Happy Halloween!!!

We had such a fun-filled Halloween day! We did an investigation with pumpkins of different varieties where we looked at their different properties, and compared them. We looked at their color, shape, texture, hardness, size, and basic appearance. We also tested their sink or float ability in basins and tubs. The surprised expressions of floating pumpkins was great!

Unit 3 Science Review

This week in science we have been reviewing all of our Unit 3 concepts from the past few weeks. We focused on states of matter, how heating and cooling changes matter, properties of matter and mixtures and solutions. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the kids moved through 6 different stations to practice in each of these areas.

One of their first stations was Matter Around the Room. The went around the room and found different task cards with different questions about states of matter on them. Once they figured out the answer, they wrote it down on their record sheet and moved to the next question. There were 20 different questions the kids had to find in various spots all over the room.

They also created and separated their own mixtures using various substances, cups, measuring cups and spoons, funnels and magnets. The iron filings were a class favorite! Last week, we mixed them with salt and watched how they could be separated. Most of the kids couldn't wait to try it this week!

In addition to making their own mixtures, the kids used beans and water to create either a mixture or solution (they had to determine which it was), then video a partner while asking several questions about their mixture or solution.

They also sorted different items in a t-chart based on whether they were a mixture or a solution. There were 9 different items they had to sort. Once they got their t-chart finished, they chose 1 item from the mixture category and 1 item from the solution category and wrote a sentence justifying their choice.

At another station, the kids did a unit 3 review with question about everything we have been talking about in unit 3. There were questions in 2 different formats: matching, true or false, and fill in the blank.

Their 6th and final station of the review was a unit 3 vocabulary puzzle. I took most of the vocabulary words we studies in unit 3 this cycle and put the words along with the definitions onto little triangles. The kids had to find the vocabulary word and definition that matched up together to finish their puzzle. If they were successful, their puzzle was in the shape of a triangle with the perimeter of the puzzle being completely blank. Some of the kids worked with a partner while others chose to work by themselves. We have a lot of little wordsmiths! Some kids even wanted to create their own puzzle! {If your child is one of them, I have inserted a link to the blank puzzles down at the bottom}

Here are some of the different activities we used in class for our unit 3 review:

Click {here} to visit Jennifer Findley's TpT page for this file

Click {here} to visit The Classroom Nook's TpT page for this file

Click {here} to visit Mary Keveren's TpT page for this file

Click {here} to download this file from Google drive

We will have our Science Unit 3 assessment next Tuesday, December 12. The listed resources would be great to continue to practice at home with your child before our test!

States of Matter!

Halloween week in science means one of my favorite science units! We spent the week talking about states of matter and how different things can change to different states of matter.

We started off the week by watching our Solid, Liquid, Gas BrainPOP and looking at the different pictures in our big science flip book.

Wednesday we talked about different things in our room that were in different states of matter and whether or not we could change them to other states and how we could do that.

Thursday was the fun day! We did our dry ice lab! Mrs. Sturdivant's class came over to do our dry ice lab with us. We reviewed states of matter and what each state was. We also reviewed my safety equipment. We talked about the different materials I had on the table and then I asked the kids what they thought was in the cooler.

I forgot that last year I wore 2 sets of gloves ... and I burned my hand. Just another lesson is being safe when doing science labs!

After I put a SECOND set of gloves on, we added cool water to our below freezing dry ice. The kids predicted that the water would make the ice melt and it would turn from a solid into a liquid.

BUT ... because the dry ice is SO cold, it skips the whole liquid phase and turns directly into a gas! Their faces when the gas started to pour over the container and they heard the water boiling in the container we priceless!

After we turned our solid into a gas, we decided to have some fun with it. We placed a spoon on top of the block of dry ice and listened to it vibrate, put food coloring on our dry ice and put glow stick liquid in it!

Red Ribbon Week Stations

Red Ribbon Week was hectic! Here is some of the stuff the kids did that week.

Coloring and cutting out fall leaves for our mural

Coloring their candy color word and counting books

Using the picture and letter legos to spell CVC words that match the picture

Finishing up work from the week

Using Onset Rime cards to make and write words

Matching capital letters on candies to their lowercase letters

Coloring pictures in our states of matter books

One of the books we read during Red Ribbon Week was The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano. After we read the story, which is about bullying and how you treat others, we made our own "Spookley mural". The kids used different shapes that they traced onto white paper, then colored or painted. None of our "pumpkins" looked the same, just like out book! :)