E is for Explore!

Rotation Tessellation

2017-08-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

Start with a square. Cut the top and add to the right (90 degrees). Cut the bottom and add to the left (90 degrees). Trace your design on paper and rotate!

Click here to see how to create a translation tessellation

Geo Art

2017-08-14T12:40:00.001-07:00

Download isometric dot grid paper. Kids connect dots to create polygons, overlapping their lines to create a unique design. When they're finished they color in their shapes. How many different polygons can they find within their design?

Fishing for Angles

2017-08-14T12:31:00.002-07:00

Kids construct a fish out of a circle, using a protractor to create its mouth (make sure each kid creates a different angle). They cut out the angle and the chunk of paper becomes the caudal fin (or tail fin). Game: All of the fish get magnets put on them. For a fishing pole, use a stick with yarn and a magnet attached to the end. Kids go fishing for angles! When they catch a fish, they use a protractor and figure out the angle of its mouth. They write down the type of fish they caught (ex: 30 degree angle). They keep their fish. If they can't figure out the angle, they throw their fish back! Whoever has the most fish wins!

Square Explosion

2017-08-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Give kids scissors and a paper square and see what they can create!

Racimals

2017-04-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

I wish I could take full credit for this project idea, but it was inspired by an article I saw in my nephew's Highlights magazine! In Highlights, students created a robot racer. I took this idea and let children have complete creative freedom to design any racer they would like. All they needed was an empty square tissue box and a tennis ball! Then of course a ramp or some type of hill for their racers to travel down!

In this lesson, students use their design skills to create their very own one of a kind racer! They want it to look aesthetically pleasing, however, they must use their engineering skills to make it travel fast! Will 30 pom pom balls, 20 pipe cleaners, layers of construction paper and glue really help their racer? Students learn that minimal design is not only more pleasing to the eye, but can also help them construct a super fast racimal (racing creature). This lesson also ties in well with a forces and motion unit. Students experiment with push, the amount of effort applied (to push) and distance. Teachers can also tie math in by having students measure the distance their racer traveled.

Here is what you need:

▪ A variety of art materials for students to go crazy /experiment with! (construction paper, pipe cleaners, markers, crayons, googley eyes, etc)

▪ Empty square tissue boxes (with the top square cut off - where you pull the tissue out)

▪ Tennis Balls

What you do:

1. First cut the top off of the tissue box (this is the bottom of the racer)

2. Next, decorate it! Students can create an animal, superhero, monster, alien, cryptid, anything they can imagine.

3. Then students put the tennis ball inside of the opening of the tissue box, flip it over (tennis ball on the bottom, inside of the box), set it on a ramp and watch it go!

Snake Zentangle Design Project

2017-04-25T17:28:00.001-07:00

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: Design a Snake Zentangle!

Geography Design Project

2017-04-01T17:38:00.003-07:00

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: Design a country! Click here for the free printable! + page edit

Pet Shop Aquarium Math / Art

2017-03-22T15:36:00.002-07:00

In this pet store math activity, students learn about adding decimals as well as area and perimeter by designing an aquarium and collaborating with their peers to create an entire pet store wall of aquariums! - Check out my post at We Are Teachers!

Amusement Park Map Design

2017-03-14T12:41:00.002-07:00

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: Amusement Park Map Design! Click here for the free printable!

Alien Genetics Lab: Baby Alien Creation

2017-02-27T04:52:00.004-08:00

(Science / Art Integration) Kids create a baby alien by flipping 2 coins, while leaning about heredity, alleles, genotypes and phenotypes! Click here for instructions and here for a free printable!

Wild Thing Adaptations

2017-02-24T08:49:00.003-08:00

Invite your students to investigate the structural adaptations and behavioral adaptations of the creatures from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are! In this lesson, students examine each Wild Thing’s physical characteristics, using the free printable below to help them identify the various attributes that make each Wild Thing unique. Then in a group, they design a new environment and their very own original Wild Things!

Click here for the full project description / criteria. Click here for printables!

