Matter, Matters!!! We made Butter!!

We had a great week in Science.  As many of you know, I just started a 3rd grade position on Jan 2! Well, at our school we teach a nine week rotation of Science/Social Studies and then we switch to another homeroom and teach it again.  I can't wait to get  the whole way through 1 rotation.

I have the joy of teaching Physical Science, so we started this week with "What is Matter?"  I really wanted to get their attention right away. What a better way than with a Science experiment!!  Making butter!!! Showing a liquid to a solid.

Materials:
small glass jars with very tight lids-I used baby food jars!!
Heavy Whipping Cream
Lots of arm movement!!

I pour  heavy cream into the jars so they are halfway filled.  This is key, because you want to incorporate some air into the shaking process.  I have 4 groups of tables, each group got 1 jar and they shook it for about 1 minute and then I would have them switch.

10mins later (or so!!) We looked to see what was in each jar.....2 were whipped cream (less energy applied while shaking) 2 turned to butter (more energy applied while shaking) Kids loved this quick, easy and cheap experiment!!

Wonderful Math Review and TPT Sale!!!

I have been looking for a Math review to use in my classroom that doesn't take up a ton of time!!  I couldn't wait to try  Mrs Nutter's Math Review Worksheets.

 What I loved about them is that the layout is easy for the kids to write in to work out the problem.  It gives 4 problems everyday that reviews a previously taught math skill. I gave the students 6-8 mins to complete the problems.  Most of them were done in under 5 mins. We then reviewed them as a class so that everyone understood all the concepts.  We had the whole review done in under 10 mins.

You could use these as on overhead transparency or scan them to your computer and use them on the Smartboard.  I found using them on the Smartboard easier because then I only had one file and not alot of overheads.

Check out Mrs. Nutter's other items!!! on TPT!!  She also has an amazing blog with great ideas...hop on over and check it out!!

Ready Readers

    I am also have a 20% off sale on my TPT store!! 

TPT STORE!!!

Thanks to Jessica Stanford for organizing this wonderful product swap!!  Check out the link to the other reviews of amazing products to use in your classroom!

Moving to 3rd Grade!!!

I know most of you think that I fell of the face of the earth these last few weeks.  But it has been a whirl wind for me professionally!  I am so excited to be moving to 3rd grade starting Jan 2!!  I adore all the staff and students at this school and I can't wait to be there!  So I am taking a little break to get ready for Christmas and my new classroom! I will post pictures once I am all organized. 

Merry Christmas to all!!

Gingerbread Fun and a SALE!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We enjoyed our day with family and lots of food!!

I finally finished my Gingerbread Unit!  Every time I turned around, I wanted to add something to it!  This unit really came out of necessity as our distric implemented a new "no food" policy due to allergies. My kiddos always enjoyed creating their Gingerbreadhouses, so I had to think outside of the box.  There are several activites that go with this unit,

Glyph~ I asked basic questions and depending on their answer they used various pieces of the house to create their own "Gingerbread House". 

 I then have them write a persausive paragraph trying to "SELL THAT HOUSE!!" after they have brainstormed with their graphic organizer. 

My biggest challenge was how to add in the Math element.  I used to give my 5th graders a set budget and each piece of the Gingerbread house was worth a certain value. They "bought" the pieces of their house from the "store" (me!!) and then constructed the house. They kept track in a budget worksheet which had to be submitted with the house.  So how do I do that now that food can't be brought into school?  Well, I just used seperate pictures of the Gingerbread house and assigned a value to them.  They still had to "buy" them from the store and construct their house on construction paper instead.  I also gave them various math task cards to have them calculate the various costs of the pieces. 

 

 

 

If you are interested in checking out all the pieces included in this unit, head over to my TPT store by following this link.  



 

 

 

Teachers Pay Teacher is having a wonderful Cyber Monday and extra Tuesday sale!! Get up to 28% off my items these two days.  Just go to my store and then use the promo code below.

 

 



Hurricane Sandy and TPT Sale!!

Well everyone, looks like all of us on the East Coast are home from school for tomorrow and even Tuesday here in Pa.  So how about some shopping on TPT!! Iknow alot of other teachers are listing sales through 10/31!!!   

Praying that everyone is safe!!

Fall Fun!!

Boy did it get cold here fast in Pa!!!  We will be so glad when both of our kids sports are finished this week!! I am tempted to take a sleeping bag to their games!!

Things have been busy here with making a transition into teaching for our Gifted Program in our District.  So excited to be working with this group of kiddos!!  We actually have 2 days of Pull Out classes and then we do 2 days of Extented Learning Labs.  ELL is where we go into the top level Math/LA and teach an enrichment lab with hands on activities.  

I recently completed a quick fun and FREE math review game for rounding.  Make sure you grab it to use in your classroom!

Spider Round Up

How to do it all?

Where has this month gone???  I am currently teaching 1st grade for a teacher that has been out since the beginning of school.  I have really enjoyed these younger ones!  But to be honest, I am having a hard time trying to juggle everything with my kids schedules.  One is in Cross Country and the other is in Field Hockey. Both are amazing sports in our district, but BUSY!!!

I have finally finished a unit on Similes and Metaphors that has been in the works for awhile.  This is a unit that I used for my 5th graders a couple of years ago before clip art was so amazing!!  So thanks to several clipart masters!!  I have re-created this unit.  I placed it on my TPT store for those that are interested!  I have found that my 5th graders really needed to see concrete examples of various similes and metaphors.  One activity that seemed to help them make the connection is to take similes and metaphors and have them circle or highlight the items that are being compared.  They always enjoyed creating their own after this lesson.