E is for Explore!

Word Family Dance Steps

2013-06-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

Trace around your shoe to create a shoe shape. Next, write different words from various word families on the shoe shape. Then, mix them up and tape them to the floor to create a path (curved, straight - whatever you'd like!) of shoe prints. Kids move (dance / hop) to words that belong to the same family!

Donut Words

2013-06-17T21:14:00.002-07:00

This activity comes from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits! Kids practice creating three letter short vowel words with donuts! Write A, E, I, O, U on 5 paper plates. Then, give kids a box of paper donuts with two letters on the sides of the donuts. Kids place the donuts on the plates, so the vowel shows through the hole of the donut.

You can find a list of short vowel words here!
Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits has a free download of paper donuts! Cover the donuts with contact paper and use a dry erase marker to change the words each time you practice!

Measurement Garden

2013-06-15T14:53:00.002-07:00

This project comes from Step Into 2nd Grade! Kids create a flower bed of measurements! To integrate fractions, click here!

Magnify It!

2013-06-14T18:46:00.001-07:00

Integrate math (measuring) and science (light/optics) by experimenting with a magnifying glass from Science Buddies! First, kids create a ruler out of masking tape. They use the tape ruler to measure their magnified object (see image above). Kids hold the magnifying glass or prop it at different heights from the table using a standard ruler. They write down the height of their hand / the magnifying glass. For example, the magnifying glass was held 10 inches from the table. They place an object near their masking tape ruler and put the magnifying glass over it. Make sure you hold the magnifying glass at the height you recorded. Kids use their tape ruler to measure the object. Then, they write down the measurement of the object next to the height measurement. How does an object's size (appear to) change at different optical distances in comparison to its actual size?! Check out the full activity here!

Playground Prepositions

2013-06-13T23:43:00.001-07:00

Take your students out on the playground to explore prepositions!

Outdoor Math + Checkers

2013-06-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Practice your math skills by playing checkers! Check out Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational for a milk cap version (addition and subtraction).

Then, visit Crayola to see how to make an oversized checker board on the pavement! (featured above)

Add math equations to the blank boxes and you're ready to play! Kids move their checkers across the equations and try to solve them!

Sentence Scramble

2013-06-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

This sentence collaboration game comes from ehow!
materials: sentence strips and markers

Practice writing compound sentences and working with coordinating conjunctions by scrambling sentences! Kids are split up into teams (10 kids per team). They come up with a topic. Then, they each write one sentence that revolves around the topic they chose.

Once they have their sentences complete, they use coordinating conjunctions to create compound sentences! Kids must problem solve and think how they can combine their sentences using the 7 coordinating conjunctions!

Examples:

I put my goggles on for swimming.

My swimsuit is striped and yellow.

I float on an inner tube, but I like to doggy paddle.

I blow bubbles or hold my breath underwater.

I dunk my brother in the pool, yet I like to get wet!

I like to dive off the diving board so I splash lots of water!

Neither my brother nor I like getting dunked!

Sentence Hunt (4 types)

2013-06-09T23:13:00.001-07:00

Kids roll the sentence die and try to find the type of sentence it lands on! They can look through a book, magazine, newspaper - whatever they would like!

P.O.S. Musical Plates

2013-06-09T15:45:00.002-07:00

materials: paper plates (3 for each child)
Write a noun, verb, or adjective on each paper plate. Lay the plates out in an open space outside. Play music and kids dance from plate to plate. When the music stops, the child picks up the plate and keeps it. The goal is to collect one noun, verb, and adjective plate. If the child lands on a noun when the music stops, and he already has a noun, he doesn't keep the plate. Once everyone has each part of speech, they use their creativity and imagination to create a unique sentence using the words they collected on their plates!

Venn Creature

2013-06-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

This activity comes from Education.com! Kids mash two creatures together to create a new animal! After they create (draw or photoshop) their creature, have them name it and describe its special characteristics. Where does the creature live? Have kids describe its habitat. What does it eat? What eats it?! How is it adapted to its environment?