Crayfish Lab

2016-11-02T06:22:00.004-07:00

Teachers purchase live crayfish (crawdads or crawfish) from the grocery store.
(Pre-order and pickup - this was done in my classroom)

Kids investigate crayfish body parts, adaptations, behavior and habitats through 10 lab observations. Labs include: measuring (in lab 1), comparing (lab 2), observing behavior, recording feeding and learning about each body part through the 10 labs. 2 art projects are included (lab 7 and 8). Kids draw a habitat and create a crayfish chimney.

Note: There is NO dissection in this pack. Kids study live crayfish.

Includes (21 pages):
Objectives
Crayfish habitat instructions
6 presentation slides: crayfish parts / adaptations / habitat / behavior
10 Lab sheets
2 mini posters (parts of the crayfish: top and bottom of the organism)

Free download!

Earthworm Study

2016-11-01T04:08:00.002-07:00

Students explore worm adaptations and perform 5 lab experiments. Plus they get to create a worm hotel for the classroom!

Included (18 pages):
11 pdf presentation slides
Lab 1 Structural Adaptations: label / estimate / measure / describe attributes / review worm parts
Lab 2 Behavioral Adaptations: light / moisture / sound experimentation
Lab 3 Worm Observation: build a worm hotel instructions / observation sheet
Lab 4 Predator and Prey: draw worms in natural habitat (tunnels) / draw 3 predators / draw 2 worm food items
Lab 5 Straw Paper Work Trick: instructions for kids / kids draw their paper worm

Free Download!

Fact or Opinion: You Decide!

2016-10-25T05:47:00.005-07:00

Game: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v7vP1hlfMwby-TbyfCBXcwsxsSsXrvdY/view?usp=sharing

Angle Investigation: Polaroid Snapshots

2016-10-13T17:51:00.003-07:00

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RGB0rZrna2n7hnx8CyTAaa-AzyvTjAri/view?usp=sharing

Animal Camouflage: How Creatures Hide

2016-10-12T16:49:00.001-07:00

Includes:
3 Mini Posters with: Disruptive Coloration, Concealing Coloration, Countershading, Disguise and Mimicry
Octopus Disguise Project - template for kids to design and hide in the classroom
Walking Stick or Katydid Disguise Craft - kids find a leaf or stick and create an insect hiding in its habitat
Concealing Coloration Scavenger Hunt - how-to instructions and recording sheet
Disruptive Coloration Savanna Scene - kids draw a predator and prey, showing how this coloration helps animals in the savanna
Butterfly or Moth Mimicry Project - template for kids to design a paper pet that uses mimicry (no Viceroy butterflies allowed)!
Countershading Ocean Scene - kids draw a predator and prey, demonstrating how this type of coloring helps animals survive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j412_QuHfQFyjORXk3lPEMOd4DzV3NKb/view?usp=sharing

Alien Tour: Show Me Your Landforms

2016-10-11T15:52:00.004-07:00

3 landform projects given to kids by Vladimir the Extraterrestrial! Vladimir sends the kids 3 postcards from Saturn via a space capsule (tupperware). He wants to know a little more about Earth's natural landscape. - No, he does not want to take over our planet! - In one postcard, the alien shows the kids his planet (an alien world with a familiar landform).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17cLQgrcKLVTEuJrJAukLpfD5lPMquRIA/view?usp=sharing

Area + Perimeter Punk Rock Hair Design

2016-10-08T06:28:00.002-07:00

Kids design a punk rock hair style and figure out the area and perimeter of their design.

Free download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Nc3B4Q8UUPPjMxEEkaU9s0eLpsFK3rY/view?usp=sharing

Googie Math / Art

2016-10-06T00:43:00.002-07:00

Free Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NP0t-fn9RroznPtcnbsyS_y43rpV9J6h/view?usp=sharing

Practice your money skills and get creative with Shel Silverstein's "The Googies are Coming," from Where the Sidewalk Ends. What is a googie? Who knows?! Have kids write a definition for a googie. Next have them make a snapshot image of a googie. Then kids add up the cost of certain children! Once they figured out the different costs, they become googies and choose 5 children (draw/ add up the cost).

Note: Tell kids googies want children to play with, so no one gets scared!

