The Science Circus and More

This week...is conference week. We are here until late...late...late. Today, we are hosting a baked potato bar for our classroom teachers. As a science teacher...I am seen as a specialist...ENCORE is what they call us! So...I have a few minutes to share what I have been doing this week in science...and to link up with a fellow science teacher... over at Teachers are Terrific.

Here is what is going on in my science classroom this week...

Kinders are taking a tour of the solar system. Here are the videos we are using before they get to blast off into space and find all 8 planets in our room...

Here are the kiddos going around the room actively searching and coloring in the planets...

First graders are participating in a circus adventure. We start off with Circus by Lois Ehlert.


We then move on to balancing for one minute on one foot and doing a graph in our science notebook. I made a pack specifically for our balance unit in FOSS and we used 4 activities from it. You can find it at the Science School Yard Store. We then worked on the balancing pencil trick...followed by the symmetry pictures...and a make and take clown balancer.

The magic balancing pencil...

Could we balance for one minute without wiggling? 

How is symmetry about balance?

2nd graders are working on wrapping up their FOSS solids and liquids pack. We used a sink and float book from EPIC which is great for teachers. Wonderful non-fiction science books! Then we did our sink and float sheet in our packet...followed by the lima vs. pinto bean competition. I make it a big deal...with a graph...winners have their hands raised as if they won something big...and we then figure if my game was fair. Such a better way to get them to remember why pinto beans always win...not just that lima beans are gross and shouldn't win.

3rd graders are learning about hydro energy. We made the FOSS water works...water wheel. They love this one. We start by introducing renewable vs. nonrenewable. We talk about how we use water. We then watch a quick video....

See... a water wheel right away! We finish up with a reflection sheet that I have for you...

Water Works Freebie

4th graders are working on the respiratory system and next week, will participate in different events that show how their lungs work. I will share a separate post next week when I have everything together. This week, we are introducing the system and watching Bill Nye as well as creating a diagram for our science notebooks. We have been doing one day intro...next day building a model...

5th graders are wrapping up the mixtures and solutions unit so we made our lapbooks and did our scavenger hunt using qr codes. We talked about the importance of studying and how to utilize a lapbook at home and in class. We shall see how they do on the test. It is documented for my Teachscape evidence. I will share the success rate using these study tools next week.

Have a great rest of the week! Friday is payday!