Life Cycles (WARNING: Do not read while eating!)

Hi everyone!  It's Cyndie from Chalk One Up for the Teacher and I am so beyond excited to be joining everyone here at The Primary Chalkboard.

Right now our grade level is studying life cycles and I thought it would be the perfect time to share what we are doing since so many classes will be studying this in the upcoming months.

This is our second year using this kit which used to be just insects, but has now taken away some of the insects (THANK GOODNESS!) and added plants.  Do you use the FOSS kits at your school?

Stock Photo

At our school, the teachers are divided into two groups.  Those that are brave about the insects and those that are not.  HA!  Here is our lineup (and mind you I have only switched to the brave team this year).

 However all bets are off once the insects morph into beetles and other creatures. 

First we started with these Brassica plants.  Apparently Brassica plants are members of the mustard family.  I love the cool PVC light hanging apparatus that comes in the FOSS kit, and I love that the light comes on chains so you can adjust the level of the plants as they get taller.

Ours have flowered and we are waiting for the plants to produce seeds so the life cycle can begin again.

We have been supplementing our learning with materials from my Science Interactive Notebook and Experiments product, as well as some materials that came with the kit.

We are also studying the life cycle of several insects.  Last year we did what seemed like a million different insects...kind of makes you thankful for the four that are arriving this year.

First up were these lovely little guys, the mealworms.
(This is the part where you'll probably want to look away if you are eating.)

Last Friday a few of them morphed into beetles.  I hadn't told my students ahead of time that they would be changing, although several of them had their suspicions.  My once brave students who didn't mind holding the mealworms were not so brave about the beetles.
(Notice you will not see my hand holding any of the insects.)

Next up were the milkweed, which are actually one of my favorites.  Here they are upon arrival and in their habitat.

I love that the students work together to build the habitat and that they are totally self sufficient once they hatch in the habitat.

We've been keeping track of our insects in our science notebooks, too.

Our silkworms have just arrived.  Hard to believe that these little guys will turn into anything...and actually last year mine didn't.  They never made it out of the egg stage.

Last up will be our butterflies, which is almost everyone's favorite.  We are really hoping that by the time they go through their metamorphic states it will be nice weather here in Las Vegas.

So that is how we study life cycles at our school in second grade.  If you haven't studied them with your kiddos, I highly recommend it.  The students are so completely engaged and love observing their changes.  The first thing they want to do every morning is come in and use their magnifying glasses to check out the changes that have occurred overnight. 

If you are looking to learn about life cycles with your kiddos or supplement what you have, check out these fabulous resources from my Chalkie friends.

PLANTS

INSECTS

If you want to make your own creations, check out these adorable clipart sets.

Individual Behavior Plan For Our Fidgety Friends!

 Hello, teacher friends! This is Christina, from Miss DeCarbo's Sugar and Spice.  I wanted to pop in and show you a quick and easy idea for an individual behavior plan you can use in your classroom.  

Do you use individual behavior plans in your room? I use them when our classroom plan simply doesn't work for one of my firstie friends. Sometimes, I'm trying to calm an extreme behavior distraction to the class with an individual plan.  Other times, it's something minor that I know the little one can overcome with an extra plan of encouragement in place!

For today's purposes, I am sharing a plan I am using for a little one who is having a hard time staying on task during the day.  I use Class Dojo in my room, but this little friend needs something more concrete and something more tangible that he can see, touch, and manipulate instantly!

 I don't like anything that causes me a lot of "extra" time when it comes to classroom management. My classroom management motto is fast, effective, and fun!  This particular little one is SUPER fidgety.  They can't attend to something you are saying without moving their hands, feet, arms, and body.  Do you have those kids???  I know you do! I needed a behavior plan that wasn't abstract and was easy for ME to manage.

Here's what I did to try to get this little one to consciously think about and reflect on how he can make smarter choices during the day. 

All you need is 10 snapping cubes or unifix cubes (or, however many cubes you want the child to "earn")!  When the student is showing the POSITIVE behavior that you set for his or her goal, you hand him a unifix cube.  The child begins to form a "train" of cubes and snaps the cubes together as he collects more.

Are you thinking: "Ummmm....Christina, this is NOT anything new...!" 

You're right! It's not new, but I think that sometimes in this crazy world of Pinterest, we need reminded of the SIMPLE things we can do to make our classrooms sweeter and our lives easier!

"Why does it work if it's so simple?"

Because this friend of mine is a fidgety friend who can't attend to my directions without having something in his hands. We've been working on strategies to help him control his body and his fidgety hands when he is at the carpet or in an assembly, for example.

