Science Freebie Bald Eagle Mini-Research Project

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Click here to download this freebie

Hi friends!  I wanted to share with you a fun and easy research project you can do with  your class. It just a quick little research booklet that asks specific questions, and then the children can type those questions into Google to find the answers.

 I've actually done the research part of this in first grade by grouping up my students so the more able readers can help the less able readers.  They were so into researching and finding answers that they were reading far more than they realized! n After they write the answer to the question in a sentence, they can illustrate the answer in the blank space at the top of the page.

With all the eagle cams set up around the country, I find the children are fascinated by observing and keeping an eagle log.  At some point during the day, I will pull up the eagle cam, and we observe the eagles for five minutes or so, then record information into our log. I try to visit at least 3 times a week until at least the first egg hatches.

You can get this free resource in my store by clicking the cover above, or you can visit Teacher's Toolkit store for a round up of free resources for Teacher Treat Tuesday by clicking the picture below.

http://www.teacherstoolkitblog.com/2017/02/teacher-treat-tuesday_21.html

Click here to visit Teacher's Toolkit and score some great teacher treats!

Have a great week, everyone!

Choices, Choices, Choices

Sometimes having too many choices isn't actually the most helpful. We were shopping for a new dress for my 12-year-old daughter yesterday, and she just couldn't make up her mind.  She tried on one dress after another and found so many she liked.  But I had to make her choose just 1.  If there were less choices, that choice might have been a bit easier for her.  Luckily, I was there to give her some recommendations on what fit her best and looked best on her. With help, she was able to finally pick a pretty blue summery dress.

When it comes to picking your homeschool curriculum, you want recommendations from someone who knows. Cathy Duffy is the know-all when it comes to homeschool curriculum. She has reviewed hundreds of homeschool curricula to help educators like me make an educated decision when shopping for homeschool curriculum. So as soon as I see a product has been approved by Cathy Duffy, I am more likely to trust it. Here’s a handful of Cathy-approved educational picks available at Educents.com. I hope these double-recommended educational resources will relieve you from endless hours of shopping around for the best (and most cost-effective) homeschool resources.

Elementary Math & Science

Life of Fred Elementary Math

If you haven't heard of Life of Fred, you're in for a real treat. Dr. Stanley F Schmitt is a math teacher who developed story-based math learning series that has taken homeschooling by storm! Forget rote learning that doesn't resonate: learners follow the Fred and his pals through life and learn math concepts along the way. Kids sometimes don't even know they're learning math until they're told! Each book has a topic, like Apples, Butterflies, and Cats. I recommend supplementing math learning with science of social studies of the same topic!  

Giant Butterly Garden

This ties in with the second Life of Fred book so well! With the set little ones can learn about (and experience!) the miracles of metamorphosis. Available at Educents for $35.99.

Theme for a Day - Johnny Appleseed

Here's a great little theme for a day unit that would go along well with the apples topic.  It includes language arts, math, social studies, and science!  Perfect to use on Johnny Appleseed day to being thematic fun to your homeschool.

Happy shoppping!

Guest Posting on Hameray - Paired Text and the Water Cycle

Hey, everyone, exciting news!  I will be guest bloging on the Hameray Blog about using paired texts to teach various topics using their texts from their Story World, Real World series of books.  My first post can be found by clicking on the picture below!  Enjoy!

My next post will be coming out May 26 about using paired texts to teach about personal safety.

Have a great week!

Super Bowl Non-sale Sale and For-Real Sale

How's that for a title that leaves you scratching your head?

Let's take care of the Non-sale Sale first.  As you know -- or maybe you don't know -- Teachers Pay Teacher is not having a Super Bowl sale this  year.

Don't worry.  Be happy!

But don't worry, be happy!  Some bloggy friends, including myself, have banded together to bring you that Super Bowl sale experience you crave.  Everything in my store will be 20% for tomorrow only (or maybe Monday, too, because I can never get the sale set right to last only one day).  I've got some great new resources in my store that I've really loved using with my kids in both science and language arts, such as: 

If you'd like a sneak peek at the products, you can download my free "Just a Taste" product sampler by clicking the picture below.  It gives a one-page sample of each resource listed.

Now, for the For-Real Sale!  Teacher's Notebook is running a For-Real Super Bowl Sale, where you can get my resources on sale for 25% off, plus Teacher's Notebook will take an additional 10% off applied at the checkout.  I have many, but not all, of the same resources in my Teacher's Notebook store that I have at Teachers Pay Teachers.  You can visit my TN shop by clicking on the picture below.

While you are on Teacher's Notebook, you can enter my giveaway.  I'm giving away two copies of my Valentine Math Resource, Love Me True.  Click the picture below to enter.

If you want to see who else is having a sale on TPT, you can visit Fifth in the Middle's blog and view her linky party.

So that's it for this week.  I hope you have a great weekend, and may the best team win.  I'm pulling for the Steelers to win -- oh, wait, my team isn't in (again) this year.  Sigh.  Well, there's always the commercials and the half-time show.  But since it's always more interesting when you're at least cheering for someone to win, I'm going with Denver.  Who do you want to win?

States of Matter Real-Life Application

Before Christmas break, we were learning about states of matter in first grade science. For Christmas, my husband bought the family a Soda Stream machine. As I played around with it, I thought, "This will be great for a real-life example of solids, liquids, and gasses."

The Soda Steam uses water and flavoring syrup (liquids), you need a cup to drink from, a bottle to hold the soda, and the machine itself (solids), and finally, the most important item to make the soda, a CO2 canister (gas).  It literally encompasses all three states of matter.

I took it to school this past Friday and used this worksheet to go along with the actual making of the soda.  First, we talked about and examined all the necessary items for making the pop.  Then we went through the actual demonstration.  The kids saw the water go from flat to fizzy and understood it was because of the CO2 that was injected into the water.  They saw how the liquids took the shape of their containers, and how they lost their shape when the inevitable spill happened.  I also made this little worksheet to go along with the demonstration.  After the taste testing was finished, the kids completed the worksheet.

If you have a Soda Stream Machine, feel free to grab this little freebie.  It was a memorable day in first grade science!

That explains it!

What a past few days I've had.  The kids have really been wound up.  Then I went outside, and I saw this

Oh, that explains it, and it gives me hope for a calmer next week.  Anyone else notice a change in their kids during the full moon?

In honor of the full moon, here's a science project for you.  I'm selling it in my store, but I'm giving it to you as a thank you for reading my little blog.  It's a moon clock that the kids can use to keep track of the moon phases!

 

Enjoy!