Quick Chemical and Physical Change Ideas

Every time I ask students what they hope they get to do in science, I always get someone that will say that they want to blow up things and make potions. Although that might be fun...science in elementary school is not about blowing up anything, but more so, mixtures and solutions and  learning about chemical and physical changes. Some of this might even include a chemical reaction lesson or two.  When it comes to science instruction, allowing students a variety of different means to learn a concept goes a long way. As educators, we know that a variety of ideas isn't always feasible,  so making sure that we include vocabulary,  hands on learning, and review is going to go along way to retaining new information.

There are some fun and engaging activities that I have done that help students connect to science concepts and also be wowed by some engaging experiments! Here are some ideas for your next chemical and physical change unit/lessons that I worked on this week.

Anchor Charts:

Vocabulary and concepts are always where I start. My students do not have much background knowledge, so we share a lot of examples and connect our background knowledge to get them thinking and connecting. 

T Charts/ Fold ups/ flip book: 

I often use some type of review that allows for students to use pictures and words to connect to their new vocabulary better. Once they are done, I have them take a picture and put it in their camera roll for review for a test. 

Experiments: 

Penny Cleaning and oxidation: With chemical and physical changes, we test pennies in different acids and bases to learn about oxidation. I first share with them facts about the Statue of Liberty using Wonderopolis  Why Is the Statue of Liberty Green? Once I share with them what is shared, which is a ton of great background and intro to pennies and oxidation...I then give them a baggie with a penny, paper towel, and a packet of ketchup from the school cafeteria. I also give them a vial of apple juice. I show them the two liquids and test them with BTB to show if it is an acid or a base. I then share with them my other liquids I will test for them which include cleaner, baking soda and water, salt and water, cola, hot sauce, and vinegar. We even have used an eraser to see if we can erase off the patina. 

What happens when the penny gets cleaned? The oxygen in the air and the copper in the pennies oxidize which means a coat or patina makes the pennies look dirty. The acids such as vinegar or ketchup break down the copper oxide on the penny. When you use a solution of salt and water the salt breaks down the chlorine ions that bonded with the copper. A copper chloride is created which will break down more copper oxide off of the penny making it a great way, just like ketchup to clean off the penny. 

Glow Sticks are also a great way to show chemical reactions in class. Who doesn't love glow sticks? Why glow sticks?  We can teach stored energy which is called potential energy. Glow sticks contain potential energy in the form of chemicals, fluorescent dyes and a chemical called hydrogen peroxide. No light can be released until the chemicals are mixed together. When you mix the chemicals together when you crack the glow stick, they react to make new chemicals and release excess energy in the form of light, transforming chemical energy into light energy. How bright the stick glows depends on the temperature on its environment. 

Now...this is where the perfect experiment for students to observe comes in! You can demonstrate this yourself or share a video such as the one below. Adding heat to a chemical reaction makes the glow stick glow brighter for a short period of time. Colder water/environment will allow the glow stick to glow longer, but not as bright. It will release the energy more slowly. 

I give each student a glow stick to break, read about, connect with the experiment, then take it home. We also make connections with mixtures and solutions because that is the unit we are working on when we learn about chemical changes. We then answer questions that I post on see saw. We record our observations and describe how glow sticks cause a chemical change.  Follow the link to check out a quick experiment that my students love...she is relatable for them and we love her accent. 

Candy Care Packages and Physical Changes: Each year, I like to find a way to show students how to pay it forward through STEM and Science Lessons. This year, we have a staff member who has a soldier family member over seas. We will be sending a care package out for Valentine's Day this year. We will be giving two types of candy in plastic bags to each student. Along with hot water, we are testing to see what kind of candy would be the best to send over seas to a desert. I have bagged up (this is my lesson starting next) chocolate Kisses, Starburts, Skittles, Milk Duds, Jolly Ranchers, and Gummy Bears. We will make predictions as to what we think will be the best candy to send and what would not do well in a hot climate. Each student will get hot water to place the baggies in. Along with a popsicle stick, they will poke and press the candy each three minutes for the next 12 minutes. 

