Week 7- October 5-9

This week was one of the worst I've had. The kids were so rowdy Monday-Wednesday, Thursday was a pep rally, and Friday was a blissful curriculum day (thank you, god of substitutes).

A lot of really stressful things happened, including my cat bringing in a baby squirrel (who we took care of for 2 days before he passed) and signing the closing papers on my house (OH MY GOD I'm a homeowner!).

Monday
Energy Vocabulary. We filled in our blanks and drew our pictures.

Tuesday

We began on the first half of our forms of Energy: Chemical, Potential, Kinetic, and Radiant.

The foldable was a modified version I found in this bundle. The output page was something of my own devising. It is now available on My TPT.

Wednesday

We did the second half of our forms of energy: Electrical, Nuclear, Thermal, and Sound. We continued on the pages that we had begun yesterday. We glued the other output page at the very bottom of a page, and today's output page at the very top (we're trying to make sure we don't run out of pages by the end of the year!)

Thursday

Today we talked about alternative energy sources. We completed a page of fill-in-the-blank notes and drew pictures of how each form of energy is gathered.

Our output page I found here. The kids got the hang of it after a few examples.

Friday

Curriculum day! I needed a break from being "on" all day every day. I left my sub with a Vocabulary Quiz and an episode of Bill Nye (the Energy episode).

Here's hoping I can finish painting my new home in the next week, so I can MAYBE move in!

Cheers

Ms. Kat

Week 6- Sept. 28- Oct 2

This week was equal parts crazy and chaotic. We had a school pep-rally on Thursday, and a district homecoming pep rally on Friday. Back to back shortened schedules on the last 2 days of the first 6-weeks. Yikes.

Monday
We did a measuring up on Solutions. They really struggled with this one. I had to help a lot. We numbered our paragraphs, re-worded questions, and drew some things out.

Tuesday
We played Trashketball using our review sheets. Here is a copy of the review.

And here is a copy of the Smartboard Review Game

Wednesday
My kids took their first real Unit test for me over the Physical Properties of Matter.
And they did so well! I was so pleasantly surprised that only 1 or 2 failed, and most got either an A or B. Proud Teacher moment!

Thursday
We did our best to complete the Mixtures lab I had originally planned for last week.
Here is the Lab Sheet. There are 3 pages, and it is outlined using the Scientific Method. We separated Iron from Sand, Sand from Pebbles, and Water from Potting Soil.

This was the kids first REAL lab. They had a great time! I had to create a makeshift sieve by poking holes in an old aluminum pan. I used Iron washers (as they were the only small iron objects I could find). I had potting soil left over from the compost columns from last year. Everything worked out so well!

Friday

We had 30 minute classes today, so I put on an episode of Captain Planet and we chilled. The kids loved it, even more than my 7th graders did last year! I think I created some Planeteers!

Hope you had an excellent first 6-weeks!
~Ms. Kat

Week 5- September 21-25

This was a week of gross bodily fluids. One of my students threw up in the trashcan next to my desk. The following day, while I was subbing for a 6th grade class, a girl had a massive nosebleed. Ugh.

Instruction went fairly well though.

Monday

We covered freezing and boiling point. We needed a little more practice in reading thermometers, especially when the lines are at different integers.

Tuesday

We took a quiz on the unit so far. The kids mostly did well. Some classes averaged a low A or high B. I was super proud, considering I was using questions from the TEKS resource system!
 

Wednesday

We covered solubility, including solutes and solvents. I told them to remember it as solUte, U got dissolved.
We did a mini-lab (demonstration) where we tested to see if salt would dissolve in water and vegetable oil.

Thursday


We learned about mixtures and compounds. After notes, we read a story that I wrote, and the kids had to highlight any mixtures they found. They were pretty good at finding them! (sorry for my toe, the page wasn't stuck down properly!)

Friday
We finished up the unit (new info at least) with Solutions. We compared mixtures to solutions, then did another mini-lab. I set 4 M&Ms in a plastic container with a bit of water in it. We watched the sugar dissolve over 3 minutes. I had them start work on their Unit Review while we waited for the rest of the sugar to dissolve. When the M's floated up, we discussed how density can affect solubility, and how the mixture was still just a mixture. I stirred it up and took the M&Ms out and we decided that it was now a solution.

It was a great week, minus being puked and bled on. I think the kids are really getting physical properties. They have a unit test on Matter next week, so I guess we'll see!

~Ms. Kat

Week 4- September 14-18

One of these days, I'm going to stop being surprised at how quickly the time is passing.

This week we started our first "real" unit (not counting lab safety and the scientific method).

Monday

Mass, Weight, and Volume. We took notes on a foldable, then did a Venn Diagram Together.

Tuesday

States of Matter. We took more quick notes (the kids and I are really liking the 10 minute notes), and then Watched the Brainpop on matter changing states. They filled in the companion Worksheet, and we went over it together.

