Lil Sprouts Book Club: Turkey Time

It's beginning to smell a lot like Thanksgiving with all this baking and cooking going on!  I have noticed, and maybe you have too, that students don't have the sharpest attention at this time of year.  Oh I wonder why?  So I had to think outside of the box to cook some concepts of measurement into one of my dear students' heads.  We mixed baking with some math.  She was skeptical, but we managed to reinforce a few concepts while baking up some turkey treats.

We talked about the importance of measurement when baking, and that each recipe calls for precision (unless you have a show on the Food Network!).  We used precise measurement with the recipe, and estimation when it came to filling up our cupcake papers with batter.  While they baked away in the oven, we worked on a review.

Now our cupcakes might not be professional level, but they were easy, fun, and pretty yummy!

In the spirit of turkey math lessons, I wanted to share with you this funny and festive Thanksgiving book.

10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston tells the silly tale of some crazy turkeys while children learn to count backwards.  I searched high and low for a Thanksgiving book about measurement and couldn't find one.  If you know of one, please leave us a comment!

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We Approve This Message!

Only four more days until the election!  Whether you are a politco or sick of all the talk, there is definitely an energy in the air.  I myself LOVE democracy!  I love teaching about civics, the history of our country, and the amazing rights we have as Americans.  So of course I love election time!

Our Presidential Pack is a great way to bring some civic education into your classroom before, during, or after the election.  The pack is not specific to this election, but more geared toward teaching about the presidency as a whole.  Students will work to get past presidents re-elected, to understand the Electoral College, political parties and their platforms, and presidential trivia. 

As I was assembling these for my students today, I remembered that four years ago my students re-elected Richard Nixon.  Makes me laugh every time I think of it!

You can find this Presidential Pack in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  We hope this helps you bring some election energy into your classroom!

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Counting Candy

I find it a little humorous that I was offering up healthy Halloween snack ideas on Monday, just to follow it up with what to do with all that candy!  The fact of the matter is you're going to have gobs of candy entering your home or classroom in the next 24 to 48 hours.  I ran across The Candy Corn Contest recently in my oldie, but goodie stash at school.  I loved this book when I was in elementary school, and definitely loved every teacher that had a candy jar!  The story is about a class who is trying to guess the number of candy corn in their teacher's jar to win the loot as their prize.  The story takes some twists and turns, but is a quick and easy read a loud.  It brings some fun discussions up about honesty, fall traditions, and estimation.

The estimation side of the story got me thinking of all the math activities you can do with your children's candy bags.  Here are some fun and educational ideas:

*  Count the pieces of candy by arranging them in groups of two, five, ten, etc.
*  Order the pieces of candy from biggest to smallest.
*  Make a bar graph comparing the types and quantity of candy received.  If there are two children participating have them make a double bar graph.
*  Make a pictograph to represent five of your favorite types of candy and how many you received.  Remember to create a key for your pictograph that shows symbols and how many each symbol represents.
*  Make a pie graph to represent the percentages of candy that you received.
*  Group the packages of candy by color.

Leave us a comment and let us know if you have other ways to turn candy overload into learning.  We'd love to hear about it!

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Pumpkin Science: Free Printable

Pumpkins aren't just fun to carve, they can be a fun science activity too!  Yesterday we headed outdoors to do a little pumpkin investigation with our science buddies.  What a great way to make pumpkin picking an educational activity.  

Use this free printable as a guide for a fun math and science activity!  Happy weekend to you!

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MAD About Science

We have gone MAD here at Simply Sprout. We are simply MAD about science! We have had a lot of fun designing this colorful MAD About Science kit for teachers. Our focus was making science fun and engaging for students. We chose a couple of our favorite classroom experiments and created materials that would help to introduce the scientific process.

This colorful kit is the perfect way to introduce general science skills to your students. It contains four fun Halloween themed science labs that will be sure to bring out the mad scientist in your students. The kit also includes writing reflections and activity extenders as well as resources for your bulletin boards and a colorful science word wall.