Ticket Out the Door/Assessments/Review:

 I have to say that I just love using Boom and Google Slides to assess and review concepts for each of my units and lessons. I project the cards on the smartboard, airdropping the record sheet to the students or placing the record sheet on see saw. Then as I project, they record their answers and then share that with me. I also have them correct their own work at times when we are checking for our own understanding. I use Boom Decks as well because it is a great way to collect data immediately. 

Want your own ticket out the door Chemical or Physical Change in google slide format? Find it here!

Need your own Boom Card Chemical or Physical Change Pack on sale for $2? Find it here!

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Five Fun Gingerbread Science and STEM Ideas

One of my favorite cookies when I was a kid was the gingerbread man that I would make with my grandma. It was always fun to read the story and then make the cookies hoping that the gingerbread man would actually jump right out of the oven so I could chase him!

Who doesn't love as gingerbread man or baby stories that we can share with our students! This week, we used the gingerbread man story to review several reading, math, and science concepts. 

Check it out! Five of my top favorite Science and STEM Gingerbread Connections: 

1. STEM gingerbread houses to tie in story mapping

2. STEM gingerbread bridges to teach problem solving and what if's

3. Solids vs. liquids and what happens to gingerbread when they get wet? (use water in a dropper or test different types of liquids such as water, oil, vinegar, and milk) 

4. living vs. non-living review (Is a cookie living or non-living? What makes something living?

Digital see saw activity!

This is a great science video connection, perfect to talk about the living characteristics that the gingerbread man had in the story and what living means scientifically:

5.  Building a boat for the gingerbread man (test weight in a boat to see capacity with pennies for your weights/cubes) 

Want more fun and engaging gingerbread man themed lessons? Find them here:

Gingerbread STEM Themed Digital and Hand's On Pack

Gingerbread STEM Pack

Gingerbread Digital SeeSaw and Google Slides Pack This is my newest pack that I used in kindergarten and first grade this week! It was perfect with my virtual and in person kids!

Want a great song and story retell? This is my favorite with just the best melody and graphics! 

I love that my students can review science using one of my favorite stories that connect to my favorite person...my grandma! Run...Run...as fast as you can to your lesson plan book to get started on your gingerbread themed activities today. Let's make learning Science and STEM child's play!

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Top 4 Tools To Help Teach Science Remotely

Remote learning by any means has not been easy for anyone. We all had quite a learning curve dealt to us, but it is how we have been able to adapt and find new ways to get to your students that is key to everyone's success! What I have found in the last six weeks, is that I keep evolving and finding new ways to implement my lessons. To help you find new ways, too, I am sharing with you my favorite finds. Here are my top 4 teaching tools that have got me through teaching remotely. 

Flipgrid

I have been using flipgrid for a meeting place for my Science Lessons and classrooms. This has allowed me a site that I can see my students, check for understanding, as well as have the accountability that I need.  I am able to star the assignments that I have looked at and even comment back through an email setting, or even create a video for them! I also utilize the ability to host a five minute or less video review lesson or even share a video from youtube for them to watch. You Tube might be a great place to house your video lessons that are over 5 minutes then for them. Students can showcase an assignment by showing you what they did and explain their thinking. 

Flipgrid are the meeting place for your classroom, your school, your department or any learning community to discuss topics or lessons. Flipgrid sets up an  icebreaker. For science you can have students add lesson/experiment reflections, share their thinking, explore STEM principles, give mini-presentations, and showcase their learning. Setting up a rubric so that the students can see what they need to do to show you what they know can be utilized by adding a document to flipgrid.