Wednesday

Density. More notes, this time on a pyramid! I then had them make a prediction on which order a few liquids would fall when placed together. I then poured the liquids together to create a density column, and they checked their predictions. I believe we also watched the brainpop on Buoyancy (since they don't have one strictly on density).

Thursday

Conductors and Insulators. Very short notes, that took longer than intended as I decided to discuss how electrons flow. I know we'll go over it again during Circuits, but I felt like they needed to know what makes something conductive (the density of its atoms). Insulators tend to have atoms that are less dense.

I then created a simple circuit and had the kids predict which ones would conduct electricity. I placed the objects into the circuit and we checked their predictions.

Friday

A busy, busy day. I should know better than to have anything else planned on a quiz day. The kids took their vocabulary quiz. After, we rushed through notes on Magnetism. My earlier classes go to do the activity where they once again predicted whether objects would be magnetic or not. My later classes (which are always behind) will catch up on Monday.

I'm ready for October to be over, and September isn't even done yet. Drill team is sucking so much out of my week. At least I don't have UIL this year. I'm also in the midst of buying a house (yay place of my own!) and impatiently awaiting the appraisal. We were supposed to close yesterday, but the bank is taking forever.

Hope your first month went well,
~Ms. Kat

Week 3- August 8-11

Ah, our first Holiday of the year. I've got to admit, I'd rather the holiday come on a Friday. I need my Monday afternoon time to run copies and cut foldables and organize my room. I hate having Monday off.

Drill Team Practice started up this week. We're practicing the Finale dance from the first Pitch Perfect movie right now. Hopefully we'll be ready to go for the first pep rally (not that anyone knows when that is...)

This week was a bit crazy. Some things I got better at, others I'm slacking on. It's such a delicate balancing act.

Tuesday
Scientific Method Lab

Which side of a penny holds the most drops of water? This lab was mostly to get them familiar with the steps of the Scientific Method. They actually did pretty well for their first lab.

The only problem came when I asked them to do average. Most had no clue how to find the mean of 3 numbers. Apparently I was a little overly ambitious with that concept. To compensate, I had them order their 3 heads measurements from least to greatest (21, 23, 24) and then circle the middle one. We used that as our "average." Same for tails.

Tips:
1. Put the penny in a pitre dish or similar plastic container.
2. Hold the dropper at an angle and rest it on the lip of the pitre dish
3. Hold the bulb of the dropper at a constant pressure, don't squeeze and release (helps prevent air bubbles)


Wednesday

I put my kids in pairs and had them do a comic strip that showed them doing the scientific method.
First and second period, I just told them to come up with a question. They were having a hard time, so I wrote questions on sticky notes and passed them out for the rest of the day. This worked much better.

Questions:
Which will take longer to burn...a 70ct notebook or a 100ct notebook?
Which pen can write the word "science" the most number of times (until ink runs out)...blue, black, or red?
Which car will roll further when rolled down a 2m long ramp...hot wheel or dump truck?
Which popsicle stick will  burn the longest... regular wood or green colored wood?
Which brand of trashbag holds the most single sheets of paper...Target brand or Walmart brand?
Which battery lasts the longest when inside a flashlight...Duracel or Energizer?

They actually turned out pretty great. I had them writing good hypothesis' and steps to their procedure. They came up with some good fake data and revisited their hypothesis.

Next year, I might have them write out a question I give them, do their own hypothesis and procedure, then give them some fake data tables to interpret for their data. Some struggled with inventing fake data.

Thursday:

My kids took their quiz on the Scientific Method today. I also quizzed them on the tools we studied Friday. I wanted them to know which tool was used to measure mass, weight (force), temperature, and length, and the units for each. They also had to know what to do in each step of the scientific method.

They struggled on it. I need to revisit my scientific method graphic organizer and explicitly say what happens in each step instead of just a real example.

Friday:
We began our first REAL unit! Properties of Matter! Just like last year, our first day is Vocab. I gave them fill-in-the-blank vocab squares and they had to draw a picture for each.

That's all, folks! Week 3 done and gone. I can't believe we're about to have our first progress report come out! Before I know it, it'll be Halloween.

Hope you're having a great new year!

~Ms. Kat

Week 2- August 31-Sept. 4

Another week already feeling like it's flying by! I have a free moment, so let me go ahead and post what we did this week.


Monday:

Science Safety Scoot!
I'm using this scoot from TPT
I edited out a number of cards to make it shorter. Since this was the first time we played, it took a bit of explaining, especially for the rules.


1. Chairs pushed under, no sitting!
2. Move to the next highest number (my desks are numbered and I matched the cards to the desks)
3. No talking!
4. Only people who are at a brain break get to do the brain break (to prevent a thousand feet stomping)


No one actually finished all 23 questions (and 2 brain breaks). Next time we should finish, since they'll know how it works.


Tuesday

1.Science Safety Quiz. I borrowed this out of a box of the old teacher's lesson plans. It's 15 questions T/F (10 modified).