This kit contains:

2 science journal covers

Teacher notes for experiments

Magic Potions lab activity

Spooky Slime Reflection sheet

Spooky Slime Writing Activity

Secret Potions Lab activity

Magic Mixtures Lab Activity

Scientific Process General Lab sheet

Making Observations Lab Activity

I'm a Mad Scientist Writing Activity

My Reflections Writing Activity

Mad scientist Labels (perfect for lab coats or name badges)

Science Word Wall (15 Pages) Colorful bulletin Board set includes 3x5 index card style vocabulary cards, including blank ones you can use to ass your own terms. (font used smiley monster)

Colorful Monsters (13 pages) perfect to use as labels for individual student work or class decor

Colorful Alphabet A-Z and numbers 0-9 includes ! and ? and a blank to add whatever you would like. (Perfect for bulletin boards and class signs)

Scientific method strips (Hypothesis, Observations, Procedure, Data, Research, Experiment and Conclusions)

Class signs with definition (2 sizes) (Hypothesis, Observations, Experiment, Research and Conclusions)

Discover the more colorful side of science with this Word Wall from our Mad About Science Kit. Just print, cut and laminate for a quick and easy bulletin board display that will help build scientific vocabulary and inspire your Mad Scientists! Our kit contains everything you would need to make your own science word wall. There are even blank cards included so you can add your own vocabulary throughout the year.

The scientific method can easily be displayed on your white board or a bulletin board with these headers. Walk your students through an experiment using these headers, and simply add your own written text below. This will help show your students exactly how the scientific process flows from one step to another and will help you review and relate back to the steps as you work through an experiment.


 Large signs defining the steps in the scientific process are also included, these are ideal for introducing the scientific process.

Observation

Research

Hypothesis

Experiment

Conclusions

There are also printables that you will find useful to use on your science experiments to help walk your students through the scientific process as you go. Use individually or combine all together with some ribbon to make a Mad About Science journal.

Your little scientists will go MAD when they get their hands on our Magic Potions and Spooky Slime labs. They are two of our all time classroom favorites for scientific exploration and discovery.

The Magic Potions Lab is designed to use with multiple experiments. The lab is designed to have students use their senses and their observation skills to form a hypothesis, document the steps to their experiment and then formulate their conclusion as to what type of reaction occurred based on their observations.

Here are a few experiments you can try using the Magic Potions Lab sheet

 Your little scientists are given small containers with two substances, they can use their senses (except taste) to explore them. You can introduce and discuss the states of matter (liquid, solid and gas) 

To make a large batch of Spooky Slime this is what you need:
- 1 cup water
- 1.5-2 cups corn starch
- a few drops of food coloring of your choice

 

Have them mix their two potions (colored water and corn starch) in a Ziploc bag. 

Once mixed thoroughly have them take it out and give it a try. What do they think they have made?

Explain to students that spooky slime has properties, or characteristics, of a solid and a liquid.  That makes it a non-newtonian fluid.  Allow time for children to explore and play with the substance.  They should eventually see that Spooky Slime acts like a liquid when poured, and a solid when a force is applied to it.  

 

Extend the learning and fun by placing a tray with different objects out for children to explore their Spooky Slime even further.  Some suggested items would be straws, scissors, plastic play knives, spoons, and measuring spoons.

For your younger students have them use finger paint to make an artistic representation of their spooky slime. Add a pair of googly eyes and ask them what their slime looks like. This is great for a Halloween display in your classroom or around school. Your older students can use the reflection pages provided to document their findings.

For some other fun edible potions have students mix instant pudding powder and milk, to create a fun science snack. Kool-Aid powder and water. You can also have them mix solids together (candy corn, cereal, M&M's, and raisins) to create a mixture rather than a solution, and discuss the difference between the two.

Another Magic Potion experiment you can try is using a container filled with baking soda, add a little vinegar (we added a few drops of food coloring to ours for a very visual effect)

No matter how many times you do this the reactions are priceless! Definitely a class pleaser that will get your students MAD about science!

We are so thankful to have two of the cutest scientists around to help out in our laboratory!