 How I use it:

• I voice record my lesson
• I can star the students I graded so when new ones come in, I know where to start
• I use the mixed tapes to store the science stars of the week 
• I use the mixed tapes to store students that still need my help
• I have students share their thinking and then I can check for understanding using a rubric
• I share videos I want them to view from youtube
• I email back to the students a personal message
• It allow students to view their friends and make comments on what they liked and learned

Screencastify or Screen-cast-omatic

Screen Casts are designed from the ground up to be the safest, simplest video creation tool for teachers and students. I can  make learning more personal for my students and can provide my science lessons each week for distance learning. In the future I can use them for flipped classrooms lessons, by recording lessons, assignment explanations, and giving my students verbal feedback. I can tape myself incorporating a lesson, and use the teleprompter to write my lessons and then choose web cam and screen, make my cam the smallest it can go then teleprompt above so it looks like I am looking at the camera! I just start the prompter and it allows a space at the bottom for me to put the web cam! 

How to use it in your science classroom:

• screencast an experiment so they can watch it before, during, and after class
• tape your lessons for kids that are gone
• give directions for assignments to share out
• screencast a lesson introduction
• use for flipping lessons and saving time once they come to class if they view it ahead of time

Boom Learning

I have loved Boom decks for my students! Boom is a platform that allows teachers to purchase and/or create digital activities for students. Boom “decks” are made up of individual, digital task cards for students to complete.

I use Boom for...

• Differentiating my science instruction, different decks for different kiddos
• It gives students immediate feedback (dings for correct, oops for incorrect and they get to try again!)
• Students Get EXCITED about learning with badges and fun digital “rewards” for their work
• Holding students accountable for their independent work especially in stations or at home
• It saves me a ton of time because it automatically grades. 
• It also saves paper...it's paperless!

Find my boom decks here: K-5th Grade Science School Yard Boom Decks

What do I need in order to use Boom in my classroom?

• A computer, tablet, or interactive whiteboard
• An internet browser that is 3 or fewer years old (OR the free Boom app)
• A free or paid  Boom Account (if you open a new account and click a link you get from a TeachersPayTeachers Boom card purchase, you’ll get 3 months free btw)
• An internet connection that students can use on a computer/tablet to access the Boom decks
• you can have a free account which will let you utilize fast pins when purchase them, but won't grade them and keep data which a paid membership will do.

Option A: Copy and paste the complete link for students to play

Option B: Go to the Boom main page (boomlearning.com) on a computer (or on the Boom app). Click on the “FastPlay” button. Enter the pin and click “play.” A fast pin is only good for a certain amount of days (14 days) which will tell you on the fast pin button. 

You can create your own boom decks for your students, send the deck link to families or students and it is one of the simplest tools to use and the kids LOVE them! Boom Learning Site can be found HERE!

Google Classroom

Google Classroom  is a free service for schools, non-profits, and anyone with a personal Google account. The best part of this is that a teacher and student can use in and out  of schools. Classroom saves time and paper, and makes it easy to create classes, "hand out" assignments, communicate with each other, keep track of student assignments,  and be organized.

How to use it in science classrooms:

• Once set up, you can share a code with your class to join. Once they join they can find your assignments, videos, and class work inside the class.
• This is paperless, so it saves time with copies
• It allows everyone to one place for organized science lessons, google documents, flipped lesson videos and more!
• This allows for easy communication and can be used in class, in their homerooms, and at home on any device.
• Best yet, it's a google suites product so it connects with all your other google activities such as google slides and forms!

I would love to hear what tools have gotten you through this as well. Keep on keeping on!

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Remote Science and STEM

As we are learning how to teach remotely, we find ourselves learning how to be even more flexible than before. We see our students and families struggling and may even be struggling a bit ourselves. Our district last week, asked us to take a step back from the rigor of what being in school is like. We stepped back to reflect on what is so very important right now, the mental health of our students and parents. To continue to provide learning opportunities, our encore team chose to celebrate this week through a STEM challenge! We are creating crazy hats and then wearing them at our google meet with our students!

