5 Valentine STEM Challenges You Will Love

I loved Valentine's Day as a kid. My favorite Valentine memory was when I won the Valentine Box Decorating competition in second grade. I was crowned the Queen of Hearts and my classmate, Danny, was crowned King of Hearts. I was so excited and felt so special. I see our students try to prepare for Valentine's Day this year and let's just say it isn't like it has been. We are bringing in Valentine's early in order to quarantine the cards, some are having kids bring in 50 cents in order to buy candy and treats that can be quarantined for the week in order for them to be safe. Wow! The times' we live in. 

In my Science classes, we are doing science and STEM connections to help our students have engaging and fun Valentine themed challenges that can teach a science concept as well! This year, more than ever, I want to stop and take a break to let students find the joy that often seems to be missing as we social distance and work independently. 

Here are my top 5 go to's this Valentine's Day that you are sure to love!!!

Kindergarten: Queen of Hearts Towers using pink paper tubes, cut out hearts, and Valentine Friends cut outs, as we learn how to be Valentine friends to each other and defining property words of science objects and how they connect  that words can also describe a good friend.  Traits vs. Property Words can help you make those valuable connections in language arts as well!

 1st Grade: Love Bugs and animal adaptations, we build insects after learning about how animals adapt and survive not only winter, but as they return to us in spring...where have them been? We concentrate on how animals adapt then build our own love bug with three parts, six legs, antennas, and eyes. The kids love this, but this year, I will place their supplies in a gallon baggie to create their bugs. They will each get the same supplies, but what they do with it will be up to them.  

Found in my Valentine STEM Pack! 

2nd Grade: Valentine Bouquet, planting micro-greens and learning about plant parts this week in second grade gets us learning about heart healthy living as well. I was able to get plastic containers with lids from a local gas station that always helps our community! 

• Valentine STEM Pack

3rd Grade : Valentine Measurements As we learn about our water unit, we are taking a break to discuss the three states of matter as I have to help the third grade teachers as we try to get our third graders up to grade level in math. I try to add what I can to help my kiddos along and to help my coworkers. 

• Valentine STEM and Measurement Pack

4th Grade: Heart Healthy Science learning. We have already learned about the cardiovascular system so now we are reviewing heart healthy living along with breathing and our masks. I will read the Cardiovascular System by Kay Manolis from Epic Books, free for teachers! When finished we will be reviewing what we learned using a quick Boom Learning Deck! I love that it corrects it for me. I signed up for premium.

• Heart Healthy Science: The Cardiovascular System 

5th Grade: Physical or Chemical Change Valentine Candy, We are making candy heart dispensers as we learn about candy and how their properties can be described as they have a changing state of matter. We test our candy hearts in a controlled experiment as well. 

• Candy Dispenser STEM and more!

I love Valentine's Day and I love Science and STEM! What a great way to review and have hands-on engaging challenges! Each one of my activities are individually bagged with the supplies necessary for a challenge. It is a lot of prep for K-5th grade as a science teacher, but the reward is as sweet as candy. Next week, I start my third quarter after school STEAM classes and lets' just say I got this in the bag, too!

Because I love that you stopped by my blog...grab this Valentine Freebie that I am using to give to my students for Valentine's Day! Download here!

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8 Moon Landing Anniversary Projects

July 20th is coming up next week! It's a very special anniversary...it is the 50th anniversary of the first spaceflight that landed on the moon!

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans into space. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American. They landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969! How do we use this to springboard a great science and STEM lesson? Here are 10 ways to engage students in this celebration!

Idea 1: Virtual Race to the Moon

Virtual Race To The Moon is for you...the teacher! Keeping yourself healthy and your students healthy is important! Check out this challenge!

Idea 2: Show the Lunar Landing

Have your students watch the moon landing. Littles can start with Astronauts can, have, are... Bigs can discuss why some thought it was a hoax or they can even take a poll to see who would want to fly to space and why.

Idea 3: Read a Great Book
I love using the book One Giant Leap written by Robert Burleigh. 

Find that book here! 

I also like to use the book If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty. This is a great springboard for having kids really helps kids relate to how you would pack, how you would feel, and how you get home.

Find this book here!

Idea 4: Do a STEM activity

I love using toilet paper tubes to have the students create the moon landing! We use the tubes as a ramp system to get from Earth(a picture representation taped on the wall) to the moon (another picture) They must have three bends, and land safely in a bucket or on a tray. I use pompoms or ping pong balls as the spacecraft. 

Idea 5: Oreo Moon Phases

I love having my older students (bigs) create moon phase posters using Oreo cookies. They love this project! Gail Gibbons has a great book, Moon Phases that you can use, but I just love the rap to go with this project!

