Five for Friday - March 10th

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up for another Five for Friday post.

ONE: Oobleck
Our study of Dr. Seuss books came at the perfect time as we are finishing up a unit on solids or liquids.  Bartholomew and the Oobleck is a great read aloud and it lends itself to a science lesson on the states of matter. This week I read the book to my kiddos on Monday and we worked on some comprehension strategies and paragraph writing with the book on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

On Thursday we made oobleck and I had my kiddos write about and discuss whether they thought the oobleck was a solid or a liquid based on all the things we've learned about solids and liquids.  This was a great way to wrap up the science unit and the kiddos had a blast!

Two: Planting Seeds

We are lucky enough to have a large preserve about 25 minutes from our school and each year the first grade classes visit the preserve in May.  Prior to the field trip staff members from the preserve visit us to plant lupine seeds.  On Thursday staff visited us to plant seeds... I can't believe it's March already and we're planting seeds.

  Over the next two and a half months we'll be caring for these plants and we will bring them in May to transplant at the preserve.  The butterflies that live at the preserve need these plants during the larva stage and the kiddos are doing their part to keep these butterflies flourishing in the preserve.  It's a great lesson for the kids to learn and a great way to add some responsibility to their daily routines as each of my kiddos get a chance to care for the seeds.  

THREE: Morning Tubs

I cannot say enough good things about morning tubs.  The kiddos love them and I love seeing their creativity, planning, and cooperation as they use these games and materials to create whatever they want.  

FOUR: Expanded Form

This week I had to take out my expanded form workmats.  Many of my kiddos were having some trouble writing the expanded form of numbers.  They were able to build numbers with hundreds, tens, and ones but then when they were asked to write the expanded form they were only writing how many cubes or sets of cubes they put down.  I had to take a step back to remind many of them that even through they had 3 tens, they couldn't just write the number 3.  This is a tough one for some to see without seeing the cubes.  Hopefully we have that all straightened out. 

FIVE:  New Science Standards

As we finish up our unit on solids and liquids we'll be moving to a unit on light and sound.  I'm changing things up a bit for this unit and I've been working all week to make sure the lessons are aligned to the new NGSS standards.  I'm a bit overwhelmed by these new standards, but excited by where science is going.  

Have a great weekend... Don't forget to check out Doodle Bugs Teaching for more Five for Friday posts!