Science Notebooks . . . or How I Sneak In Science With My Munchkins All Year Long!

Howdy friends! Lindsay here . . .

 

I kinda can't believe that the last time I was on here writing to you all was when I was wrapping up the school year with my End of the Year Awards . . .

 

But then I think about what I've been up to this summer . . . and it kinda makes sense.  Being home with my boys all summer and spending the days breaking up fights and dealing with tantrums making memories  has been keeping me pretty busy! :)

 

Not only that, but I had several items on my School To-Do List that I needed to check off.

 

I am the Checklist Queen.

 

Need to run to the grocery store?  Don't forget the checklist!

 

Brainstorming Christmas present ideas in August?  Need. A. Checklist.

 

So NATURALLY the Checklist Queen likes to actually get things CHECKED OFF her list(s).  The biggest item on my School To-Do List was my Kindergarten Science Notebook unit . . .

 

It all started last summer when I was just feeling overwhelmed with the amount of NEW programs and things that were being required in my district, and the feeling that things such as science and social studies were being forgotten.  I had never done a science notebook before, but my bestie Kerri had used a science notebook with her Fab Firsties and I thought WHAT THE HECK.  LET'S GIVE THAT A TRY.

 

Not only that, but I also thought it would be so fun to create a THEMATIC science notebook!  That would solve all of the world's my problems, right?

 

Think about if for a second . . . So often the science textbooks/pacing plans that we are given are not ordered in any particularly helpful way . . . In my district our kinder kiddos are given district science assessments that just make NO sense.  For example, the physical science assessment is given in the fall, when teachers are naturally talking about seasonal things such as apple trees, pumpkins, harvest, etc. (a.k.a. LOTS of life science!).

 

 Makes sense? NOPE. 

 

And not only that, but I found myself always supplementing my science resources anyway.  I felt like science should be tied in with writing.  Duh!  We want our kiddos doing expository writing . . . then let's guide them in organizing their learning in meaningful ways that will be helpful in making them more confident emerging writers!

 

 Not only that, but science should be tied in with language arts as well!  Particularly in light of the emphasis on nonfiction with the new CCSS, using read-aloud books (fiction AND non-fiction) makes perfect sense. Kids LOVE to read and explore ALL books . . . so why not use that as a platform or hook to get kids excited about science?

 

 Also . . . technology.  There are amazing videos, websites and other resources that can really make science come alive for our little super scientists.

 

My great idea soon turned into one GINORMOUS checklist item.

 

I started last year and created a Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition}, then a Winter Edition . . . and by the time spring rolled around I was assessing, conferencing, report carding and doing who knows what all else . . . and the Spring Edition never happened.

 

Epic fail.

 

After giving myself a little grace (turns out you can't actually do ALL things with your Teacher-Mommy superpowers) I realized it wasn't a fail, just a an item that still needed to be checked off The List.

 

So . . . after many hours of planning, typing, fiddling, editing, retyping, formatting, etc. . . . IT. IS. FINISHED. 

 

 

 
Not only is the Kindergarten Science Notebook {Spring Edition} done, but I changed the format of all three units (fall, winter & spring), added some new pages and resources (posters, graphic organizers, etc.) and put it all into one Kindergarten Science Notebook YEAR-LONG BUNDLE.

Check. Check. Check.

 

 

Soooooooo  . . . if you too are looking for a way to "sneak in" the science this year, or perhaps you have never done a science notebook before and are interested in trying it out . . . here you go!

My Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition} - full of apples, pumpkins and sink & float activities!

 

My Kindergarten Science Notebook {Winter Edition} - featuring activities with the 5 Senses, arctic animals and states of matter!

And my Kindergarten Science Notebook {Spring Edition} - with activities centered around weather, butterflies and plants!



Here is a sneak peek into how I plan to use my Science Notebook Bundle this year . . .

First off, I printed out the entire Science Notebook Bundle and put it into a binder that will be my go-to science resources this year.  As I sit down and plan each week I will have one handy resource from which I can pull my plans and things to print!

Inside the binder I put in all of the Science Notebook sets, organized by season.  I hole punched all of the pages EXCEPT for the colorful posters (those will be laminated and put into a special pocket for easy access!) and put the seasonal covers into page protectors that make handy tabs to divide up the year!

