Meet my newest science obsession Mystery Science! This website provides science teachers with interactive science lessons complete with an experiment! They are presented as "mysteries" I love this because it really encourages the students to delve deeper and use higher order thinking skills.

Mystery Science is currently developing a K-5 Science curriculum. Right now they have 2nd-5th grade curriculum. Users have access to ALL grades activities. This is nice because it provides a bigger range of topics. I found myself using a 4th grade Rock experiment for our first "mystery" THE STUDENTS LOVED IT! I LOVED IT! It was a complete win win. The program does the majority of the teaching! I led discussions and monitored the activity.

The lesson is broken down into exploration and activity. Mystery Science also provides additional activities to extend thinking. The first activity we completed was "Will A Mountain Last Forever" The exploration provided great video clips and graphics to explain ways a mountain can change over time. There were discussion questions every few slides, providing the students an opportunity to share their ideas. I liked this much more than a 20 minute video because they were able to frequently stop and discuss their ideas.

After the exploration we moved into the activity. It involved sugar cubes. The instructions go STEP by STEP with pictures and demonstrations, and they continue playing over and over until you go to the next slide. If a student asks what they are supposed to be doing, you can simply point to the board. As a teacher this is a GOD SEND! 

The students had a BLAST, and the experiment was the perfect amount of hands on. The students were able to see how a rock rolling down a mountain would change in size and shape. We have done one other "mystery" since then, and it involved coordinate graphing volcanoes. The mystery was "can a volcano pop up in my backyard?" Talk about a catchy hook! 

Have any of you tried Mystery Science? I am BEGGING my principal to buy a subscription for our school!!!! 

Elf on the Shelf: Adventures in the Classroom

Last year a parent let me borrow an Elf on the Shelf for the holiday season. I had never heard of this before, so I had to do a little research. Unfortunately for my class last year our elf was a little bit of a slacker... This year I vowed to find a better elf!

 It is my honor to introduce Sparkles our class elf! 

Sparkles was a few days late to our classroom...but to keep us from worrying she sent us LOTS of fun surprises! The first day we walked into the classroom to find a brand new Christmas tree, a Nativity, a postcard from Texas and a LOT of glitter! Sparkles was in Texas on top secret Santa business.

The second day we got a postcard from Atlanta, Sparkles was on her way to visit our classroom, but she made a stop at the World of Coca Cola! She brought each student a special jingle bell from Santa's sleigh (and promised to bring Miss P her favorite book "The Polar Express") 

When Sparkles finally arrived the kids were very excited...and boy did Sparkles have some fun plans up her sleeves! Most days she left us a detailed note telling the kids how they were the day before, explaining her newest hiding spot, or telling us about Santa. I think the kids favorite day was when Sparkles built her own Zip Line! The kids each wrote Sparkles an individual letter for her to read.

One day the kids had not been on their best behavior, so Sparkles was not very pleased. She had to BEG Santa to let her stay in the classroom. Lucky for the kids Santa was in a forgiving mood, but Sparkles did not have time to reply to the letters right away...and she caught a little cold!

Do not worry! Sparkles recovered from a quiet day in the classroom and was able to write EACH student back! One of my favorite letters to a student from Sparkles...

Sparkles really bonded with our Jungle friends during her stay! The students had a hard time finding Sparkles this morning! She did a great job hiding! 

Sparkles did not just watch the students, but she brought them projects! Mrs. Claus accidentally shrunk Santa's suit and Sparkles needed the classes help in designing a new suit! Sparkles brought us the story of what happened, as well as a letter from Mrs. Claus HERSELF! The students had to design a new suit and then write a SEVEN sentence paragraph explaining their choices. (These second graders BLEW me out of the water with their writing!) 

During the last few days of school Sparkles got extra silly! One morning we came in to find her drinking a concoction of Sprite and Glitter! (Sparkles favorite color is GLITTER) 

The last day of school was the most fun. Sparkles found my wrapping paper and had a little too much fun with it. To the kids surprise she brought us BRAND new markers and crayons (she had heard some arguing students and wanted to solve that problem!) 

Overall, I think Sparkles had a GREAT stay in the jungle and I do not think my wild things scared her off! I had so much fun having this little visitor for the month of December! 

Silent "E" Scavenger Hunt

So...I have to admit, I am a major Teacher Pay Teacher's addict. It is seriously a dangerous thing. I could spend hours searching through all the amazing products. If you are a fellow TPT user, than you will understand the excitement felt when you find an awesome product that is FREE! 

Our skill for the week was silent E, so I logged into TPT and searched for some fun activities to do with my Wild Things, and I stumbled onto this activity.  I changed the use of it a little, by turning it into a scavenger hunt. 

The kids loved getting to use their clipboards and search the room for hidden words. The used their silent "e" magnifying glasses to change the words! My quick finishers were instructed to practice writing sentences using these new words. I also loved this scavenger hunt, because it allowed me to circulate and talk with the kids, an informal assessment on their understanding of the skill. 

This was a great TPT find, that allowed me to make learning the skill for the week a little more fun! Plus the kids loved getting to keep their brand new magnifying glasses! :) 

Back to School Plans

The first week of school is over, and I am absolutely loving my class of "Wild Things!" This first week of school, is generally spent going over rules and getting to know one another. I wanted to find a lot of really fun activities that got the kids up and moving around the classroom!

I purchased a packet from Teacher Pay Teachers, Super in Second by Babbling Abby, that had a ton of wonderful resources that made planning for the first week extra easy. One of my very favorite activities in this packet was "Find a Friend." This was an first week of school activity I remembered doing all the way through college. In college it was lame...but to a second grader it is the most exciting thing ever! They got to get up out of their seats and talk to their friends without getting into trouble!

 Another activity in the packet was a "New Friend Interview" I paired the class up into partners and gave them a place to sit on the floor. They did a great job interviewing and illustrating their classmates. My favorite part was hearing the students introduce their new friend to the class. This activity was also extra helpful for the two new students to our school!

My school is currently working towards adopting the Common Core standards, which place a big emphasis on writing. I have decided to start from the beginning with a lot of writing. This packet had several activities that gave the students an opportunity to write...providing me with a great beginning of the year writing example.

Writing activity number one was very simple. The students finished the sentence "Second grade is going to be super because..." I loved reading the sweet answers the students gave. 

The next writing activity had the students writing three sentences with a little help from me! I broke it down using transition works "First, Next, Last" It was really interesting to read what the students remembered from the night before second grade! 

 Miss Amanda did this writing prompt with her first graders, so I borrowed this and had my students share about their summer. I gave the students an opportunity to share with their classmates.

 The last activity was not in this packet...and I am having a hard time finding the link for it! If I can find it I will add later. This activity went along with the book "What if Everybody Did That?" by Ellen Javernick. My favorite page discussed what would happen if everyone in the class shouted out! It was funny to watch my "blurters" really think about this issue! 

After reading the story, the students were given a scenario and a blank story page. They had to come up with the "then" part of the story. This was one of my favorites!

All in all we had a fabulous first week of school, and my "Wild Things" have really impressed me with their ability to follow directions! It makes my job a lot easier, once the class understands the rules and procedures for the class! 

Wishing all my teacher friends a WONDERFUL start to the school year! Good luck with your group of "Wild Things!"