Tried It Tuesday {Intermediate Science}

Only four more days to go until TEN days off!! I think I can...I think I can! As I sit here writing this post, my grades are due today, my walk-in observation can be any day, and I am still mentally exhausted from last week's ELA state tests (which I get to regionally score tomorrow so I need sub plans made still! Yay me!!). Haha! It's always something!

We are staying home for the most part over spring break but are taking a two night trip to an indoor water park with the kids. I am looking forward to playing catch up on many items on the to-do list! I won't be posting a new Tried It Tuesday post next week, but this link up will be open for TWO weeks, so feel free to link up anytime and check back!
Now, it's Time for Tried It Tuesday! 

What have you tried at school or home?

My Tried It:
Intermediate Science
Now that the ELA test is over, our teachers are gearing up for math and science. I can breathe a big sigh of relief since I only teach all the ELA, but wanted to share some great science resources with you today by some of my BBB's!
One topic I taught when I did teach all subjects in fourth grade was physical and chemical changes. I love using videos in the science classroom and found this engaging "Changes Rap" on Youtube.

I also found this great anchor chart example on Pinterest.

This chemical and physical changes SCOOT game by my amazing friend Sabra at Teaching With a Touch of Twang is a great activity to incorporate when teaching this skill!

I love the chart that comes with this pack listing many examples of physical and chemical changes!

The cards are so colorful and REALLY make the students stop and think!

These students actually used this game at a center and I laminated the answer sheet for use with dry erase markers. They each took half of the cards and recorded their answers with different color markers. Then, when they were done, they calculated who had more correct answers! Of course, you can also play whole class SCOOT with the cards too!

Are you looking for a great deal on some fun, engaging intermediate science activities? Check out this amazing deal on Educents! For a limited time, there are NINE intermediate science downloads (including the SCOOT game above) for only $10.99 from Educents (this is about 65% off!).   

Check out all these amazing science products included in this bundle!

And if you have never purchased from Educents before.. they always have a great deal for your first purchase.  

Click here if you are a first time purchaser to take advantage of a  special offer just for you!   

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Message Bread, GIVEAWAY, and Reading Incentives!!

The weeks are just flying by!
I can hardly believe that next week is MAY!!

I am linking up (a day late) with Doodle Bugs Teaching and Amanda from Teaching Maddeness to share some randomness of my week.

1.  Math State Testing

I apologize for not taking any pictures of this momentous event [sarcasm], but we are not allowed to have any communications device including but not limited to (enter a description of about 12 items that we had to read to the students for three days of ELA testing last week and three days of Math state testing this week...I just may have shortened it a little bit by the 4th day!).  If you have not turned over these devices to a teacher or another school official, you must give them to me now.  Does anyone have these devices?  This is your last chance to turn them over to me...

Well, at least the ELA and math tests are over.  Science is at the end of May for the performance and first week of June for the written.   

2.  Toliver's Secret

We started this novel in ELA and the students always love it!  It is about a Patriot spy during the Revolutionary War who has to deliver a spy message but sprains his ankle.  His granddaughter, Ellen Toliver, then has to go on a journey in his place to deliver the message that is contained in a snuffbox baked inside a loaf of bread.  She has many obstacles along the way but finds out that she is really much more courageous than she could have ever thought!  "Toliver's secret" refers to the secret message or to the "secret" that Ellen is really a brave young girl!

We read about Spies and Traitors from this handout from the book, History Pockets: The American Revolution.

The students used the secret code above to write a coded message on a little piece of paper to another classmate.  I bought ready made, rising dough from the freezer section of the grocery store (the students love the smell of the dough and it leads to a good discussion about yeast and kneading).  They put their coded messages inside the dough and we baked them.  When they were baked, everyone got another classmates roll with a secret coded message inside!  To say they were excited is an understatement:)  I forgot to take pictures of them figuring out the messages and eating the nice warm rolls in all the excitement.  They had them right before lunch and you would have thought that the class had never had eaten rolls before.  Although, they were quite good fresh out of the oven! (We are fortunate to have a nutrition center with a full size kitchen just a few steps from my classroom.  I was able to bake them during class and have them fresh out of the oven by the end of class!).

The message was baked hidden inside the roll.

