Mystery Science

Recently I was introduced to a program called Mystery Science. What I love about this program is that it follows all of the Next Generation Science Standards and makes it relevant for both teachers and students.

Mystery Science revolves around a man named Doug. He narrates the slide shows and includes stories, videos, and activities right into the slide show. The slide show even has directions for the kids to watch on HOW to do the activities. We have only completed the first couple of lessons, but I really wanted to share this site so that other teachers can check it out.

Right now it is free for teachers. I don't know if they will start charging at some point, but I suggest signing up.

It is a K-5 curriculum with 6 lessons in each unit.

There are a total of 3 Kindergarten units:

Weather Watching

Force Olympics

Plant and Animal Secrets

and a total of 3 First Grade Units:

Spinning Sky (Space)

Lights and Sound

Plant and Animal Superpowers

There are also seasonal lessons. Check it out!

All of the resources are directly in the program. Nothing costs extra. Check out our start on the Weather unit. We have become Weather Watchers and are learning how to check the weather.

Our 4 questions are:
1. What is happening in the sky?
2. What is the temperature?
3. Is it windy?
4. Is it raining?

My students really understood the direct instruction provided to them. We went outside and applied these questions to our learning. While you might think they just watch a video, they don't! The slide show consists of video portions and teacher read-aloud portions, movement and team talk portions, as well. Definitely engaging!
Check out our observations!

As you can see, it was 1) cloudy 2) cold 3) windy and 4) raining. I appreciated my students having the questions right in the corner of their paper to remind them what to look for.

We also created some art to go along with the second weather lesson, which was about storms. I chose to have the students paint, although Mystery Science suggested other activities as well.

While I am just getting started with Mystery Science, I have to recommend it to all who are looking for a good science curriculum. I will keeping you updated on how it goes.

Winter is Here!

Ok, so it's not here in the sense that there is snow. But, it is super cold and we have been exploring the idea of snow and reading some amazing winter books!

My favorite snowman story is Sadie and the Snowman. She has to rebuild her snowman every time it melts! Another one of our favorites is Snowmen at Night. We read this story and thought about what our snowmen would do at night. Take a look:

If you would like a FREE temple please click here. 

We also learned about how snowflakes form. My students were amazed to see that water is made of molecules and that when they freeze they can make cool designs. We did a Fun Food snack in which we started with the basic shape of a snowflake, a hexagon, and built symmetrical arms coming off of it. It was a difficult talk to create, but they did an incredible job. Plus, it was delicious!

My Science Journal: Polar Animals

Busy, busy, busy! I am headed to San Diego this week for training, so I am trying to cram in as much new stuff as I can before I leave. Awhile ago I began my new My Science Journal: Polar Animals and Rainforest. I have finally finished my polar animal journal (which is funny, because it is SUMMER!) But, oh well! Better late than never! Take a look!

I will be adding my rainforest unit soon. I just need to make the monkey!

Snowmen at Night Craftivity

Here is a cute little FREEBIE! Snowmen at Night is one of the most popular winter books for kids. It lets them use their imagination and think of silly things. We do this craftivity when we read Snowmen at Night. Take a look.

We will glue the snowman to a black piece of construction paper and add the snowflakes at the end. Enjoy!

Polar Bears

We just finished our Polar Bear Week!

This is one of our art projects. We read a book about Polar Bears and the Arctic. We discussed the ice and the lack of light in the winter sky. I asked my Kinders to draw a horizon line. I taped a pre-cut polar bear to their paper and had them sponge paint over it. The sky was purple and the ice was blue. Once they were done sponge painting I pulled off the bear and it was like MAGIC! They turned out pretty good.

 Here is a polar bear we made from the website learncreatelove.

 This is a writing activity from we made, using facts we learned about the polar bear. The pattern is from 

The Education Center.

Last, but not least, is our polar bear ice cream! Yum! It is a vanilla cup with Nilla wafer ears, chocolate chip eyes, and a Hershey Drop nose. Can't beat it!

My students loved learning about this bear.

Snowmen at Night

Snowmen at Night Bulletin Board

We read Snowmen at Night and used our sight words to make our snowglobe craft. I gave my students a prompt (which they had to trace). I highlighted the spot in the sentence where they needed to insert a sight word to finish the sentence. Many of my students can think of their own word by looking at our word wall, but some needed concrete choices, so I gave them either "run, jump, play." They then chose their word and wrote it down. To grab this activity click here.