Fahrenheit Friday! 
                        Science Investigations and Experiments

If you LOVE teaching science using investigations and experiments...check out this blog post about how I implement Fahrenheit Friday in my first-grade classroom! 

First, you need to look at your district's scope and sequence and see which thematic units you are teaching in what month. During those units, you will need to look at your science standards and see which of those standards you can use for your investigations and experiments. In this post, I will give you a month-by-month layout of my thematic units for science and social studies and what investigations/experiments that I have used for each one. 
                                          Here we go!!!
On Fahrenheit Friday, we all go out to our neighborhood or classroom and put our lab coats on. We sit on the carpet and listen to a story. We make an anchor chart of our learning. We review what the scientific method is and then talk about what we are going to investigate that day. We talk about what scientists do: investigate, observe, ask questions, thinks, experiments, discovers, collects data, sorts data, takes guesses and tests their data. 
                            We review this anchor chart:

At the beginning of the year, we do this scientific method foldable and glue it into our science notebook:

There are a lot of great discussion questions that you can ask your students during science and I use this to engage the students into being excited about what they are going to investigate. I had a parent make my lab coats one year and it has been one of the best things that I use in my classroom. The students really feel like scientists and are so excited to wear them. 

But, I have some rules...
Don't spill anything on your coat.
If you use the restroom, take it off and put it on your chair. 
Button it up when you put it on.
After you take it off gently lay it on the back of your chair. 

I have had these lab coats for many years and I always wash them about twice a year. 

Here is a month-to-month breakdown of my thematic units and which science investigations/experiments I do within that unit. 

August/September:
What is a Scientist: The Blooming Flower
All About Me: Investigating Fingerprints
Weather: Cloud in a Cup, Tornado in a Jar
Apples: 5 Senses 

                                         The Blooming Flower 

                                Investigating Our Fingerprints

                                            Cloud in a Cup

                                         Tornado in a Jar

                                    5 Senses with Apples


October: 
Force/Motion/Energy: Investigating Types of Energy
Owls: Dissecting Owl Pellets
Columbus/Maps: Magnets/Investigating Maps

                              Investigating Types of Energy

                                  Investigating Owl Pellets

                                        Investigating Maps

November:
Native Americans: Growing Corn with Natural Resources
                                     Sand, Soil and Water
Rocks/Soil: Edible Dirt Cup

                                      Investigating Corn

                            Edible Dirt Cup: Layers of the Soil 

December:
Christmas Around the World: Investigating Evergreen Trees

                                   Evergreen Trees

                                           Pinecones

January:
Winter: Ice Experiment/ Igloo STEM
MLK/Black History: Diversity Duo

                                               Igloo STEM

                                           Diversity Duo
February:
Groundhog Day: Investigating Shadows
Objects in the Sky: Phases of the Moon, Constellation Investigation
Presidents/America: Lincoln Log Cabin STEM

                                      Investigating Shadows

                                  Phases of the Moon

                                 Constellation Investigation

                                   Lincoln Log Cabin STEM

March:
Texas: Oil Experiment
St. Patrick's Day: Rainbow Investigation

                                        Oil Experiment 

                                 Rainbow Investigation

April: 
Rainforests: Terrarium Investigation
Plants: Investigating Sunflower Seeds
Life Cycles: Investigating Butterflies, Ladybugs and Frogs

                                      Terrarium Investigation

                                       Investigating Ladybugs

                                       Investigating Sunflowers

May:
Earth and Volcanoes: Volcano Experiment
Oceans: Investigating Sharks and Whales, Ocean in a Jar
              Investigating Shells

                                     Volcano Experiment

                               Investigating Whales and Sharks

                                    Investigating Shells

                                     Ocean in a Jar

 After we do each experiment/investigation, the students record their data on their science template and then glue it into their science notebook. At the end of the year, their notebook is full of science experiments! 
Here are some examples of our science notebook:

If you are interested in doing Fahrenheit Friday with your students, check out my science investigations resource here. You will not be disappointed and your students will LOVE science! This resource includes step by step materials and directions, classroom photos, lesson plans, and science notebook templates. 
Happy Teaching! 
Love, Kara 

                                          Happy New Year! 