This is just a start to the STEM challenges that can connect us all!  We want to find ways that students and families can do something fun and hands-on together with the supplies they have around the house.

Here are our challenges for the next few weeks:

1.  Crazy hat design and share with the focus on how we know that this is a big crazy, but how can we make the best of it? How can we support you? What do you need?

2. Make it move and dance party, connecting what we need to do to stay active for our health and our mind

3. Building Connections: blocks and Lego or recyclables and share your favorite virtual lesson so far

4. Tower Talk: building towers and talking about positives and how to make lemonade with lemons

5. Bridge Building problem solving session share what might be hard and what we can do together to support each other

6. Future's so bright I gotta wear shades sunglasses challenge and what we want to see for the future

7. It's getting warmer, let's make some summer shoes to share and have a virtual runway show and summer send off!


Supply List From Around the House:

• egg cartons
• junk mail for paper
• empty food boxes
• toilet paper rolls
• plastic cups, forks, spoons
• rocks
• sticks
• pencils
• cans
• toys
• Legos
• jars/bottles
• tissue
• plastic bags
• paper bags
• baggies
• aluminum foil
• plastic wrap
• wax paper
• paper towels/napkins

Want to find this distance learning pack already to go? Follow the link here for Distance Learning STEM pack 1.

       

                   
What can your students do with simple supplies found around the house? Have fun finding ways to connect remotely with your students! If you want more virtual STEM ideas check out these packs, too!

Outdoor STEM Digital Resource
Diversity/Positive Growth Mindset STEM
Distance Learning STEM Volume 1

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4 Great Ideas To Teach Chemical Reactions

Teaching 6 different grade levels has me covering a lot of different science topics and concepts. Whether it be a certain standard that you need to cover or just need some ideas for what to do in science this week, I have you covered. I will be sharing a new blog series that will help you find ways to make Science child's play!

Kids love chemical reactions however, I think they are always waiting for something to explode. You can easily find ways to cover the NGSS concept of structures of matter...more specifically chemical vs. physical change...without anyone or anything blowing up!

Four Ways to Cover Chemical Reactions and Structures of Matter:

1. Vocabulary (always key to comprehending a concept)

In order for students to really grasp the idea of what they see or don't see, you need to focus on helping them understand the vocabulary words they will be hearing as well as demonstrating.

Some quick ideas:
1. anchor chart and sticky tab draw what you know. Have one side of the room draw Physical changes and the other side draw chemical changes

2. Digital review games which you can find HERE {Digital Chemical and Physical Reaction Review}

3. Task Card and QR code Scoot games which you can find HERE {Mixtures and Solutions Task Cards}

4. Lapbooks which you can find HERE {Mixtures and Solutions Lapbook}

2. Fun and Engaging Activities That Are Easy to Show

Grab some dollar store glow sticks and teach the concept behind how they glow and you have your first idea.

Grab Cranberry Juice, citric acid, and baking soda and you are onto your second idea!

Grab some pennies and some liquids and show how acids clean pennies in this quick chemical reaction activity! Make sure you have ketchup because it does an amazingly quick job getting any patina off of a penny! I also love vinegar, baking soda and water, Coke, window cleaner, and water as a control. You can always add different liquids that you have.

3. Set Up Experiments That Use Everyday Household Materials

Bath Bombs are all the "bomb"! With any holiday from Mother's Day to Christmas you can make this with your kiddos and send home a little gift!

All you need:

¾ cup Epson Salt

½ cup Kosher Salt

¼ cup baking soda

3-5 drops of essential oils

food coloring

container/baggie to hold the salts

Another fun favorite is Silly Putty! For this polymer you need: (yes, polymer which you can read all about in this great Science Buddies Link not to mention a few more ideas)

Silly Putty Recipe:

¼ cup white glue

2 TB Laundry Soap(have extra)

cup

Steps:

1.Mix

2.Knead (if sticky add more laundry soap)

And don't forget good ole' Oobleck or Slime! Oobleck is a great way to teach non-Newtonian Fluids and all you need is corn starch and water and a little food coloring!  Find the pack full of fun Oobleck Connections HERE.

