States of Matter

Over the past few weeks, the 1st and 2nd graders have been learning about states of matter. The students have enjoyed the watching the videos at Brain POP, Jr. They have been an excellent resource in helping the students understand the topics we have been studying in science.

Pinterest is another excellent resource! I have found tons of activities there for anything and everything related to teaching. Pinterest is where I found this fun hands-on activity to help the kids understand the concept of solids, liquids, and gases.

For teachers who might be interested in an excellent supplemental resource to teach the states of matter, I highly recommend "Marvelous Matter Activities for Little Scientists"created by 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Lamb, of whom I am a fan. These cards are part of her unit.

What my students really look forward to are our science experiments. Most recently, we did an experiment that I had pinned on Pinterest months ago. (Our Kinder friends did it too!) It was the perfect demonstration of physical change, one of the key concepts we have been studying about in our states of matter unit.

Valentine Themed Activities

Here are some pictures from Valentine's week. As you can see, it wasn't all fun, games, and candy! We worked hard all week counting, tallying, and graphing conversation hearts. We practiced our friendly letter writing skills and wrote "love letters" to our friends. We filled each others' Buckets. We had a special K-2 worship and sang songs about God's love for us.

 

For anyone who's interested, this Candy Heart Math activity was created by one of my favorite teachers who blogs, Lory Evans. You can purchase her super cute activity HERE.



February has been quite a busy one for themed units! Next week we will be doing a unit on America which coincides nicely with Presidents Day. At the end of February we will spend time on a dental health unit. A dentist (daddy to one of our kindergarten friends!) will come and talk to us about what he does as a dentist and how we can help keep our teeth healthy.

Super Scientist of the Week 6

This week our Scientist of the Week performed an experiment using yeast and balloons (!) to see if soda, a sparkling juice drink, or milk has the most sugar. His experiment was an excellent learning experience as well as an eye-opener for the 2nd graders and myself!

Picture taken approximately 1.5 hours after the experiment.

I have to admit, having been trained with a Science background, Super Scientist is easily one of my favorite activities. I'm so glad that I decided add it to our curriculum this year!