If you’ve never heard of BrainPop, you’re missing out! It’s a cool internet resource with games, review videos and other stuff for kids. There’s a paid membership available, but you can find tons of stuff for free without it. There are many free, animated movies (available for all content areas) that seem to appeal to kids. many of the review videos include a cute story line and dialogue between Tim and his robot friend, Moby. Click here to view all the free BrainPop stuff.
BrainPop Educational Videos
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I absolutely loved this idea! It might work better with upper grades, since I don’t think younger kids have had enough exposure to memes to get as much out of this activity. 
The Utah 1st grade Science Standard 2 Indicator 2 reads, “Observe the sun at different times during the day and report observations to peers. Observe and chart the moon when it is visible during the day.” This idea is in most state science cores in one form or another. You can use my sun observation graphic organizer to help students keep track of what they observe.
The California science standards for 1st grade require students to:
The California Science Standard for 1st grade (1-LS3-1) says “Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents. [Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include features plants or animals share. Examples of observations could include leaves from the same kind of plant are the same shape but can differ in size; and, a particular breed of dog looks like its parents but is not exactly the same.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include inheritance or animals that undergo metamorphosis or hybrids.]”
I’ve got another graphic organizer for you! This is my second 
I’m totally on a graphic organizer kick right now. Here’s my latest: a simple, blank graphic organizer for teaching life cycles. I think the standard idea of drawing a circle is confusing to kids. Somebody’s always bound to think you’re teaching them that the same animal comes to life again (which gets into religion, blah blah blah). So I’ve done mine along a line. As always, there’s space to write words and draw a simple picture.
Squarehead Teachers 