3.  Plant Life

We started our plant life unit this week and planted our Wisconsin Fast growing plants that go from seed to seed in just SIX weeks!  It was a good activity for the week of Earth Day too:)

 We always plant some "experimental" plants (one with no fertilizer, one with no wick, one that doesn't go under the lights, etc.).  The plants stay under florescent lights 24 hours a day and the light gets raised as the plants grow.  I should have taken a picture of the whole assembly and will try to add that to this post next week.

 This is the wicking system that keeps the plants moist.  The plants sits on a mat that absorbs water from the pan below and each plant has a small wicking stick (same materials as the mat) that comes out the bottom of the pot.  The wick extends through the center of the plant and provides constant moisture.

 This is the plant growth and development guide that comes with this unit.  

4.  Reading Incentives

We have a lot of reading incentives that our school participates in.  

Most of my homeroom just earned a free pass to a Six Flags park this summer for reading 7 hours independently over a couple months.

There is now a "Race to Read" reading incentive program where students read just 15 minutes each night for four weeks and earn SIX passes to a family night at the local races.  Each pass is worth about $15 and so many of our families love racing!  Here are some bookmarks and bracelets passed out a an assembly we had this week with a "real race car driver"!

I also promote the Book-It program all year in the classroom.  Students must read four chapter books a month and score a 70% or higher on the AR (Accelerated Reader) test for this incentive.

Our wonderful librarians just started an AR contest this Monday that lasts until May 23.  We are competing against 5th and 6th grade for the most overall AR points.  Before Christmas, the 4th grade beat both the 5th and 6th grade (it was a CLOSE match!), so this race should be exciting too:)

I am linking up these reading incentives with Joanne's wonderful linky for Sparking Student Motivation at Head Over Heels for Teaching.

5.  Giveaway SOON!

I can hardly believe that I have almost 500 Followers!!  I remember when I started this blog, I was SO happy when I had 10 followers.  The blogging community is simply amazing and I have made so many great friends through this little ol' blog!  What better way to thank you for all your support, ideas, and help than by hosting a giveaway?  I have not made a button yet or decided what I will be giving away, but some great gift cards will definitely be up for grabs:)

I also hope that some of my lovely blogging friends would like to help out make the giveaway awesome by donating some amazing products! 

Would you be willing to help out?

Fill out this form with the details and I will be in touch soon:)

Thank you so much for all your love and support!!! XXOO

Linky (Daily 5) & Linky (mentor text-science)

Where did the weekend go?  Oh yeah!  I spent Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon at an overnight girl's Scrapbook Retreat!  We stayed in a summer camp dormitory and had a blast.  I will show you some pictures of my pages in a future post (too lazy to download right now...lol).  So, that was fun to get away and do some cropping but it left little time for my other hobby...blogging!!  

I am finally linking up with two of my favorite bloggers, Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her Spark Student Motivation Saturdays and Collaboration Cuties for their science mentor text linky!  Did I mention that I LOVE these bloggers?!?  

You have to check out these great linky parties every weekend:) 

                                      

First up, is Joanne's linky from Head Over Heels for Teaching. 

Student Motivation Saturdays is where you share ONCE idea/tip/incentive that you use in your classroom to motivate or encourage your students.

I would like to share a self-motivational strategy that I use during Daily 5 (well, D4) centers.

It is no secret that, for me, the most difficult part of D4 has been the free choice aspect.  I have used centers before but always had a rotation and told the students where to go next.  I love the free choice idea of the Sisters and see so much value in it.  However, there are always "those few students" who try to bend the rules.  You know, they are choosing centers where their friends are (which I would have controlled by not giving them free choice) or they always choose the center that appears to have the least amount of work or accountability.  

I noticed many D5 tracking charts floating around but couldn't find one that worked the best for me.  I didn't want to hand out a new piece of paper each week and I also wanted a place for students to "rate themselves" on their performance at centers.

I came up with this tracking sheet for D4 centers:

I post a sign in my room that students use to rate their performance at a center ("How I Did").

3 Stars:  I tried my best the whole time.

2 Stars:  I tried my best most of the time.

1 Star:  I was distracted most of the time.

I use actual star pictures on the chart but cannot figure out how to put them in blogger right now and I forgot to take a picture of the chart.  The students just draw one, two, or three stars by "How I Did" on the chart.  I copy the paper front to back and the students use it for six weeks.

