First Week Science Stations

I have a great activity to do in the first couple weeks of school to introduce science concepts and work on cooperative learning skills to prepare students for future station work.

Scientific Thinking and Measurement Stations has 8 stations focus on mass, temperature, volume, time, hand lens, length, classifying, and safety.  


Stations can be set up quickly using basic supplies you likely already have!  Eight signs with instructions and a student sheet are included along with a Teacher Resource Page.

Student Sheets

Get it at Teachers Notebook or My TpT Store.


<3,
The Science Penguin

Vistaprint Purchases!

After having some trouble with my Groupon, it finally worked out and I got some amazing purchases from Vistaprint!  I want to update the organization of my classroom library, so I made some new labels, a library sign, and 6 inch circular basket labels.  I got a few other goodies too!

 

book labels

mailing labels for scoring writing

our library sign

homework pass

news bumper sticker

book basket labels (I'll print the categories out on the sheet)

note cards to put out on Back to School night

I am also on Teachers Notebook now: Find me at http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/TheSciencePenguin.

It's ready! Science Weekly Warm-Ups

This took much longer than it was supposed to, but Weekly Science Warm-Ups is READY!  I am offering this at an introductory price, so visit my TpT Store to check it out!  :)

It includes 14 weeks (70 days) of science warm-ups with a different focus each week!  Questions include open-ended questions, multiple choice, vocabulary matching, graphic organizers, diagrams, reading data tables, and more!  Check out the preview for more sample pages.

What's inside:
Scientific Method
Observations and Inferences
Properties of Matter
Mixtures and Solutions
Forms of Energy
Force and Motion
Natural Resources
Weathering and Erosion
Soil
Our Solar System
Life Cycles
Adaptations
Photosynthesis
Food Webs
Answer Key

This book of warm-ups can be used in a variety of ways!  It’s great to use throughout the year or can serve as a review.  Like we all know, things change day to day so this book is set up to be flexible.  You can use a warm-up each day, double up some days, or skip days or weeks using a warm-up altogether!

For me, the warm-ups work best when we go over them at some point, either at the end of the week or each day.  The students seem to get more meaning from the warm-ups that way and it can provide the basis for a great science discussion!

The answer key is not the end all, be all authority to the best answers to the warm-up questions, but can be used to help guide you and students.  As we know, students often provide reasonable answers other than what we may be looking for and have proof to back up their answers.  We should always encourage that!  Some of the key is suggested answers or just simply stating that answers may vary.

New Room...New Decorations

Moving to a new room is an occasion for new decorations!  I have some cute brown with dots and paisley brown with other colors type "theme".  My mommy sewed some chair covers, curtains, and seat cover for a stool.  


I am moving away from some of the pre-made teacher store things, but there were a few things I had to get the other day... I was forced. :) Here's some things that will be showing up in my new classroom!

I needed a new calendar pretty desperately.

These are super teeny and should be cute accents 

For writing center directions on

How do you balance teacher/student made decorations and store-bought decorations?

Science Penguin Updates

The water was so blue!

My last post was nearly a month ago and a bucket list of my summer plans.  Here's how I'm doing.
1. Pack and move.  Almost everything is out of my classroom (yikes!), but I still need to pack and move everything to Austin.I moved everything out of my classroom and packed over 3 boxes of things in my house.  Status: yikes!2. Drive from DC to Austin to help my sweet man move.This exciting event takes place at the end of July.  Status: yikes!3. Go to Miami, Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas.  I know...poor me!We had a blast relaxing and cruising!  Status: complete, but ready to do again!4. Finish reading Daily Five and visit all of my lovely reading blog friends so I can get a grip on reading!I did!  And I read CAFE and Debbie Diller's book about literacy stations in grades 3-6!  And I've been visiting you fantastic ELA bloggers!  Status: compete!5. Make some beautiful classroom reference posters and everything on my Pinterest To Do List.I forgot this was on my list.  Status: I'll do it later.
I have been hard at work on some new things.  A warm-up workbook is taking much longer than I thought it would!  A physical science vocabulary packet similar to the life and earth science ones is in the works, as well as 6 more Science Weekly Five units that I need to finish prettying up and adjusting.  
My goal is to have everything ready by July 30.  Following my TpT Store and my blog are the quickest way to get updates, so follow now if you don't already!
Shoutout to all of the fantastic buyers who have been leaving sweet comments and buying out my store!  I love maintaining my 4.0 rating and will continue to produce fantastic things to keep it!  Y'all rock!
<3,The Science Penguin