I use cheap dollar store cookies because they don't get to eat them and it saves some money. I give them plastic knives so that they can scrape off the frosting as well. I want them to take what they know and create a representation and then we analyze if their model is correct and if they can explain how the cycle works.

Idea 6:  Moon Crater Painting

Very simply, I cut out grey paper circles. I set out trays and white paint. We used circular objects to make the craters. You can use bottle tops like we did. This is a quick and fun little follow up on what craters on the moon look like and how they are made. We used our sentence strips to show what we know.

Idea 7: Moon Crater Ball Drop

I love this activity for my littles. Grab black paper and a plate. Add flour to the plate. Make sure you have plenty of floor covering so that you don't make too much of a mess. Grab different sized balls that can create different sized craters and you are good to go! Each ball represents a different sized meteors and asteroids that hit the surface of the moon and left a crater.

Idea 8: Moon Phase Games

I made this free resource for you to help with the phases of the moon! Grab your free copy here ! Use it as a memory game, a review, or even for an anchor chart!

                                       

Want to find these ideas, sheets, activities, and a few bonus activities all in one place ready for you to just print and go? Check out my moon phase packs by following this link: Moon Phase Science Pack and STEM Connections

                               

Because I teach both primary and intermediate, I have packs for both age groups! Check out my pack I use with my K-2nd graders! You can find that pack HERE!

                                     

I love you to the moon and back! Let's make Science and STEM child's play!

                       Some of the links are affiliated links, meaning in no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through to purchase.

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Who Stole the Cookies Chromatography Lab

You know when you have a little extra time to fill in  your day? Okay...that rarely happens, however this week our fifth graders went on an overnight trip to what we call school forest leaving me with only one fifth grade class to teach this week instead of two. So I got to figure out a lesson that was not something I normally teach during our Mixtures and Solutions unit. I already taught my students the lesson on chemical reactions, so why not figure out a chromatography lesson to extend the excitement!

Chromatography is the separation of mixtures into their individual components so this is perfect for a mixtures and solutions unit!

Scientists use chromatography in many ways. They use it to test the level of alcohol in the body. They can figure out a crime by testing and analyzing blood and cloth samples. Arson verification is another way chromatography is used by identifying the chemicals responsible for a fire and to rule out foul play. It is even used to determine drugs and poisons in the body in the hospital.

To make it age appropriate and to help them learn about real world science through hands on investigations I made Who stole the cookies? This is a way for us to separate different markers, but in a story like way. I picked four co-workers, the janitor, librarian, art teacher, and music teacher who I asked if it would be okay to be a part of my story. With a yes from all...I set up the folders.

Time to give out the folders with a note inside that says "Thanks for the cookies!" The students use the evidence to prove who it might have been. This team cut the note and then wrote the same word to test if it would bleed out in the same way.


I wanted to pick four black markers , one for each person. The librarian got the VisaVi that she might use on the overhead, the janitor got the Sharpie because he labels boxes to leave the school, the music teacher got the Expo marker because she puts the notes on the board, and the art teacher got the Crayola markers for art projects. This evidence after testing the note eliminates two suspects because permanent markers do not bleed. Notice the difference in the markers below!

Expo and Sharpies don't bleed!

Crayola and Visa Vi markers do...this one points to...

This activity allows me to add another lesson or two to our Mixtures and Solutions unit we do with our FOSS kits! I use the rest of these lessons in an after school class as well as on line to get kids doing things at home!

The best part...I added a ton more activities based on color that I will be using right before ST. Patrick's Day..stay tuned for another post!

Interested in a fun and quick lesson on Chromatography and Color to get your kids excited about science? Grab the Chromatography Lab HERE!

       

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Milk Makers: Changing Liquids to Solids

I love opportunities to help my students learn a little bit about the jobs provide us with products that keep our community in the spotlight. The Dairy Industry helps our own community as we have several cheese factories as well as Dairy farms even just a mile down the road.

The dairy cow is our state Domestic animal. We see them as we drive in the country…However even if you are NOT a dairy state this lesson is a great opportunity  for you to do an easy and quick lesson on how butter is made.

Literally, all you need is a jar with a lid, whipping cream, and a bit of salt! Get your kiddos in a circle and shake. Two minutes later or two times around the circle and you have yourself butter! I love all of the other connections we can make. We use math by creating a survey and vote on if we like butter or not. Seriously…it is so tasty and after the kids get a taste on a cracker…they are hooked!

