Science Vocab

I'm always looking for interesting and different ways to help my students remember the vocabulary in our science units. I'm pretty sure I do something different for each unit. That can be good and bad. On one hand  it is good for them to learn different strategies. But on the other hand, consistency is helpful. 

For this unit I broke them up into pairs and had them define and draw a picture of each vocabulary word. I definitely saw some good group work and some not so good group work. But that is part of life and they really do need to learn how to work through that. 

I love some of the pictures that showed up on these posters!

Electricity

We had fun learning about electricity a couple of months back. (Ha! Now that I look at this picture I see that he spelled "electric" wrong! Oops!) The students had to color and label the open and closed circuits. Then they had to explain them on the inside of the paper. We even labeled the light switch in the classroom with "open circuit" and "closed circuit." My students loved it when I asked one of them to open the circuit.

Gotta Love the Impromptu Projects!

Our current science unit is on Stars and Constellations. I love studying the stars! After we finished reading a lesson today I decided that it would be fun for my students to create posters about what we have learned so far. It was random, but I love what I see coming from these students. They are following a check list and working well as groups. It is interesting to see the leaders come out, leaders clashing with each other, compromising, creativity, silliness, and art. All of these things are important in the learning process! I can't to share pictures of this project!

Here is the checklist I gave to them. 

• Title
• Information
• Correct Spelling
• Cursive
• Easy to read/Neat
• Names of people in the group
• Pictures
• Color
• Creative
• Everyone participates
• Work well as a group

Phases of the Moon

I found this great idea on Pinterest! (I love finding things on there!)

The students used Oreo Cookies to model the phases of the moon. 

They had a blast and were excited to munch on a few when they were done! 

I had them working in pairs because I wasn't sure if I would have enough cookies. I find that when I randomly pair students together it works the best. They all got right to work. It was a huge success!

Flowers

I found this idea on Pinterest and it led me to The Inspired Classroom blog. There are great ideas on this blog.
My class just finished up a unit on Plant Life. Before the test my students did these flip books. On the front they colored in a flower (which I drew and photo copied), labeled the parts, and cut them into sections. When they finished this they defined what each part does for the plant behind the flaps.

Flower Bulletin Board

We are just finishing up a unit on plants. This is the bulletin board I put up for the unit. 

One of my students helped me put it together.