Within each season, the "themes" are broken down by month.  For October, for example, the monthly focus is on pumpkins.  Each monthly guide features vocabulary that is helpful to focus on for the month, as well as resources to be used during the month. The resources range from National Geographic for Kids readers to favorite read-aloud books to YouTube videos.  You can use what you like!  The resources, however, are not always to be used WITHIN the lessons themselves.  They are meant to be interwoven into the learning throughout the month. 

 

 

Behind each monthly guide are the specific activities.  Each activity is numbered for the month, and each month has 3-4 activities centered around the theme of the month!   

 

When it is time to teach a lesson, you can simply pull out the teaching guide for the activity and the student response page to be copied and you are set! 

 

The student pages themselves are meant to be used with a spiral notebook.  (Included in the pack are covers for your students' notebooks (color or b/w).)  Each page that your student completes has a dotted line around the perimeter.  After completing each page . . .

 



 
. . . your students simply trim around the edge on the dotted line . . .

 
. . . and glue the page right into their notebook!

 
Easy, peasy, lemon-squeezy AMIRIGHT??!

The activities are all totally different.  Some of the response pages are more "interactive", but still kinder-friendly . . .

 
. . . while other pages are more straightforward and simple.



One thing that I swear by in my classroom are graphic organizers, so I have included many of those to be glued into the science notebook as well!

 
(Confession: on occasion last year when I didn't have time to have my kiddos trim their page AND glue it in their notebook, we simply folded the page in half and glued it in the book so that it could still be opened and referenced later!)

 

 

 

 

 My students LOVED using their science notebooks last year!  Their favorite was probably learning all about owls in October! 

First we completed an owl step-draw and practiced labeling together! I heart kindergarten art!

 

 

After reading and "researching" together using lots of books, we completed a tree map with our "owl expertise"! :)

And finally . . . we examined an owl pellet!  Yes, nothing says SCIENCE like looking at regurgitated items under the doc camera.

 

Just going through old pictures from last year makes me SO EXCITED to get my fresh crop of kinder kidlets!

 

I hope that you enjoyed hearing all about how I do science in my classroom . . . and perhaps you will give science notebooks a try this year too!  I guarantee your kiddos will L-O-V-E it!

 

That's it for today!  I'm off to the pool with the fam!  Happy Sunday folks!

 

Lindsay

Playing With Owl "Poop" {An Owl Pellet FREEBIE}

Happy Thursday folks!  Lindsay here . . .

 

Did y'all watch the baseball game last night??!!  It. Was. So. Good.

 

I mean, we aren't really "baseball people" at my house . . . we are more like "hey-its-the-World-Series-so-lets-order-a-pizza-and-cheer-for-someone" people . . . Football season?   Totally different story though.  Chargers fans ONLY. :)

 

The point being . . . even we appreciated what a great World Series that was!  Go Giants!! 

 

Well . . .  it has been awhile since I posted anything on the blog (okay a LONG while!) but tonight I am here with a fun fall FREEBIE to share!

 

I have been having so much fun this year doing a science notebook with my kiddos!  They are so cute and SO SERIOUS about being little scientists!  So far this year we have learned all about apples, what living things need to survive, the life cycle of a pumpkin, properties of objects an owls!!

 

Here is a quick peek at my Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition} - you can click on the image below to get more details in my TPT store:

 

 

Just last week I wrapped up my owl unit with my kinder kiddos . . .

 

(Confession: I had never taught owls before. Ever. Like, never ever EVER!!)

 

Kerri, on the other hand, is an owl NUT.  And she has always told me how much fun her kids have every year learning about owls and checking out their owl pellets . . .

 

Owl pellets?  As in, owl POOP??!!

 

Gross!

 

Of course, Kerri soon corrected me that, in fact, owls do NOT poop out pellets, but rather cough up (regurgitate, if you will) the pellets, which contain the hair and fur of their most recent meal. :)

 

Lovely.

 

In order to lead my kiddos in becoming "owl experts", I jumped onto Amazon and ordered some fabulous new owl books.  My favorite was this one by Gail Gibbons:

 

 

Next, my kiddos and I started reading and using our science notebooks to diagram and write about our owls! 

 

Their awesome step-draw owls are my favorite!!!  

 

 

 

We also took the information that we learned and created a tree map of owl facts as a group . . .

 

  

And then again in their science notebooks!

 

 

Our FINAL owl activity was digging in to owl pellets!  I debated whether it would be better to have my kiddos each have their own pellet to dissect with their big 6th grade buddy OR if it would just be easier to do one pellet together as a group.