Collecting cubes for his individual behavior plan allows him to fidget and "play" with the cubes while he's listening. I realize that may be SUPER distracting for some teachers.  But I know he is learning and taking in what I'm saying because I have recognized this is his way of coping. He can pull the cubes apart and snap them back together quietly while he is listening.  Do you ever doodle while you are in a PD workshop but yet you are still listening to the speaker? Kids are no different! Moving his hands and playing with an object often helps our brain focus on the task at hand. Sometimes kids need to DO something they are listening to you! So....let them! :)

I keep the cubes on my desk to remind myself to pass them out to the student frequently throughout the day.  When my friend earns 10 cubes for his train, he gets to go to the treasure chest (This was a prize that he chose on his own.)!! :)

I hope this was an easy and fast little behavior tip for you to use in your classroom! Individual behavior plans are often a great tool for helping kiddos thrive in our classrooms!

Thanks for letting me share with you!

You can visit my blog throughout the week by clicking the picture below!

I Would Make a Great Hibernating Animal...

Y'all... can I get an amen for Friday?  I was so stinkin' excited when 2:45 rolled around and I skipped out of the school.  Well, drug my almost lifeless body to the car is more like it.

Popping in to visit today and share a post that I wrote about hibernation and Groundhog's Day last January.  What a fun time to teach small humans, right?  This recycled post has a FREEBIE for you and some cool ideas to try in the classroom next week.... all with little prep and maybe just a quick trip to the grocery store!  Check out the pictures and click any of them to take you to the blog post to grab your freebie!  Hope you will all have a FABULOUS weekend!

Fun Math Apps for the Classroom

Hello Everyone! This is Susanna from Whimsy Workshop Teaching here today to share some great math apps!

As we all move ahead with using technology in our classrooms, things change so fast it can be hard to keep up! 

I recently attended a great Ed Tech presentation where teachers shared the math apps (between $0 - $5) that their students seemed to the most. 

I'm sharing that list with you today!        

Name: Math Tappers

Skill: Addition with fixed sum (ie. friends of 10) Choose the sum on the settings page, then simply tap the two numbers that add up to that total. Keep going until all the numbers are gone, then check progress.

Name: Math Bingo

Skill: Basic facts practice; students win a cute big for each correct answer until they make five in a row. We play this as a whole class on the projector and they LOVE it!

Name: Pizza Fractions

Skill: Basic fractions practice; simple enough for independent practice.

Name: Geoboards

Skill: Geometric Shapes with virtual elastics

Name: Number Pieces 

Skill: Place Value; count them up, or use to solve addition and subtraction problems.

Name: Hungry Fish  

Skill: Basic Facts practice; direct the fish around the eat the correct numbers.

If you need a few more math apps to try, click here to check out my full blog post.

I hope your students enjoy these new apps!

                     
                       
                                                    

Ideas for Teaching Phonemic Awareness

Hi everyone! It's been a while! I'm really excited about today's post. I've been working on this post for a while. This is a topic that I feel really passionate about. Phonemic awareness is a huge part of my kindergarten curriculum. I wanted to share with you some things I do with my students to strengthen their phonemic awareness. You've maybe heard many or all of these before, but I thought it would be nice to have them in one spot with pictures and videos. 

Before I begin, let me make it clear that I do NOT claim to be an expert. I'm just sharing what I've learned over the years and what works for me. I know there is SO much more that I need to learn and I look forward to every. single. bit of it. :) 

Here we go! Let's get started.
Here are some activities that my students (and my son) love to do.

  

I do this with my kindergarten small groups every day. There are three ways we do this:

1. I use the slinky to stretch a word and they guess the word (they are blending sounds)

2. I give them a word and they stretch the sounds with the slinky (they are segmenting)

3. Make it a game: One student gets a picture card. They segment the word with the slinky and the group guesses the word. To see a little video, visit my blog (link at the bottom of this post).

I have all these trains and tracks since I have two boys. I'm putting them to use! 

In this video, I'm showing you different ways to use this track:

1. Isolating sounds

2. Segmenting Sounds

3. Manipulating Sounds 

I know what you're thinking. Sarah, these are the same activities just with different manipulatives. Yep, you got it. Repetition for our students is good. They think they are doing something different when you put something new in their hands.

I use this one the most. You've seen it before. You can use anything to push the sounds: pennies, pom-poms, math counters, etc. Make it interesting. I've even used acorns.

This is a favorite! Get a favorite stuffed animal or little puppet. I got this idea from this amazing teacher I worked with years ago in North Carolina. She taught me pretty much everything I know. Get your little puppet or stuffy. Tell your students that he speaks a funny slow language and you need help figuring out what he is saying. Ask questions like, "what is your favorite color?" Have your puppet answer, "/r/ /e/ /d/". Act really dramatic with the kids. A little dramatic flare gets their attention. Ha, ha. "What?! I can't understand you! Say it again." Have your puppet do it again. Then call on a student to "translate" for you. 

I had a video then I accidentally deleted it! Argh! It was a funny one. I had Shawn cracking up here.

SitSpots are the best! You can use them in your classroom to hop out the sounds of a word! Sorry this video is so blurry! 

I love using pipe cleaners and beads too! 

To read my full blog post with more videos AND to see my Intervention Kit, visit my blog: