around the country. Today would have been “Dress Like Your Future Career” day, but the power outage says differently.

I love being able to share a bit about college with my first graders. I know that when I was young I had no clue what college was.

That’s about it for this week. Off to enjoy my unexpected 3-day weekend! Happy Friday y’all!