4.  Physical and Chemical Reaction Observations

Now, I have to say we use the FOSS mixtures and solutions kit for our chemical experiments, but if you don't have this kit then here are some great ideas for quick and easy chemical reaction observations that are inexpensive and kids love them!

I use open and closed systems as a way to compare a plastic baggie and a cup with vinegar and baking soda because they are able to understand the difference.

You can also teach Natural Disasters and how humans can protect themselves by making volcanoes. All you need is baking soda and vinegar!

-Create boats that are propelled by baking soda and vinegar which is another creative take on these two ingredients, but with a STEM twist!

 Sign up for my newsletter and get this experiment free in my Science School Yard Library!

-I love Mentos and Coke as well as Alka Seltzer and Water in old film canisters, too! Find the Alka Seltzer Rocket Lab HERE!


It is always hard to find easy and affordable ideas to teach a concept such as structures of matter, but with a little creativity and some help from the Science School Yard, you can find easy ways to teach chemical reactions! Know any other easy chemical reaction recipes or demonstrations you use? Share below. We would love to add to our list with your help!

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Four Ways To Use Digital Activities In and Out of the Science Classroom

This week we are gearing up for Digital Learning Day which occurs on February 22nd. There are a lot of really great ways that you can add technology to your teaching to increase student learning objectives and outcomes.

For the last two years we have been a 1:1 iPad school. We are equipt with Chrome books that come in a caddy for easy access as well. I am fortunate to have a Smartboard as well as Apple TV. So with that I found ways to utilize technology into my science lessons in a variety of ways that work for each grade level I work with from Kindergarten to Fifth grade.

Here are Four of My Top Technology Tips for  Elementary Classrooms:

Tip 1: Project a Smartboard Interactive for K-1 Classrooms

It isn't always easy to have student's from many different teachers' rooms. Some of the students come with the knowledge of how to get an airdrop or even how to get to their Google Drive, but with only an hour with my littles, I had to find different ways to utilize my time, as well as check for understanding of key Science concepts...That is why I started creating Smartboard Projectable Activities that have a Science Theme or tie in math and language arts.

 I love how students can come up to the Smartboard and drag and drop to show me what they know. I also love how this is a great way to have students sit nicely to be called on and learn that we don't always get a turn to come up.

We can even agree or disagree and help a friend if they are stuck. We use the thumbs up and thumbs down method so no one is blurting and we all have an answer. 

Tip 2: Digital Quizzes Check For Understanding

Looking for ways to assess differently? I found that my 1st through 5th graders like the Google Drive Assessments because they love being able to look at a picture, circle their answer on a sheet that they can self-correct, or hand in to show what they know. In first grade, I have them sit with me and I show the slides on the Smartboard and walk around to check if they circled a word, but with my 2nd through 5th grade, we have everyone sign up with their Google user name and password and they are set with their own copy. All I do is give them a record sheet and it is an easy way to get accountability as well as guide your lessons.  (I even had my principal take the quiz when she came into my classroom to observe. She was pretty impressed!)

If you are needing to do it quickly...once again you can show it up on the Smartboard while students circle their answers at their seats as you scroll through the slides. 

Tip 3: Airdropped Sheets for Explain Everything or Pic Collage Save Paper and Allow For Better Understanding of Concepts

One of my favorite apps is Explain Everything.  I used to use Pic Collage until our district bought us this app. Both work great! 

My students can get a record sheet airdropped to them and they place the picture that is now in their camera roll into their "Science Notebook" in Explain Everything. Once they add it to their notebook they can lock in the sheet, add pictures, text, voice recordings...its a great way to look back on our experiments to show what we know and to recall what we learned the week before!