You could also have kids construct their creature using model magic, once they finalize their sketch on their Venn diagram.

If kids need a little inspiration, have them check out Build Your Wild Self (click here for an example)!

Biodiversity Scavenger Hunt

2013-06-08T01:47:00.000-07:00

Kids hunt for abiotic and biotic factors in their backyard (or school yard). Then, based on their observations, they create a food chain or web to represent what they discovered in the ecosystem they explored! Click here for the printable

SCOOT - IPN

2013-06-04T02:59:00.001-07:00

Practice irregular plural nouns by playing Scoot! Kids scoot from one chair to the next and write down what they think the plural is for each noun card!

Scoot Directions (good explanation)

IPN Cards (only cut around the rectangle and the center lines - example above) - 32 cards

Time Warp!

2013-06-01T14:40:00.001-07:00

Lay out the time warp mats, give kids a sentence, and have them run to the correct verb tense mat! Once on the mat, they identify the verb within the sentence.

Example:
He ate an orange! (Child runs to the "past" mat and calls out "ate")
He eats an orange everyday!
He will eat an orange!

HOT WAD

2013-06-01T11:38:00.003-07:00

Practice vocabulary with a twist on hot potato! On scraps of paper write down different objectives for kids to conquer! Then, wad up the scraps to make a ball. Have kids sit in a circle and turn some music on. Kids pass the ball clockwise until the music stops. The one holding the ball has to unwrap a piece of the scrap paper from the ball. The teacher gives the child a word and the player answers. For example, what part of speech is it?! If the player answers correctly he stays in the game.

For younger kids, you can write their sight words on the scrap paper. Kids have to say the word they unwrap!

For more vocab. fun, check out word wheel and roll and...

Note: This game could also be used to practice simple multiplication facts. Write down equations on scrap paper. Kids figure out the product to stay in the game!

Capacity Relay Race

2013-05-31T13:02:00.001-07:00

Split kids up into 2 teams. Give each team a bucket of water and a sponge. Across from each team set up different sized containers (cup, liter, gallon -also can include- pint, quart, half gallon) in a line. Kids within a team take turns racing to fill a gallon of water!

First, they must fill up their cup by dipping the sponge into the bucket of water and squeezing the water out into the cup. Once the cup is filled, they dump it into the next item. The item won't be filled after a single cup. So, the next team member races to fill up another cup. Once the bottle is filled, they write down how many cups it took to fill the bottle.

Then, they dump it into the next sized container. The water won't fill up the container. They have to start racing to fill up a cup again and figure out how many cups will fill up this container.

The winner is the first team to fill up the last, largest container and have the correct answers written down (how many cups are in each container)!

Sand Art Math

2013-05-30T13:19:00.003-07:00

Integrate math, art, and science by creating sand art!

Math

Have kids figure out the fraction of each color they use in their sand art (bottle or paper)

Capacity - Kids measure the sand they pour in the bottle

Science

Rocks/Minerals Unit, rocks broken down equals sand!

For more fun with sand, check out the sand castle experiment!

Mysterious Books?!?

2013-05-28T03:06:00.001-07:00

To get kids to try reading a book outside of their norm, have them go on a "blind date with a book!" Wrap books up in newspaper so the cover is concealed. They choose one of the wrapped books and rate it after the first three pages. Then, they continue to read and see if they change their mind. Click here for the printable (above) to go along with the activity!

Lava in a Cup

2013-05-26T11:23:00.002-07:00

First, add 3 inches of water to a cup. Next, pour 1/3 cup oil on top. Then, squirt 1 drop of food coloring. What happened?! The food coloring drop will sit on top of the oil. Grab a salt shaker and start sprinkling to get a reaction! Magically, "lava" will drizzle down and fill the cup! Watch closely and blobs will appear and shoot up to the top of the glass (salt dissolves and heads back to the surface). For the scientific explanation, check out Exploratorium Salt Volcano! For more blob activity pour a tsp of salt in (Science Bob).