If you LOVE teaching goal setting and making New Year's resolutions with your class, then check out my blog post! Here are some fun ideas for Mentor Texts, Interactive Notebooks, Student Booklets, and Writing Craftivities! Here are some mentor texts that you could read with your class: 

Here are some fun writing craftivities that you could have your students write about their New Year's Resolution! 

If you're interested in checking out this resource, click here

I love reading Squirrel's New Year's Resolution and doing this fun writing craftivity: 

You can also have your students make a sequencing foldable using these sequencing cards and labels. I just take a big piece of construction paper, fold it hot dog style and cut 4 slits in the front. 

You can also have your students make a Goal Setting Booklet and tell about things that they can get better at: Reading, Writing, Math, Science, etc. Click here for this resource. 

You can choose to do this booklet during Morning Meeting time if you want. That's when I do it. The booklet is included in Squirrel's New Year resource. 

You can also make these hats for New Year! 

I have these hats for all the different months and holidays! Click 

here  I hope you have a great time with your students for New Years! Happy Teaching!

Love, 

Kara 

 It's Reindeer Day! 

Check out all these fun activities you can do with your students!

 On the last day of school before Christmas break, we have our annual Reindeer Day celebration! Out in our first grade neighborhood, we have set up Reindeer stations that our students can roam through at their own pace. We have games, activities, crafts, food and music! Here are some different types of stations that we've had. And, of course, we couldn't do this without the help of our amazing parents! We send out a sign up genius so they can sign up to help out so all we have to do is just walk around and monitor! 

                                          Reindeer Antlers 

                                                            Reindeer Pancakes

 

  Face Painting 

                                          

                          Reindeer Magnets or Ornaments

Pop cycle sticks, magnets, green ribbon, student pictures, red pom-poms, glue, chip trays, and googly eyes. 

                                       Reindeer Ornaments

                                             

Pin the Nose on the Reindeer 

                                           Jingle Bell Toss

                                     

                                    Reindeer Ring Toss 

                                     Jingle Bell Necklaces

Jingle bells, red/green/white pony beads, chip trays, and necklace string.

If you want your students to enjoy some reindeer books...here are some suggestions! 

Here are some writing craftivities that you could have your students do:  

                                 Olive the Other Reindeer

If you're interested in my Olive the Other Reindeer resource, click here. 

                        Reindeer Research and Reindeer Diary 

If you're interested in my Reindeer Research resource, click here

If you have a student that doesn't celebrate Christmas, you can have them write a Reindeer Diary instead of an Elf Diary. 

I hope you have a wonderful and Merry Christmas!  Remember to enjoy your students this week! 

Love, Kara 

We're Wrapped Up in Christmas... and Math too!  

These past few weeks, we did a LOT of fun activities for Christmas! I can't wait to share them with you! 
We read a lot of great stories, we learned about Christmas traditions around the world, we decorated Gingerbread Houses, we had Reindeer games, crafts and dancing! And the best part, we got to enjoy Christmas together as a class! 

One of my favorite activities we did for math was called: Merry Christmas Bow Math. I gave each pair of students a bag of Christmas bows, a divided chip tray and their math templates. 

They had to sort the bows, count them, graph them and estimate how many bows were inside the bag. After graphing the bows, they had to answer some questions and problem solve about their bows. Last, they worked with each other to write Christmas bow story problems for addition and subtraction. Here are some of the pics from our activity: 

The students had four templates they had to complete.
Estimating how many bows were in their bag:

Graphing their bows with different colors: 

Problem Solving with their bows: 

Writing Story Problems using addition and subtraction:

I also created a Christmas Bow Math Roll and Add and Roll and Subtract using dice: 

We had so much fun using Christmas Bows for math! This was an excellent filler to do the last few days before Christmas break. If you are interested in checking out my math packet, click below!
Have a Merry Christmas! :)
Love,
Kara 

Merry Christmas Bow Math: Counting, Sorting, Graphing and Problem Solving