We hope you will be inspired to share some science fun with your students, and what better way to start that with a few Halloween science activities that are sure to have your little scientists begging for more!

To purchase this kit please visit our Simply Sprout Store

Be sure to sign up to be a follower in order to get the best deals on our products!

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Halloween themed kits for the classroom

We are so excited to share with you our latest creation for the classroom. It is absolutely Spooktacular! 

This colorful kit is filled with spooky writing and grammar fun. Review nouns and adjectives and get your student's creative spirits going with this hauntingly cute kit!
This kit contains 73 pages of resources for the primary classroom
Spooky Grammar: 12 pages Students use adjectives to describe Halloween theme pictures, and write sentences identifying the nouns and adjectives.
Graphic organizer: writing beginning, middle and end
Writiing journals/ story starters: 8 prompts
Word wall display: 16 pages Header and Halloween themed word wall cards, including blank ones you can personalize
Pennant banner for bulletin board or class signs 34 pages
letters A - z and Halloween themed graphics on four alternating patterns of orange, green, black and purple.

To create our Halloween inspired display we used black and white polka dotted wrapping paper (Hobby Lobby) trimmed with orange and white polka dotted ribbon. Ribbon is great for storage, stays bright and is easy to put up...on of my favorite ways to brighten up a classroom)

We used Halloween decor found around town. Finding items at After Halloween sales will help keep costs down and your seasonal classroom decorations up to date. Our Favorite sales are at Target and Hobby Lobby each year!

A bubbling cauldron is the perfect way to display your seasonal word wall words. This kit uses cute 3x5 cards to introduce some spooky vocabulary words. Use the ones provided or create your own using the blank templates in the kit. The font used is smiley monster

 The colorful pennants are a must have for today's classrooms. Long gone are the days of simply using die cut letters from construction paper. Just print, cut and laminate. They store flat, I like keeping all of my pennant kits in clear plastic page protectors in a 2 inch binder. You can store by theme or colors and can flip through to easily find what you are looking for.

For simple hanging hole punch both sides and thread a 1/4 inch ribbon through the entire set of pennants. Cute picture pennants ( bats, haunted house, ghost, jack o lantern) are the perfect way to bookend your Halloween Bulletin Board Banners.

The journal pages and grammar pages in this kit are the perfect way to add a simple review into your daily routine while keeping it fun and engaging. Use these grammar sheets as a way to introduce and review nouns and adjectives. Teach students how to stretch their sentences by including their describing words. Have your students use their new grammar skills to create Halloween themed stories, that they will be dying to share with their classmates!

 While this kit was designed for primary teachers, it can really be used for any grade. 

Intermediate teachers we haven't forgotten about you we have just what you need as well to keep your little pumpkins engaged while perfecting their grammar skills.

 Check out our kits that are now being featured in our store, get them now while they are on sale! 

Our Fall Sale ends Sunday!

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Lil Sprouts Book Club: The Fungus That Ate My School

There is nothing better than seeing kids loving to learn.  Marcy and I had the best time watching our mini scientists the other day as they discovered new things.  We even heard these little ones use the word hypothesis to one another.  How cute is that?  I think it warmed my heart even more to see two little girls dressed up as scientists and really enjoying the subject.  A field of study that has been dominated by men for centuries, is open to many possibilities for these little girls now.  

They had a great time learning about solids and liquids, and even making spooky slime that tested the limits of these two states of matter.  Many of you have made slime, sometimes called Oobleck, in your class or even at home.  It was a fun twist to tie it in to Halloween!  On Friday we will launch our Halloween Mad About Science kit with this activity and more!

A great way to extend this science lesson is to read The Fungus That Ate My School by Arthur Dorros.  The humorous tale of a relentless fungus that takes over an elementary school will leave your mini scientists giggling.  The book is full of onomatopoeias,  great dialogue, and vivid pictures.

After making some spooky slime with your kids encourage them to write about this concoction taking over their school.  They can draw pictures or write a creative story.  

Visit us on Friday for a chance to win a Mad About Science kit which includes this experiment, reflection prompts, and more.  It's going to be frighteningly fun!

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