 

As a was perusing the Scholastic Book catalog I stumbled across this: Owl Puke (book + pellet kit). 

 

 

 

Yes, I know. The name is SUPER scientific, right?? ;)

 

Looking back, I actually think that for my kinders it worked really great to do this activity whole group under the document camera and discuss it as we went along . . .  Here was our set-up:

 



 (Notice the cup of coffee - I can't tackle an owl puke activity without my caffeine people!!)

 

 
 

And here is what we found!! I wish that I would have taken a closer shot of the awesome skull that we found (in the middle of the black paper). It had some gnarly teeth!!! We had lots of fun zooming the document camera in on the bones so the kids could see all the details!

 



To get my kids even MORE excited about this activity (and to give them something to do as they watched the action unfold on the board in front of them), I created this recording sheet {click the image below to download}:

 

The format of this FREEBIE follows my science notebook, but you could totally do it as a stand-alone activity as well!

 

I talked with my students about WHAT might be inside our owl pellet, and that it was most likely either a bird or a rodent of some sort.  Each student made a prediction on their paper by circling the animal they thought we would find.

 

Next, we unwrapped the pellet (it TOTALLY looked like a tiny Chipotle burrito if you ask me!!) and we drew it in the box.

 

Finally, we counted our bones, identified what type of animal our owl had eaten, and determined whether or not our prediction was right. (It was a rodent . . . you were just dying to know, right??)

 

So that's it!  I think I'm an Official Owl Expert or something now.:)

 

Hope you can use this FREEBIE with your own class! 

 

Have a good night!

 

Lindsay

 



Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition} - or The Story Of How I Will Actually Get To Sneak In Some Science This Year!

Happy Monday folks!  Lindsay here . . .

Today I'm here to talk about time.  As in time in your classroom .  . .

There's never enough of it - am I right?

One of my BIGGEST struggles is often how to squeeze everything in to my short kindergarten day (8:00-1:00) . . . . Between centers, leveled UA groups, pullouts, and mandatory grade level math and language arts time blocks my days and weeks sometimes seem so jam packed full before I even sit down to lesson plan! 

Last year my school district was introducing new math AND language arts curriculums for us to teach (Common Core aligned) and THIS year we have a new phonics program.

Is it possible that I am already feeling stressed and school hasn't even started yet?

Because as teacher we KNOW that there are other things students NEED.  They need art.  They need free choice time.  They need recess and music.  And, of course, they need to explore and experiment.

Which leads me to my newest time-saving idea: thematic science.

As I said earlier, with all of the new curriculum I was learning and implementing last year, I felt that my science instruction fell by the wayside . . . which was so heartbreaking!  Because if there is ANYONE who can get excited about a fun experiment it is a kindergartener!  Those kiddos are just oozing with excitement and curiosity . . .

So to save time this year (and my sanity?) I created a brand new thematic science notebook! 

(drumroll please) . . . Introducing my Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition}.

 

 

My goal for myself this year is to TRY to do science once a week with my kiddos - this fall notebook set includes one activity per week for the months of September, October and November (along with some added  extras for Halloween!). 

But tying in science and notebooking with the things we will already be learning about each month will keep me sane be so helpful and ensure that the science instruction WILL happen (and will probably be more meaningful) every single week! 

Winning!! :)

Here is how to get started:

These science notebook template pages are designed to be used with spiral bound notebooks.  (Summer is a GREAT time to find these for cheap!)

 

When the actual science activities are being done students can simply use a pencil, their recording sheet and a clipboard (if needed).  Once each activity is completed, the sheet can be trimmed on the dotted line and glued into each student's notebook.

If you are like me (and don't want your students' science notebooks to be glued shut forever!) you will probably spend LOTS of time in the first several weeks of school with routines and procedures using these notebooks.  The time you spend teaching students HOW to get out their notebook, trim the edge of their paper, glue their paper into their notebook, etc. will save your sanity your time in the long run.

{Random sidenote: Let's talk about science notebooks for a second.}

Some of you may be wondering WHY a notebook?  Why can't science simply be done as stand-alone lessons or worksheets that are completed and sent home?

Answer: Science notebooks are an important part of solidifying your students' learning.  By using notebooks your students will be modeling one of the most vital functions of ALL scientists: RECORDING information, figures and data!  Not only that, but your kiddos will practice their writing skills as they grow over the course of the year as well. Finally, a science notebook will create a sense of ownership in your students as they can look back at all of their learning over the course of the year!