Cryptozoology: Learning with Cryptids

2016-10-02T23:27:00.003-07:00

Kids turn into cryptozoologists and study 3 cryptids closely: Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster and Chupacabra. Then they create a field report on any cryptid they would like to investigate!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SXe6idap5PZ6PnJmvprjRjpay7mcfLy_/view?usp=sharing

Includes:
List of 50 Cryptids
Top 10 Cryptids That Turned Out to be Real
Task Sheets for the 3 Cryptids: math / art projects with measuring, fictional sighting report writing, adaptation activity and survey / data collection
Adapation Recording Sheets for the 3 Cryptids
Bar Graph Sheets for the 3 Cryptids
Field Report Assignment to Research Any Cryptid

Character Analysis with Tattoos

2016-10-01T16:35:00.001-07:00

Cool concept made for middle / high school kids that every age would enjoy! http://bit.ly/2duf4VB
Kids give characters a symbolic tattoo and have to support the choice of the design using examples in the text.

Rock Band Storypath

2016-10-01T07:22:00.004-07:00

Storypath units promote children as active participants in their own learning. Students learn about topics through cross-curricular connections woven into an imaginative real-world scenario. They role-play and make critical decisions independently and collaboratively. Invite your students on a rock band adventure! This unit integrates Common Core standards with project-based learning. Students discover that what they learn in school is valuable, even for a rock star!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fV41KsbdGUCe3K0GlvNYHIpLTfQyo9Er/view?usp=sharing

Choose Your Own Adventure: Rock Cycle

2016-10-01T05:11:00.003-07:00

Choose Your Own Adventure Style: Rock Cycle Wheel (free download) Students find images or draw pictures on their wheel. They fasten the two circles together and ride the rock cycle. They spin clockwise and counterclockwise, choosing their own adventure!

After kids have fun riding the rock cycle, then invite them outside for a fun game of rock cycle tag! Free printable here!

Entomology: Cross-Curricular Learning

2016-09-28T22:48:00.001-07:00

Kids have fun investigating insects in their natural habitat!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VSK6HrKelgtudsf66-B3jeZ8On5L4Ywh/view?usp=sharing

Includes:
1. Letters and photos from Entomologist Greg prompting kids to do different experimentations.
2. 3 Insect Investigation Worksheets: identifying, describing, comparing and contrasting
3. Insect Trading Card Project: measurement and data collection
4. 4 Insect Posters: insect characteristics, non-insect characteristics, mouth parts and compound eyes
5. Insect Fraction and Graphing: oversized images of insects are hung up around the classroom and kids have to circle whether the specimens are insects or not. Then they make a graph of their findings and record fractions.
6. Ant Restaurant Experiment and Recording Sheet: kids have a menu and add their own items to a paper plate for experimentation. Then they graph the results of the experiment (as a class).
7. Label Ant Worksheet
8. Metamorphosis Monarch Sequencing Cards and Worksheet
9. Create Your Own Ladybug Sequencing Cards and Ladybug Lifecycle Worksheet
10. Lifecycle Comic Strip Tech Project
11. Incomplete Metamorphosis Worksheet: Grasshopper and Dragonfly
12. Butterfly Feeder Instructions: kids make daily recordings of the feeder
13. Letter from Greg prompting kids to research an insect from a different biome

Botanical Expedition

2016-09-25T23:38:00.002-07:00

Botanical Expedition - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ykieN_OP9xygBi9nSm4a5-qkVf3vgKEm/view?usp=sharing
Kids are given a project-based learning project where they go on a plant expedition to one of the biomes listed on the scientific fact cards (included in the pack). They discover a new plant species and record their findings by designing their own scientific fact sheets!

After their individual project, they collaborate in a group and design life-size versions of real plants that exist around the world in different biomes (4 plants). This section is called plant superlatives because the plants have extreme attributes! Kids research interesting facts about the plant their group is assigned (after they create it to hang on the walls of your classroom)!

10 Biome Scientific Fact Cards / Mini-Posters
(labeled: blue (aquatic) and green (terrestrial)
1. Coral Reef
2. Wetlands
3. Desert
4. Deciduous Forest
5. Temperate Grasslands
6. Savanna
7. Taiga
8. Temperate Rainforest
9. Tropical Rainforest
10. Tundra