Taking a picture or video of the demonstration of an experiment has cut down on the questions asked or the lack of understanding of what to do next. It allows for reflection and instead of drawing what they see, they can take a real time picture that shows exactly what happened! This can be looked at week after week, lesson after lesson to continue to make connections! It also increases vocabulary by letting students voice record or take pictures of anchor charts, vocabulary on the board and more!

Tip 4:  QR Codes and iPads Make Learning Fun!

Increasing Vocabulary for Tier Three Words is difficult at times because they are low frequency words that appear in classes such as Science and Social Studies...classes that are often times ignored due to the increase in math and language arts. The way to get students actively engaged in learning vocabulary...studying for a test...creating partner activities that challenge who might know more information...and even assessment can be done through QR Codes!  Using a QR Code Generator such as https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/ is an easy way to write an answer and then copy the QR Code onto a poster or task card for them to answer questions or what we love WRITE THE ROOM or SCOOT. 

We place the cards around the room and they Scoot around the room finding each card, writing  down their answers and then checking their work. I even place task cards on their tables for them to read, write, and correct to increase vocabulary and understanding!

Whether you have a classroom of ipads or just a few for a station, or Smartboard using technology with your students will prepare them for the future. Technology is always changing and sometimes that is hard to embrace because it is not always what we grew up with, but showing your students that you can utilize technology to teach makes connections that can help them learn not only Science, but any subject!

Looking for Digital Science Activities to try out...Stop on By The Science School Yard TPT Store for Digital Science Resources HERE!

Hope you enjoyed reading about how I use Technology in my classroom! Time For a Giveaway! You have a chance to win a $50 TPT gift card when you comment on each of our posts in the blog hop! 

Comment below to let me know how you can use these ideas in your classroom! Then click the image above and read another way to add digital learning into your classroom from my techie friend, Kristy over at Two Peas and a Dog! Keep hopping for great tips, tricks and content from more amazing TECHIE TEACHERS!

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Science and Electricity Lighting Up Our Lives

Each year, with my fourth graders I work with the FOSS Magnets and Electricity Kit. It is one of my favorites I use with any of my Kindergarten through fifth graders. I love the discovery aspect of what each lesson can pose. I love the supplies that are in the kit, but I don't often love the lack of connections that it makes with the real world.

After attending the NSTA (National Science Teachers' Association) Conference last week, it reaffirmed the importance of story telling to make connections with our learners. Why are they doing an activity? What can they take away from learning a particular lesson? How can they connect to the information to retain it?

The electricity portion of FOSS is pretty good...we learn about circuits, but we add energy sticks to get a whole group participation and understanding of open and closed circuits...the small investment is big bang for your buck!

Letting students "discover" electricity is also an amazing ahaha moment in a classroom. Allowing them to find out how to light a bulb with a conductor, insulator, and source is key to their success in knowing how it all works! Let them "play" so that in the end experts can help novices and if you have an ipad it is also a great opportunity to have them video and record their results. We use Explain Everything App to do just that!

 Not only can they go back to see how to set up something they did the lesson before, but they can use it to study from. I also love the idea of using our iPads to review what we know about a concept.

When it comes to electricity, we use FOSS and my Electricity Unit and Resources Pack! I love the flexibility both give me to use the supplies in the FOSS kit, but utilize my sheets to teach the "BIG Ideas" such as parallel and series circuits, conductors and insulators, static electricity,  QR code game review, and electromagnets to just name a few topics we cover using both resources!

What I love is the new STEM activity that I added after going to the NSTA convention. I was inspired to make a story connect to what lessons we have to teach in our classrooms. I gave them supplies that I found in my car as I was camping...but I forgot the flashlight and I need something to light my way! What could I do to make a flashlight? What an amazingly fun STEM challenge and with their background in circuits as well as conductors and insulators they were up for building a Macgeyver like flashlight! This was perfect for a formative assessment of what they knew!

