I made this a few days ago for a friend. She teaches 2nd grade, and need a way to teach an AZ science standard (standard 3 concept 2) about technology in society. This seemed like a good way to start the unit. Each idea on the page is something the students are probably already familiar with. Kids match the picture with the benefit/use of that technology.
Click here for the free printable PDF: Technology in Our Lives
My friend teaches first grade. Their class is just wrapping up their unit on rocks and soil (Common Core science standards for 1st grade). I made this graphic organizer for her to give as a fast-finisher after the test or as a review activity . She hasn’t decided which she’ll use it for yet. It asks students to draw places they might find/use soil and rocks.
Click here for the free printable PDF: Rocks and Soil PDF
Here are some fun activities I’ve seen recently that deal with states of matter (solid, liquid, gas):
Great visual and foldable for states of matter (source)
Life cycle of a snowman (source)
Encourage kids to write journals about experiments with states of matter. This one involved observing butter and chocolate left outside in the sun (source)
Bouncing bubbles activity (source)
One second grade teacher submitted this cute idea for introducing magnets and electricity:
“This is really a great way to start a unit on atoms etc. Atoms are the basics for understanding magnets and electricity. Magnets and electricity is what all our technology is based on. I’m not a scientist, but understanding that made me want to talk about atoms before we dove into magnets and electricity so that science would make sense and not just be a bunch of fun experiments, with nothing tying it all together.
This is a link for a PowerPoint story on atoms and then the song on atoms if you want to use it. The PowerPoint has the song lyrics, and then gets more detailed. I don’t use the whole thing, just parts of it.”
I don’t know about you, but I love using graphic organizers. I’m a visual learner, so maybe that’s why. But anyway, this anchor chart I saw in an elementary school classroom seemed to be an effective way to study animals (spiders, in this case). It focuses on characteristics, sorted according to 3 verbs: are, can and have. It’s a very basic idea, but works well because students can just finish the sentence “Spiders have…” or “Spiders can…” to help them sort out and analyze characteristics. This same idea could be used for a variety of topics, simply by changing the 3 verbs used.
I just saw one of the cutest ideas ever over at Rainbows Within Reach: grass heads! Maybe you remember Chia Pets from back in the day, but these are way cooler because each one is a kid! It would be cool to try with a variety of plants so the hair turns out different in each one…
Take a picture of each child and tuck it in the cup before filling it with dirt. I’d recommend laminating them first so the water inside doesn’t make the ink run (or just attach the picture on the outside somehow). Then plant your seeds and give them some TLC. What a cool spin on growing plants in cups!
I recently stumbled upon this cool 12-page printable packet for kids. It’s all about nature and our environment. It’s got stuff for animal tracks, bark/leaf rubbings, compasses, water, etc. Go to http://www.discovertheforest.org and click on the Hey Kids picture at the bottom right corner of the page. It will open a PDF for you to print. Happy discovering!
Squarehead Teachers 