After each center, we "check in" and I keep another chart and mark next to a student's name every time they have two stars (no one has had one star:).  I used to use this information for my owl chart behavior incentive, but since switching to Class DOJO, I can now just take points off there when they are off task.  It is a great self motivator for students to try their best.  They also know that during "check in" time, other students will be sure to let me know if there were students off task and not following D4 rules.  They know not to interrupt my conferences during center time and to wait until check-in time.  If I notice a disruption, it usually just takes "a look" from me but then that means they will not get 3 stars!

Next, I am linking up with Amanda and Stacia at Collaboration Cuties for their mentor text linky. This week the topic is science.  I LOVE, LOVE the Seymour Simon books, particularly the Smithsonian Series.  

He has written more than 250 books for children!  His books have some of the best photographic, engaging illustrations that I have come across in a picture book.  

The text is challenging enough for 4th graders whereas it is usually too difficult for younger primary readers although they would find the pictures interesting.  I love that I can use his books to introduce a topic or to engage the class in new vocabulary development or note taking.  Combined with the illustrations, the students are very engaged.  When I do my natural disasters nonfiction writing task aligned to the core standards, I use Simon's Hurricane book as a mentor text.

When I was searching for some pictures of Simon's books, I came across this information:

"You can visit him online at www.seymoursimon.com, where you can read "Seymour Science Blog," participate in "Writing Wednesday," and download a free four-page teacher guide to accompany this book, putting it in context with Common Core objectives. Many of Seymour's award-winning books are also available as ebooks."

What?!?  Of course, I had to check out the Seymour Simon Science Blog and the Blog access to the Smithsonian Series!  Then, I figured out that if you register for a FREE educator account, you have access to so many teacher guides to accompany his books!!  I am not sure if this link for the Teacher Guide for Hurricanes will work, but I could access the "Teacher Guides" on his blog after I registered for the free account.  Check it out here!

Have a great week everyone and I hope to see you back on Tuesday for a new Tried It!

Lie Revealed and Friday Flashback!

Before I start my Friday Flashback and link up with the amazing Amanda from Teaching Maddeness, I wanted to reveal my LIE!  I was giggling reading the comments about which one my blogging buddies thought was the lie...hehe!

Again, here were three things about me (two truths and one lie)...post with pics is here

1.  My favorite vacation destination of all time is Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL!  

I first made the trip with my parents when I was 5 and my sister was 7 (my youngest sister wasn't born yet).  Since then, I have been back 8 times and always have a great time, no matter my age!  Right now, we are planning to take our own kids next year at ages 4 and 6.  

I can't wait!

2.  I worked at McDonald's for 5.5 years throughout high school and college.  I went back and forth working at my home time store and college store.  The time always went by fast and I love how busy it was.  During college I worked the 4:30 am to 1:00 pm shift on the weekends.  Try that schedule with a roommate who partied until 3:00 am!  Oh... the fire alarms in the middle of the night that happened frequently were great too:)  My husband and I even met working at McDonald's when I was 16 and he was 17!  

3.  Speaking of my husband, here we are at our wedding:)  He is my best friend and ONLY boyfriend I ever had in my life!  We started dating the summer after I graduated high school and dated all through college while attending colleges 100 miles away from each other.  

We never broke up and I have never had another boyfriend!

The lie was....#1!  Sadly, I have NEVER been to Disney! This is not really by choice but I have never had the chance to go:(  It was on my mind because I knew I wanted to take my two kids as soon as I felt they were old enough.  Well, next February they will be 4 and 6.  We just booked a one week trip to Disney for Feb. 2014!  Yay!!!  I am beyond excited for my little family:)  I will be emailing anyone who chose #1 to choose an item from my TPT store!

Now marching on....my Friday Flashback!  This week was like a blur.  It was the last week before a two week spring break in which the state tests are the second week we come back (ELA followed by math).  I was torn all week between my students, my own health, and my daughter's health.  

Monday:

This was the day after St. Patrick's Day and I just had to make some "positive character trait gold coins" like the ones I read about here on Ideas by Jivey.  She has quickly become one of my favorite bloggers!  Check her out:)  Mine are on basic yellow construction paper but I did laminate them since taking the picture and plan on putting them on the side of each student's desk.  They just loved playing scoot (I played with them!) and writing a positive character trait on each coin.  