Here is what I do:

1.     I ask them what are things we get from a cow. We make a list on an anchor chart

2.     I ask them if they know how milk is produced. I  then proceed to share with them that we will be learning about milk makers. We make mammal connections, but we discuss specifically that we will learn about dairy cows.

3.       I show an old Reading Rainbow that reads Milk Maker by Gail Gibbons, but it also does a               great  job adding lots of great details about cows.

4.       I then share with them how we will make butter.

5.     We make butter and then before we taste test we write the process of how to make butter.  A           bit of inspiration in order to taste test…work first then eat!

6.     When we are through taste testing we make a dairy cow art project.

7. We follow it up with our math connection graphing! If you are interested in making butter in your room and need some help…check out my Milk Maker Let’s Make Butter Pack!

Find the Milk Maker: Let's Make Butter Pack HERE

Help butter them up with fun and engaging activities that can teach a bigger concept...Changes in Matter! 

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What Did The Fox Say? Science!

How To Teach Students About Mammals

Each year, we start our first graders off by learning about animals with a vertebrate. I make a fun pack last year that I am using for my assessment. You can find it here: Animal Classifications Pack.

This year, I wanted to add a way for my students to walk around the room (now that I have a REAL classroom!!!!) to locate information that would help them remember what makes a mammal a mammal.

Every year I read the book Is A Cammal A Mammal?. This book gives a multitude of mammal expamples and it is in the Cat In The Hat's Learning Library. When we are finished, this year we reviewed with a smartboard review followed up by a quick circle the mammal activity! It got the students making the connections that they needed to make and it added a bit of an assessment. I will bu using those sheets to call up each student individually next week as they work on BAT Stations! Stay tuned!

With our littles, I love to add music, art, writing, reading, and science! What a great way to find time to add science into your day! Check out the What Does The Fox Say Stations in Action!

My firsties are moving from station to station on a Fox Hunt! They are looking for the missing word to fill in the blank.

They work alone or with partners...I even underline the magic word for them to match the number on the station to the number on the sheet!

What does the Fox say? I use the 5 characteristics that we learned about for their writing activity connection and the real fox helps them out! 

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When they are all through, they work on a simple art activity!

What does this fox say? I learned about what makes a mammal a mammal! 

You can find these mammal stations here: Mammal Stations: What Did the Fox Say?

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Assembly Line Science and Giveaway!

OK...so do you ever have one of those days where your lesson goes just amazing! I wanted to do something with my second graders this week to celebrate the teachers at my school...so I created this Assembly Line Plant Pack to find a fun way to add to our plant unit! Check this fun out!

We started with an anchor chart to find out what positive qualities that they had and could use to do a great job. We compared those ideas with what teachers do each and every day! They are a perfect match...hard worker, positive, team player...the list goes on!

Children and Adults should have these attributes!

Then, they got to apply for jobs...work at "The Plant" and make an adorable plant bag filled with everything a teacher needs (you could do this for Father's Day or Mother's Day...Summer classes...you name it!)

Coloring crew...

A work in progress at "The Plant"!

Soil specialists...no dirt bags here!

Hard at work to make beautiful Teacher Appreciation gifts!

Seed packs ready to go...

Time for delivery!

I was so amazed as to how well the students worked together to show all of the best qualities of a hard worker! Assembly Line Science is a great way to add reading, writing, science to your end of the year/summer fun!

There is still time to sign up for tomorrow's $10 gift card giveaway! Leave your email and I will contact the winner by noon tomorrow! Congrats, Tess for being today's winner!

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Sunny Days in Winter

My little kinder buddies are learning about Space in our next unit. It seems pretty far fetched for them to understand, but I think they kind of get it!

Let's pretend that our nose is your hometown. We use a big ball to represent the sun!

Next, we lean toward the sun and we check out where our nose is...Summer time in your hometown!

Now, we straighten up...Fall! Followed by leaning way back...Winter! Finally, Spring is straight up and down again!

We discuss the seasons and why it is cold now in Wisconsin. I let them figure it out by redoing our leaning in and out!

Now, we have to learn day and night! That sun is still in the middle of our circle. We jump our noses to the outside of the circle. Jumping is so much fun! Then we jump back to face the yellow ball! Day and night. We now add waking up...when we eat...when we go home...when we sleep. Again, they seem to get it!

I love EPIC books! I use their Sun book to project and read. We then add what we learned to our anchor chart!

Finally, our half hour finishes with a quick art project with chalk and a tissue and a sentence to trace...The sun is a star! Next week...we will connect the sun to the weather and seasons. NGSS standards for kindergarten focus on

We always wrap up with this fun video...

Keep warm my friends! It sure is nice when the sun peeks its way out of the clouds in winter in Wisconsin...

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