I have also found when I need to review a concept, giving the students the ability to work independently on a review by using a qr code and link on Google Slides helps them not only review, but check their work immediately.  I even found that if I want it to be used as a formative assessment check point I can put the slides on my smartboard and have them answer the questions by circling their answers and having me check their work.

Using all of these different hands-on activities such as the Digital Conductor and Insulator Review Pack has given me the flexibility to have my learners have multiple opportunities to show what they know! From discover...to experimenting...to assessing through QR codes or digital assessments their schema is building and that is what we want! Use  what you have to make those connections in any unit that you are working on...what supplies are available is the start... how can you make it make sense is up to you!

I would love to hear what fun activities you add to your electricity unit!!!

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Getting Ready For Back To School With New Resources!

You know when you are almost ready to head back to school, as I know some of my teacher friends are already there, you start planning what your bulletin boards will look like... you start buying supplies to fill all your needs, and you start thinking about curriculum...at least that is what this week entailed.

I met with my lovely friend, both of us lost sections of science, so both of us are in the same bind...we need to create a program that will be data driven, teach science or STEM, engaging, hit second through fifth grade and is completed in 40 minutes. That is a lot to muster, but I was up for the challenge.

Then, I started thinking isn't that a problem that we all face? Lessons that need to be:
1. Fun
2. Data driven
3. Hit standards
4. short enough to fit in to a 40-60 minute block
5. And seeing that I need to do four classes, one of each 2-5...differentiated. (otherwise I am prepping for 10 lessons each week, no thank you)

Goal 1: Digital Assessment for my FOSS units

Time to get crackin'. My first thing I had to think about was that I need to create some digital science activities because my first graders and second graders need more assessments that are easy to grade and have them be part of their learning! The thing that drove me was our FOSS kits. First grade themes I worked on were: DAY and NIGHT, SOUND and LIGHT, INSECT and SPIDER, and VERTEBRATE. Second grade focuses on: PLANTS, HABITATS, WEATHER, and MATTER!

                       Find them for first grade {HERE} and for second grade {HERE}.

Goal 2: Grade 2-5th Grade resource for my Science/STEM enrichment classes

Now, I have to create four packs for my third through fifth graders. Using our iPads is one of our key goals for use in assessment this next year. I am also on Evaluation so I set this as a goal of mine. I am hoping this can help you, too!

My second goal was to find a way to not have to prep for 10 science lessons a week...yes a week. I needed to find a way to differentiate a pack that includes science and STEM as well as ways to gather data, focus on NGSS, and be engaging. Yikes. That is a handful!

I focused on NGSS themes that were cross cutting! I created STEM Quick Picks because I needed to use them quickly within the 40 minute time period that I work with them each week...above and beyond the hour they get with their own class.

How I will use the pack: first week...introduction of the NGSS concept, then reading connection, followed by small science activity. Second week, review of concept, interactive notebook and vocabulary review...followed by STEM lesson and then task card review.

Friends...I have 10 weeks to do so that means I have three more to make! I am on it though...they take a long time, but they will be worth it! Find the STEM Quick Picks {HERE}.

Goal 3: STEM Connections for After School Classes, Extensions, and our new STEM Lab in our Library

Each fall, when our after school program starts, our students love STEM stations...but that is not the only reason I worked hard to create new STEM activities...

This year, we are creating a STEM lab in our library! We were able to get some funding for some great resources, but that is never enough. I was able to utilize the Makerspace packs that I made last summer by printing them off and putting them on ring clips ready to go this year. I also created Seasonal School Box STEM packs so that our Library/Tech teacher can have interchangeable activities that can be featured each season! Find Seasonal School Box STEM Packs {HERE}

I might have another few packs up my sleeve this next week before I have to go back to school! I will post about them next week along with a new freebie! But for now...here is a free Seasonal School Box STEM bonus for stopping by and getting to the end! {HERE} 

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