There was a buzz of excitement when they were back at their desk and read their coin!  

 On the back of each coin, we glued this quote:

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all,

Only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.

~Euripedes

Tuesday

I had an all day writing workshop on the modules for the Common Core.  I had to leave at the half day point to go home to my sick, feverish daughter:(  The workshop was great and I have a couple things I would like to share with everyone after I try them out.

Wednesday

Daughter still has the fever...hubbie stayed home.  This was 5th grade science fair week at our school.  The other grades always place science related projects in the hallway.  We still have our natural disasters projects (you can read about those here) on display and added the fourth graders "reuse projects" to the tables.  The students bring recyclables from home and repurpose them for another use.  It is wonderful to see their creativity!

Thursday

Daughter still has the fever (over 104 at night) and she went to grandma's....crying all morning for me to stay home.  It is so tough being a working mommy sometimes:( So torn!

We played King's M & M's to demonstrate the Stamp Act before the American Revolution.  I actually used skittles this year due to a peanut allergy in my room:)  I found this link to the directions.  When we play, the students who lose their M & M's (skittles) never get them back and I do not give them more candy.  We discuss this before beginning and I think it makes it more meaningful to have them feel a little hurt when their candy is taken away, knowing they won't get it back.  I tell them that they didn't "earn" the skittles, so it is not nearly as bad as the colonists losing money that they earned and need for their livelihood!  A student said to me this year, "I would rather lose money than skittles!" Haha!!

A room mother dropped off these darling Easter containers filled with jelly beans.  She works with adults with disabilities and they made these for us!  The bottles are recycled little water bottles and the color around the bottles is decorative duct tape.  Then there are white little paws over the duct tape.  Those are muffin cups for the tops with ears laminated and stapled to the cups.  Aren't they cute?  They made the little "goodie" bags I made them for Easter seem pretty lame.  I won't show you a picture of those!

Friday

Daughter STILL has the fever and we had to cancel her tonsillectomy that was scheduled for today.  I stayed home with her since I already had taken a sick day for the surgery.  My two week break started today and I was so pleased that we could have her surgery and I wouldn't have to worry about taking so much time off of work.  

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...

I have also been so sick this week and it was by the pure grace of God that I made it to Friday.  Finally, today I was able to go back to the doctor and got a stronger antibiotic this time to get rid of this sinus infection.  Better days are ahead:)

So, there is my week in a nutshell!  

I can't wait to knock some items off the to-do list over break:)

I started working on a little something today with the help of the super talented Michelle from 3am Teacher.  With her help, I should have a reply option soon in my comments I NOW have a reply option in my comments!  Yippee!!
Check out the 3am Teacher's post here about this add on!

I also have Michelle working on a linky button for my very first linky that I hope to start next Thursday!  I am planning a weekly Thursday linky...light and fun!  It is pretty nerve racking because I keep thinking that nobody will link up, but then I just decided to go for it.  What's the worst that can happen?  I hope you will stop back and see what I have planned:)

Friday Linkies, THAT pencil sharpener, and Freebie:)

Happy Friday!  I am linking up for some Friday fun with the wonderful Amanda at Teaching Maddeness and the amazing Doodle Bugs blog:)  Check them out!

1.  The HIGHLIGHT of my week was when this little treasure arrived on Thursday!  

I have been eyeing this pencil sharpener since I started blog stalking last summer and just had to see for myself if it is really THAT good!  Well, to put it simply, YES!  IT IS THAT AWESOME!!! 

It was so easy to use and my students were in love!  I cannot believe how excited they were to have a pencil sharpener in the classroom that actually works.  One little girl had the biggest wide eyes staring at the newly sharpened, perfect pencils.

Did I mention how quiet it is?  I sharpened the first pencil next to a pair of students working on a math center and they said, "I didn't even hear you sharpening that pencil!" 

The students were asking if they could stay back from RECESS to sharpen pencils for me!  Of course, I said, "Sure!"  

You have to check out their website where this pencil sharpener comes in four colors.  They even accept school purchase orders and offer discounts starting at an order of just three sharpeners.  The teachers on my team were gushing over it.  They couldn't believe it! 

