Saturday, September 10, 2011

How about a little bit of Science...??

The county that I work for has put a HUGE emphasis on Science this year!  It is for good reason, (science being the second indicator for AYP) but a little much for kindergarten in my opinion.  We do science all the time but it is usually integrated into reading and math - so I am finding it hard to have a separate science time daily - but I am slowly learning and getting used to the idea.  This year we are required to spend 40 minutes daily on Science and log the minutes and what we teach.  To be accountable for these minutes our children have Science Interactive Notebooks (Science Journals) to show that we did in fact teach what we logged.
You can find the Journal cover HERE!
  
Where do I even begin... :) 
I love the "Journal" idea - so much so, that we have a Math Journal, a Morning Work Journal, a writing Journal and now a Science Journal!!  6 weeks into school and we have all pretty much learned most of us have learned how to find the first clean page in any journal!  Why is this skill always so hard to teach??  If there are any tricks to this PLEASE SHARE!!! :)  So our first entry into our notebooks was about the 5 Senses.  We did a simple picture sort Flip book and glued that baby right in the journal, added the "secret code" and ta da!!! Our first entry done!!  Well, that wasn't too bad - I think we can do this! :) 

 Another thing the county has asked us to do are Common Science Assessments for each Unit.  This shouldn't be too hard either.  I have some very creative and helpful colleagues on my team so together we should be able to do this with out any problems. Here is the first assessment that we gave along with the rubric we used.  One of those creative colleagues created the actual assessment for us and was happy to let me share it with you.  I did the rubric for us - TEAMWORK!! :) 
Click HERE for the assessment.

Click HERE for the Rubric.



I will update how our Science block is going throughout the year.  Next week are are doing Deanna Jumps solid and liquid activity - Making ice cream!! :)  That should be fun!!   

Now to kind of switch gears a little - I will be starting a Unit on the Farm next week and I am really excited!!  I kind of introduced the Farm on Friday and just asked some simple questions to see what kind of background knowledge they had.  Did you know that elephants live on the farm???  Needless to say we are going to learn A LOT in the next couple weeks!  
I have a very creative teammate and friend at school who really should start her own blog (hint hint Jayme Horner)!!!!  She creates some of the cutest stuff!  Along with making the 5 Senses Assessment, she made some cute math and literacy games for us to do during our Farm Unit.  I can't wait to use them and I know my kiddo's will love using them!!  Again, she was kind enough to allow me to share her work with you!
Yay!!

Here is a 
Barn/Haystack Ten Frame Matching Game(1-10):
 

Click HERE

and a Farm Animal Beginning Sound Match - you have to match the picture to the animal on the mat that has the same beginning sound. :)  

Click HERE

And she even made a Response sheet that is differentiated!  See what I mean?? Awesome!!! 
You can find it HERE

I'm feeling like I am forgetting to post something...but I'm hoping that I'm not!! 

Have a great Sunday!! 

20 comments:

  1. One of my goals this year is Science Journals, too. I love your freebies and especially the rubric. Jayme's work is outstanding, too! Thanks for the great ideas.
    BusyBees

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  2. Oh. My. Word. That Farm Animal Activity is FANTASTIC!! I am so excited to use it with my kiddos! Thanks so much!
    Kerri B
    teacherbitsandbobs.blogspot.com

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  3. I had trouble with my kids finding the next clean page and I had trouble with them wanting to write on EVERY page and fill up the entire journal in one day, so I printed a big stop sign and laminated for each journal. Every day when I check the journal entry I place the stop sign behind the next new page that they are to write on. They know that they CANNOT go past the stop sign. They find the page IN FRONT of the stop sign, fill it up with their entry and then when they try to turn the page they see the stop sign and know that they must stop. This has totally worked for my prekinders!

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  4. I love your first science journal entry! We are doing 5 senses next week - and I love that flip book!!! Thanks for sharing those farm centers. I've got them printed and ready for our farm unit in October. Thanks again - you always have such super stuff!

    Katy
    Kindergarten Katy

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  5. Thank you so much for sharing. I love all of your ideas!

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  6. We use post it notes in our journals! Each day, the kids move the post it to the next page and it sticks out of the top of the journal. Super easy.

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  7. Thank you and Jayme so very much for sharing! I have used Post It Notes as well. They work wonderfully! :)

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  8. Thanks so much for the cute farm animal beginning sound match game! It will be a great review for some of my first grade kiddos! :)
    ✿Laurie
    Morning Sun First Grade

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  9. Thank you so much everyone for the sweet comments! They just make my day! Ashley deseves the credit though, because she has been my mentor and has helped me become who I am as a teacher. :)

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  10. Hi Ashley! I received a Versitile Blogger Award and wanted to pass it on to you. Thanks for being so inspiring to me. Head over to my blog!

    Lori
    http://bee-the-change.blogspot.com/

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  11. Hi! I have had good luck with journals using a paper clip as a page marker. I teach the kids to slide their finger along the top of the unopened journal. They can use that to open to the exact right page. When they are done, they put it on the page they just completed. It takes some practice but makes life easier in the long run! Good Luck!

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  12. This is a fabulous post!! I grabbed your button for my blog-www.littlelillypolkadotbedtimeblog.blogspot.com. I also wanted to tell you that TEACHERSFIRST.com did a great write-up on the website www.littlelillypolkadot.com. Hopefully you can use the site in the classroom as they recommend!!

    Again I love your blog!!

    Wendy

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  13. In my classroom, we also use the sticky note as a book mark. In the past, I've had a parent tape a piece of yarn in every journal. It worked like a book mark you'd find in a Bible. Thanks for sharing your ideas!!

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  14. I'm very new to this blogging. I love your ideas and hope to use some in my class. Thank you.
    Carmen

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  15. OMG,,, those are the cutest things I have seen. Thank you so much for making them free and available for everyone. I will definitely be using those when I do my farm unit in the spring.

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  16. check out http://www.agclassroom.org/

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  17. Thank you soooo much for e-mailing me and giving me the link to the farm activities. They are darling!
    Love your blog. I am you newest follower!
    Tonia
    Mrsvento.blogspot

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  18. I've just stumbled upon your blog and WOWY WOW WOW!!! YET ANOTHER FOLLOWER!!! YOU GALS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! I used to teach in the public school...until the birth of my son...then simply could not leave him...so I opened a private preschool here in our town and he just comes along!!! I'm really working on doing a better job with keeping my FB page for it updated...but you can check it out "Sugarbabe's Learning Center" on facebook...I do journals too and have found hot glue with a piece of ribbon stuck in the back cover works well!!! They act like the ones in my Bible...I used to use the sticky notes for kiddos as they work beautifuly for me...but little ones and sticky notes yeah well...they no longer stick after about a week!!!! Anyhow...I just found the ribbons HOLD UP!!! THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR AWESOMENESS WITH THE WORLD!!!

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  19. Thank you so much for the great activity (Red Barn). I am sure I will find it to be very helpful with my kiddos this year!

    www.teachersland.com

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