Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
(Clip art from Glitter and Glue Designs & Krista Walden’s Creative Clips)
Are you looking for a quick activity for St Patrick’s Day? I love how Super Teacher Worksheets always has the perfect activity at my fingertips!
How Can You Build a Quick, Easy Barometer?
I did this blindly–not really knowing if it would work. I was in search of interesting weather activities and thought I could make this barometer work. When the air pressure is high the arrow points above the middle mark. When the pressure is low the straw points below the middle mark. Here’s the one I made at home. The best thing is that it really works!!!!
A few easy materials:
1.jar
2. rubber band
3. balloon
4. straw
5, tape
6. paper/index card
7. ruler ( and/or grid paper)
8. tape
After I built this I had my doubts about it working. I build one at home first. Get a jar (larger jars are better but I used baby food jars because I had some on hand). Snip off the bottom part of a balloon so that you have a wider surface to stretch latex over the mouth of a jar. Get the balloon as smooth as possible across the lid and put a rubber band around the balloon to seal in the air as tightly as possible.
Here’s the barometer I made at school.
Some places say that you should use double sided tape to attach the straw, but I used regular Scotch tape, and it worked fine. Cut the end of the stew into a pointed shape so that it works as a pointer towards the marked paper. You can incorporate measurement and be as precise about it as you like. With the barometer I made at home I just build the barometer and put a mark where the stars was pointing after I first built it. Then I put another mark about a cm above and below the initial mark. I found mm graph paper online as a free download and used that at school. This makes for a great measurement discussion. Enjoy building your very own barometer!
How You Can Build a Worm Farm at School
Recently I taught some lessons about earthworms and ecosystems. I did this in a series of short lessons that you will enjoy. Even your children that don’t like to do their work will work for you if they get to touch a worm. 🙂
Lesson 1: We read the Diary of a Worm. This book is so fun and helpful to boost creativity. Students gladly named their worm. Next, we learned about the anatomy of a worm. You can find diagrams in lots of places showing worm anatomy. Then we observed a worm wih a magnifying glass to see how it moved.
Lesson 2: We did three simple worm experiments with our worms in a plastic Dollar Tree dish covered with another clear dish so that it made a kind of petri dish. 1. Does the worm like moisture? Half the dish is covered in wet paper towel. Students place one worm inside and see which way it travels. 2. Does the worm like darkness? We covered half of the roof with black construction paper to see if the worm would like dark or light. 3. We tapped one side of the dish with a pencil to see if the worm would like or not like sound.
Lesson 3: We build a worm farm/ecosystem. I used old lettuce containers that can be found at the grocery store like these. On the bottom of the container, we placed brown paper to soak up any water from when we added a fine mist. Then of course we added some dirt. I let several children come and add a cup of dirt so there would be lots of involvement. Next, I let children add their worm. Finally we added some food such as celery leaves and fallen oak tree leaves. Ta-da! Earthworm Academy is open for business!
Do You Need a Candy Cane Forest?
At school I’m in an outdoor trailer with several other specialists. I have wanted for several years to have a candy cane forest like is described in the Elf movie:
“I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gumdrops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.”
This year, I had several others on board with me, so we collected supplies from parents to build one. In order to make this happen, we would need the main things. candy canes, gum drops, and any other random Christmas decor, We did work in a trailer park, so we had liberty to be “trailer parkish” :D!
I did not make these, but I thought it was so very clever! I had wanted to gather flower pots because I knew they wouldn’t blow away and spray paint the flower pots. Much more cost efficient was the use of plastic bowls hat were spray painted with rock Salk glued to them. I thought this was so very clever! Next year, there are promises that we will go every bigger! Love it! I hope we spread some Christmas cheer to you a well!
Moon Pie Phases
Do you need a simple moon phases lesson. This is it. First we discussed how the moon reflects the light of the sun and how the moon is orbiting around the earth and how the earth is orbiting the sun. Then I used a flashlight to reflect off the aluminum foil paper plate moon I had made so that the students could see how this worked. This video helped discuss the moon phases.
Next, we discussed the simple phases of the moon and shaded in eight circles to represent each phase. We also discussed the reason for the name “quarter” and related it to fractions. Here is a great website to visit about moon phases.
*Full moon
*waxing gibbous
*first quarter
*waxing crescent
*new moon
*waning crescent
*3rd quarter
*waning gibbous
Finally, I assigned students to look at the night sky each night to color in their moon calendar which I downloaded for free here. I had students watch the moon for an entire month, color, and label the phases. I told students I would have a “little something” for them if they brought their paper back completed.
How Can You Build a Turkey Gobbler with Your Students
First, what does a turkey even sound like. We mislead students many times by saying, “gobble, gobble,” when in fact they sound nothing like this. Show students this video so they can hear a real turkey.
Then I have them practice making a turkey sound. Next I hand out toilet paper rolls to everyone and ask them to see if they can make the turkey gobbler sound. We discuss how something must be missing. I direct students to feel their throat and discuss what they feel. Some students will be able to name what they feel as the word vibration. I then have them make their turkey gobbler after we talk about how sound is made from vibration. Oh and by the way, did you know that turkeys only “gobble” when they are looking for a mate OR lying down to rest similar to the sound we make when we are stretching to lie down.
After they receive their cardboard roll and unsuccessfully make a turkey sound, I come by and attach wax paper over the top with a rubber band directing them to be careful with the wax paper. If they are not, it can tear, of course. While I am attaching wax paper, I let the students decorate the cardboard with markers etc. I also tried this with red tissue paper so that it looks more like a turkey and while the sound works, I didn’t trust small children not to make a hole in the tissue paper with their wet mouth. 🙂
I did this lesson with kindergarteners and first graders. It actually worked best with first graders and they were able to have more self control with stopping their turkey gobbler sound. I have them put the “gobbler” in their backpack after we have made it and after they have all made a little sound together–for the sanity of the classroom teacher (wink, wink) and me.
Happy Thanksgiving my teacher friends!