 

 

Okay, back to the notebook . . . Also included is a "Science Safety Promise" that your lil scientists can sign and also put into their notebook - thus promising never to set their partner's hair on fire or something like that . . . Just kidding.  No fire experiments . . . this time. ;)

 

 

And every good science notebook needs an adorable cover (OF COURSE!) so that is included as well. (Please pay no attention to the bedazzled notebook - my kiddos will definitely NOT be getting one that is so fancy shmancy!)

 



 

So there you have it folks . . . easy-to-implement, efficient AND adorable!    You can get your very own Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition}  in my TPT store by clicking the image below:

 

 

Well, that's it for now folks!!  Hope your week is off to a great start!

 

Lindsay

Sprinkles of Springtime & Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs - Revamped!

Happy Wednesday folks!  Lindsay here . . .

Well here in Messyhairland it is Spring Break . . . which means sleeping in past 4 a.m. (yahoo!) and spending time with my littles all week long!!  Its a treat to be home with them . . . even when they are teething and tantruming.  But I digress . . .

One of my Spring Break "to-do's" this week was to upload pictures of all of the fun spring activities my kidlets and I have been busy with at school lately!  I feel like I just finished up report cards and conferences in March and all of a sudden it was April already!  Where has this year gone??!!

First off, to kick off the spring season in Room 17 we have our dapper spring ducks decorating our classroom - with bows and bowties (of course!!)

 

In math we have been working on addition with sums to 10 (which for some of my kiddos is SOOOOO easy, and for others is still a lil tricky!).  So in order to sneak in a little extra math facts practice (disguised as a super fun, new, Easter-ish dice game, of course!) I invented "Chicks Chasing Chocolate!!  That's right - hilarious chicks chasing chocolate bars and my kiddos L-O-V-E-D it.  And it couldn't be easier to set up - each kiddo gets two dice to roll, a recording sheet, and a crayon.  The kiddos roll their two dice and then color one bubble for the chick that has the sum of the numbers that were rolled. Every time the dice are rolled one bubble is colored.  The first chick to get all the bubbles colored across gets its chocolate first!  

I actually played this under the document camera first with my class so they could get the hang of it.  Then (due to the fact that I have 30 students and not enough dice!) I decided to have them play in partners - so they took turns rolling the dice, but both players added and colored for each roll of the dice.

(You can download my Chicks Chasing Chocolate FREEBIE in my TPT store HERE!)

In centers last week we got down and dirty and with my Egg-stra Special Egg-vestigation activities (which you can check out in my TPT store HERE!)

 

First the kids examined their eggs and thought of "juicy" describing words.  (My favorites from this kiddo: "cwiyit" and "frajool". Too cute!)

Then they estimated the circumference of the egg with yarn and then measured and compared their prediction to the actual measurement . . .

Next was egg sink & float with regular water and salt water.

The MOST fun (and the messiest - of course!) was the Incredible Hulk Egg.  We measured the strength of four eggs by stacking large textbooks on top until the eggs cracked.  (It was amazing how much weight those eggs held!  And it was ALSO amazing how many old, useless college textbooks I have in my classroom!)

And then the kiddos got to crack open an egg and draw their scientifical diagram (with lots of labels!)...

Finally, the kiddos reflected on the activities and wrote some things they they learned about their eggs . . . (Hmmmm . . . I'm pretty sure that last sentence is just a filler sentence . . .)

But BY FAR my MOST favorite spring activity that I do every year with my chitlens is a whole unit based on the book Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs!

This year I decided to update/revamp my unit . . . Soooooo (drumroll please!) without further ado I give you the new & improved Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs {Simply Scrumptious Math & Literacy Centers and Activities}. (You can check it out in my TPT store HERE.)

Here is a peek at what's included:

Here is a shot of my kiddos doing the Raining CATs and DOGs Vowel Sort.

And here is a peek at our Wacky Weather graph . . .

 

There are TONS more fun, food-filled activities for your kiddos to enjoy in this unit.  Because who doesn't love food raining from the sky, am I right people??!!

 

 

Well, I think that is it for now . . . I am off to enjoy some homemade chocolate chip cookies on the couch with my hubby . . . Ahhhhhh.  Gotta love Spring Break!

 

Have a great night folks!

 

Lindsay