2.  On Tuesday we had our first "snow day" of the year!  It is always a nice treat to have an additional day off after a long weekend:)  The village where I live got 21" of new snow but my school district got 36" in two days!  Sometimes that is not enough to close school but the wind chill and cold temps gave us the right magical combination:)  

My side yard:)

3.  We continued working on our Motion and Design unit in science.  This is an activity where students investigate the effect of load on motion.  The students plotted data of how fast their vehicle moved with two wood blocks (green dots), one wood block (blue dots), and no wood blocks (red dots) while the force (washers pulling the vehicle) remained constant.

Our vehicles with two blocks for a load:

Motion and Design student investigations book that comes with our kit.  It says, "National Science Resources Center."

The directions are given to the students in an easy to follow step-by-step description with pictures in the book.  We went over the directions together but I told them afterwards that I might as well been speaking another language because there was only ONE group out of seven that started the investigation according to the directions and my demonstration.  I have used this kit for five years now and there really is no easy way to teach the students how to follow directions!  They took the books with them to their tables but getting them to look at the directions again after my demonstration is nearly impossible.  I think I would be better off not demonstrating any of the steps because then they would be forced to actually read the directions themselves slowly.
The students had to first figure out how many washers would be needed to pull the vehicle with two blocks on it.  The washers are added to a paper clip that is hanging off the edge of a table tied to a string that is hooked on the other end to a paper clip attached to the front axle of the vehicle.  I forgot to take picture of the students' vehicles set up with the falling weight system but will (try!) to remember next week to take some and add to this post.

Anyway, the students had a timer to track how long it took the washers to hit the floor with the three different loads.  So, most groups were timing the vehicle moving before figuring out how many washers would be needed to just barely move the vehicle with the heaviest load.  

They get a timer in their hands and all other reason flies out the window!  

Who is going to be the first person to work the timer?  

What are all these buttons for?  

I want to push them!  

Some were even timing the vehicle moving with no load when they first started!  Ugh!!  I would ask them, "What are you investigating?"  Hmmm...  Next week we will be working on energy, specifically rubber band energy.  I will post how that went and try the "You read the directions yourself one step at a time with your group" method and see how they do.  Fingers crossed...

4.  I finally laminated some materials that I downloaded last fall for Author's Purpose.  I love these P.I.E. posters by Love 2 Teach 2.  Unfortunately, I cannot find this product in her TPT store or blog posts and do not remember where I originally found the link.  If you know the link, please send me a message and I will update:)

This is a fun game from Debbie's Dabblings for a center on author's purpose.  The theme centers around Thanksgiving and it is now January, but who cares!  The kids love a game anytime.  Sorry about the sideways pictures.  IPhoto was not cooperating!

5.  I love observing my students play these fraction math centers.  These girls are playing a version of "memory" where they match cards that show equivalent fractions.  My struggling students sometimes use the fraction bars to help them find which fractions are equivalent but I am encouraging them to do some mental math too (What can you multiply the numerator and denominator by in 3/5 to make 6/10?).  Today I heard this conversation at the end of math AIS (academic intervention services) by two students who struggle with math:

"I love playing memory," said student A.  "Yeah, me too. Memory with fractions is awesome!" said student B.  I love that they are having fun practicing concepts instead of being frustrated!

Here is a little freebie for you today.  Click the picture below for links to more freebies from fellow teachers!

I often have students find information online about a topic we are studying and answer questions that I have written on a worksheet.  This is a valuable skill because the internet will be the number one resource of information for our students.  

From the Common Core:  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

It is amazing how much my students improve at this skill as the year progresses.  They begin to become more independent and confident in their ability to navigate websites to find, read, and interpret information.  This worksheet my students completed using a website about the solar system.  

I like this website because facts are presented in an easy to read format and students who are struggling readers can listen to the text on their headphones! 

I wrote the name of the website on this copy of the worksheet for your convenience but you may want to edit it and just have the students access the link from another page for easy access.  I keep an account and website through www.quia.com ($49 a year) to provide links to websites and games for my students to play for review.  I just bookmark my Quia page on all the computers and they can access my links that way.  

Thank you for making it all the way to the end and have a great weekend!