2. Safety bookmark

I used this idea for our project this unit. Usually I like to do projects BEFORE the quiz, but there just wasn't time. The kids are going to make a bookmark using construction paper. They'll need to have the full safety rule written out, and a nicely colored picture illustrating their rule. I'll laminate these and give them to the kids.


I was going to take a grade on it, but only  my first 3 classes got to it. Oh well.


Wednesday


Scientific Method unit!

We're taking about the steps in the Scientific Method at long last. I used this Graphic Organizer. I had to edit ours because my kids are such SLOW WRITERS. We'd never have gotten done if I hadn't edited it.

Also, please note the word "Better" in the Question. We marked that out and wrote "taller" because I was trying to reiterate the importance of measurable questions. Better is an opinion, thus not measurable.

We also covered variables today. I'm going to TRY to make them identify dependent, independent, and controls every time we do an experiment. They desperately need the practice, as my 7th graders last year had NO CLUE.

I typed up this page. We did the first two together, and I let them try the third one on their own.

Thursday

Ah, the first Measuring Up of the year. My 7th graders had been doing them for two years, so I never had to go into great detail as to how to do these, but this is the first time my 5th graders have seen one. We read together, and answered the guided questions together. I had them number the paragraphs, and go back and prove their answers since many of them are word-for-word. We'll grade these on a catch-up day next week, so I don't yet know how they did.

Friday

Tool time! I want to brief the kids on some of the tools they'll be using in class.
1. Triple Beam balance
2. Spring Scale
3. Thermometer
4. Meter stick and measuring tape
5. Graduated Cylinder

I made this handy dandy foldable. We filled in the notes together, then went to the lab to have them use the tools. Earlier classes got to use the thermometer and triple beam. Later classes, I skipped the thermometer (because there's a separate unit on that with boiling/freezing point) and they did triple beam balance. Those 3 afternoon classes are always so behind. We'll try to catch up on catch-up day.

Another week down, already. I can hardly believe it.
I can also hardly believe that I had the time and energy to make these bulletin boards. Our district theme this year is "Make your dreams come true." Our math teacher came up with the one about their dreams being clouds, I turned it into something about the water cycle. I was hit with inspiration for the Tangled "I've got a dream."

I drew our Rapunzel, and put these together in 2 short days. The kids are using blank notecards to make clouds, and some will do lanterns for the Tangled board. They're writing their dream and their name. Pics soon when I get them all put up!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!
~Ms. Kat

Week 1: Redux

Holy Cow, how did the first week go by already? Last year, it seemed to stretch on forever, and we had so much extra time!

This year, with slightly shorter classes (due to it taking so long for us to rotate classes, walk our kids to lunch, walk them to rotation, etc) we have been behind all week!

Let's go over some changes from the last post:

Monday: I think we got most everything accomplished. 1st period was a mess, because the P and VP talked to the kids for ages before giving them to us. We didn't even get to finish supplies, much less get to the slideshow.
The rest of the day went smoothly. Everyone else got to the slideshow.

Tuesday: JEEZE these kids are slow writers! Here is what I gave them:

Then, I sent them to the labs to fill in the blanks by using the key.

We didn't have time for scripts OR for the cups. Oh well. They did pretty good for their first time doing stations.

Wednesday: WHAT where did the time go?
My first 3 classes got the Input/Output page, practice page, and rubric glued in. My last 3 classes didn't get the rubric in.

I'm learning that 4th period is loud because they come from lunch. 7th is loud because they come from rotation. and 8th is loud because they're ready to go home. I'm losing time to rotating classes during all 3 of these and so they're always behind everyone else. Plus, my 7th and 8th are inlclusion (I have 5 in each class).

No one got to cut/glue their procedures in today.

Thursday: Safety!
I wanted to continue getting our notebooks ready today, but I decided to go ahead and start safety. We spent the day going through the list of safety rules. I told them tales of my high school and college days, plus the story of the 2 7th grade boys who were LITERALLY ballroom dancing around during a lab last year. We also did get to do the Before/During/After. I decided that since they're such slow writers, I'm going to have to make ALL notes fill in the blank, and shorter than I had anticipated.

We didn't have time to draw the safe scientist today. I just BARELY had time to explain Science Safe-T for homework.

Here is the WS. This is the only place I could find it online: Picture Worksheet

Friday: THANK GOODNESS
Today we played catch up. We glued in our procedures (not 7th or 8th), drew our safe scientist, and did our table of contents
(1-4 are the table of contents)
5. Input Vs. Output
6. Notebook Practice
7. Notebook Rubric
8. Procedures
9. Safety Rules
10. A safe Scientist

Since I had to create that Catch-up day, I pushed SCOOT back to Monday.

So far this year has been so much easier than last. My schedule is great. Most of my kids are sweethearts. So many have told me that I'm their nicest teacher and they love my class. One boy nicknamed me Ms. Joy, because I remind him of Joy from Inside Out. I must be a darn good actress.

There have been a few hiccups, a few frustrating moments, but overall this year is better. I have things under control. I have time to myself. I have much more sanity and comfort.

This will be a great year = )