Earth and Space

I am currently working on my Earth and Space Unit for TPT.  I will post as soon as it is ready.

Rock Cycle with Starbursts

I am teaching an after school science class and we have had some fun reviewing science concepts from grades 3-5.  One of my favorite science units to teach is "Rocks and Minerals."  My kids loved making the three types of rocks and learning about the rock cycle using Starburst.

Follow the order of the photos when doing the activity.

This activity is also available in my "Digging into the Geosphere Unit" on TPT.  It was designed for students in Grades 3-5.  The unit has a recording sheet for the rock cycle.  Click here for link!

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Plants for Big Kids and a TPT Spring Sale

We have been working on plants for many weeks.  I started my unit with plant structures and functions.  We completed the celery lab and learned about how water travels to the leaves.

We planted bean seeds in baggies and observed them.  It took about a week for the seeds to germinate and then they grew like crazy.  We completed life cycle wheels.

 We dissected flowers and looked at all the parts.  We used microscopes to look at different types of plant cells.

I brought in a few carnivorous plants as our "Class Pets."  We have a venus fly trap and a pitcher plant.  The kids are dying to feed it a live bug!!!

We did a lab using Cheetos.  The kids got to pollinate their friends' flowers using the cheese that stuck to their fingers.

 After the roots grew in our bean baggies, we turned them 90 degrees.  The next day the roots had already started growing downward due to gravity.  The roots are also growing toward the water.  We will be wrapping up a few lessons on adaptations.

The sheets are part of my brand new "Plant and Adaptations" product on TPT.  It is on sale in my shop this weekend.  Click here for link.

Blubber and Beaks

My fifth graders had a great week with two animal adaptation labs.  The first one we did was "Blubber Gloves."  I thought this was a lesson that they did in younger grades but I was wrong.  We timed our hands in ice water and then using the blubber glove. We studied physical and behavioral adaptations. 

The other lab that we completed was "Bird Beaks."  The students had to find the best habitat for their beak/tool.  This lab took two days to complete.  We used six habitats.

 We had six birds with different beaks.  Each group was assigned one tool that represented the beak.  Every student in the group had 30 seconds to gather food.  The group had to find the average and record the data.

We reported and recorded group results.  My students also had a beak sketch page.

 Here is the class results.  We used the data to determine the best habitat for the bird.

 

Both of these labs are part of my Animal Adaptations Unit that is available on TPT.It has vocabulary cards, posters, notebook pages, projects, labs and much more!

Click here for TPT