Race to 100

2013-05-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

Race to 100 is inspired by the game Poison! Race to 100 from Love 2 Learn 2 Day! Kids get a 100 grid. Ones and tens pieces remain in between the 2 players. Kids take turns rolling 2 dice, the special place value die and a regular die. The regular die determines how many ones or tens they get. For example, a kid might roll a 3 and the place value die lands on tens. The player takes 3 tens and covers his board. If the place value die lands on lose turn, the player loses his turn! :( If it lands on start over, the player must clear his board and start over! :( The goal is to be the first to cover the 100 board! Players can't go over or be slightly under 100. They have to make exactly 100!

You can print the die and 100 grid here. For the ones and tens, print extra copies of the 100 grid and cut apart to create the playing pieces. For a colorful game, print on different colors of cardstock paper.

Thaumatropes

2013-05-20T22:36:00.002-07:00

Integrate art, math, science, as well as history by constructing a thaumatrope! Kids use their measuring skills and imagination to create a paper animation! "Thaumatropes are optical illusions that operate by switching between two images so rapidly that the images appear as one." - Molecular Expressions. Video by EllieBTECMedia

How to incorporate in your classroom:

Geometry - Have kids figure out the area of their circle or rectangle, as well as circumference and perimeter. You could also have them try making different shapes for their thaumatrope besides the basic circle, rectangle, or square.

Science - Create thaumatropes that go along with your unit (ex: weather: lightning and dark skies on one side and clear skies with puffy white clouds on the other). Also, states of matter: ice cube melting. They could also do a volcano erupting or a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. Kids can get super creative with the project!

History - Check it out here!

Four different ways to construct a thaumatrope! All you need is cardstock, a hole puncher, glue/tape and one of the materials below. You can draw, use photos, or write messages to create your optical illusion!

Rubber Band (you need 2)

Wooden Skewer

Straw

String

Spiky Crystals

2013-05-20T14:06:00.001-07:00

Grow crystals in your fridge with epsom salt and hot water!
Chemistry crystals (featured above) - Instructables
Cup of Quick Crystal Needles - About.com

You can also explore evaporation by growing crystals outdoors! Check out Exploratorium's Spiky Sun Crystals!

To incorporate this into a fossil unit, grow crystals on a sponge to investigate permineralization, visit Layers of Learning!

Color UN-mixing

2013-05-19T21:02:00.003-07:00

Awesome experiment from the Surfing Scientist! Kids investigate laminar flow: liquid flowing in parallel layers. They rotate a cylinder glass, watching colors mix and un-mix right before their eyes!

Cubes and Color

2013-05-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

How does color affect how fast an ice cube will melt from Green-Planet-Solar-Energy! Investigate the heat absorbing capacity of different colors by placing ice cubes on various colors of construction paper (make sure you include black and white). Do certain colors reflect or absorb more light? Lay the paper and cubes in a super sunny spot. Then, make a prediction, create a list of what cubes you think will melt the fastest. Have kids write the color names in a column, starting with the color they think will make the ice cube melt the fastest and ending with the color they think will melt the ice cube the slowest. Create a graph of the kids' predictions.

Green Planet also suggests a twist on the experiment. Kids test colored cubes on white paper. They use food coloring to create different colors. For a white cube they add milk. To create a black cube they add cola. They place one colored cube on each piece of white paper. Which cube will melt the fastest?!

Solar Energy Balloon Blow Up!

2013-05-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

Explore the power of the sun's heat by blowing up a balloon on a bottle! Kids paint one soda bottle white and the other black. Once dry, they attach a small balloon to the necks of their bottles. Then, they put the bottles out in the sun for a solar reaction!

Kids see that the air in the black bottle will make the balloon expand! The white bottle doesn't heat up as fast. Check out the experiment here!

Art in Numbers: Multiplication Patterns

2013-05-17T09:08:00.002-07:00

Practice your multiplication tables by creating grid paper designs from Sharynideas! Kids identify patterns in their multiplication tables. When they identify a repeating pattern, they create art! Check out the activity here! Also, visit NRich Math for a slightly different way to create designs from your times tables!