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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Genre Poster

Hello everyone :))). I needed to design small genre posters to put in our library. The ones I had before were too big and not pratical. Hence I designed new genre posters, which are availavable for free on TPT. To download your copy just follow the link please:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Genre-Poster-Cards







Thanks :))
Fabiana.


Happy Halloween


Monday, October 29, 2012

Weather Assessment


I designed this science assessment unit to evaluate my son’s understanding based on the season, weather and storm subjects.
This assessment contains 10 slides that covers:
- Seasons.
- Types of measurement instruments such as thermometer, anemometer, barometer, wind vane, rain gauge and hydrometer.
- Identifying temperature: hot or cold.
- Identifying meaning of storms and weather such as tornado, hurricane, hail, thunder, thunderstorm, lightning,  partly cloudy, rain, sleet, snow and freezing rain.

The assessment is illustrated with eye-catching images, as well as written in an appropriated language for the children to comprehend. All the exercises are comprised of matching drills, sketching  and multiple choice questions. I also included the answer key.

This material is available on TPT. To purchase your copy just click on the following link:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weather-Assessment


I would very much appreciate your comment or suggestion about this material, as well as rating. Thank you!!!!!

Fabiana







Sunday, October 28, 2012

Be glad

I read something really encouraging this morning that made me smile and thankful for everything. I would love to share this message with you all and hoping you get inspired as I did :).
 

"Whatever you are, or whatever has happened, just be glad. Be glad because you are here. You are here in a beautiful world; and all that is beautiful may be found in this world... Just be glad, and you always will be glad. You will always have better reason to be glad. You will have more and more things to make you glad. For great is the power of sunshine, especially human sunshine. It can change anything, transform anything, remake anything, and cause anything to be become as beautiful as itself. Just be glad and your fate will change; a new life will begin and new future will dawn for you." Christian D. Larson


Have a fantastic Sunday :))).

Fabiana 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Past and Present

The topic of our lesson today was to learn how to differentiate past and present. Below are a few links of materials I downloaded from TPT, which were very helpful to present the subject to my son.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Past-and-Present-1st-Grade-PowerPoint
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Past-and-Present-Sort
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Past-Present-Sort
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Then-and-Now-Sort
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Long-Ago-and-Today-Part-2-Transportation
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Long-Ago-and-Today-Part-1-School


One of the exercise was to separate pictures according to the appropriate time. We used two oat meal containers to separate the images and we named it "then" and "now".


I love homemade bread, I was raised eating it more than the bread we buy at the bakery. Hence baking bread is part of our routine. Although, I bake bread quite often I never told my son that in colonial days the families used to make their own bread. Thus today we talked about the matter mentioned and we baked the bread together.

In case you would like to know the recipe, I will explain it below.

Ingredientes:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup warm milk
1 1/2 cup of whole flour
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 package dry yeast

Instructions:

Stir the eggs and sugar. Add the butter and the warm milk. Mix the flour and dry yeast together, and then mix it with the other ingredients. Cover the bowl with a towel and put in a warm place for approximately 1 hour to rise.


 The secret for the dough to be soft is to beat it as much as you can with you hands. This part is my son's favorite as he gets to punch the dough :)))) - those who have boys will understand it :)))).
Cut the dough in three pieces to make the dough softer. I normally spend 10 minutes on each piece.


Spread butter all over a baking pan and put the dough inside. The little round dough is my son's bread :). Let the dough rise again for as long as it needs to double the size. Make sure to put it in a warm place.


The image below is the dough ready to cook.


Bake the dough in a pre-heat 350 F. To verify if the bread is cooked use a fork or knife. When its ready spread butter on top of the bread, it will give a crusty and delicious flavor.



Hope you enjoyed our post. Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks.

Fabiana


Thursday, October 25, 2012

Weather and Storms

Today we learned about weather and storms. We went through the definition of weather, sky condition, temperature, season, fall, winter, summer, spring, thunderstorm, tornado, snow, hail, hurricane, thunder, lightning, sunny, partly cloudy, sleet, freezing rain, rain and wind. On October 14th I posted "Weather Vocabulary" which shows the posters I designed giving the definition of each of the names aforesaid. This material is also available on TPT, to download it click on the following link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weather-Vocabulary
Every time I explained the meaning of each card, I showed videos on you tube to my son to comprehend the context in real situation.

We glued the cards on our weather wall.



Furthermore, we investigated three experiments. The first one was to MAKE A TORNADO using a bottle. The materials we used were: glitter, water, plastic bottle and dish washing liquid.

Instructions:

1st step: Fill the plastic bottle with water until it reaches around three quarters full.


2nd step: Add a few drops of dish washing liquid.


3rd step: Sprinkle in a few pinches of glitter (this will make your tornado easier to see).


4th step: Put the cap on tightly. Turn the bottle upside down and hold it by the neck.


5th step:  Quickly spin the bottle in a circular motion for a few seconds, stop and look inside to see if you can see a mini tornado forming in the water. You might need to try it a few times before you get it working properly. This experiment was really nice and easy to make. The glitter spinning inside the bottle made easier to explain to my son the science behind it.
According to Science Kids spinning the bottle in a circular motion creates a water vortex that looks like a mini tornado. The water is rapidly spinning around the center of the vortex due to centripetal force (an inward force directing an object or fluid such as water towards the center of its circular path). Vortexes found in nature include tornadoes, hurricanes and waterspouts (a tornado that forms over water). http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/makeatornado.html




Our second experiment was to MAKE RAIN, which was easy to make and to explain to your child. All you need is hot water, plate and ice cubes.

Instructions:

1st step: Pour two inches of very hot tap water into the glass container and cover with the plate. Allow water to sit for a few minutes.


2nd step: Place ice cubes on the plate.


3rd step: Watch what happens.
According to Web Weather for Kids the cold plate causes the moisture in the warm air to condense and form water droplets. This is the same thing that happens in the atmosphere as warm, moist air rises and meets colder temperatures high in the atmosphere. Water vapor condenses and forms precipitation that falls to the Earth as rain, sleet, hail, or snow.
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/tornact5.html

 


The last experiment was to MAKE FOG IN A JAR.
Materials: strip of black construction paper, tape, jar, warm water, food coloring, match and a bag of ice.

Instructions:

1st step:  Tape the black paper on the back of the jar, so you can't see through the jar. 


2nd step: Fill one third of the jar with the warm water and put a few drops of your preferred food coloring.



3rd step: Light the match and hold it over the jar opening. I suggest you light the match as it is quite dangerous for a child to do. After a few seconds, drop the match into the jar.
 

4th step: Cover the top of the jar with the bag of ice, and observe the fog forming. 
According to Web Weather for Kids the warm water heats the layer of air that it touches. Some of the water evaporates into the air forming water vapor. The warm air containing water vapor rises, and then cools, as it comes in contact with the air cooled by the ice. When the water molecules cool, they slow down and stick together more readily. The particles of smoke act as nuclei for “bunches” of water molecules to collect on. This process is called condensation.
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloudact1.html
 


To end our lesson I gave a mini assessment to my son, which he needed to match the words with the pictures.

Inform me please if you need a copy of the exercise, or have any question, suggestion or comment. I would be very happy to help :))).

It was a very productive and fun day indeed :)). Hope you enjoyed my post. Thanks :)).

Fabiana




Monday, October 22, 2012

Gift


I am really happy because I just received an email from Teach123 that I was the winner of the October giveaway :))))).  It made my day!!!!!!!!

I got Fall Literacy Center from Teach123, which are materials aligned with Common Core Standards.
Included in this packet are:

1. Fluency center: Sentence Shuffle Center "At the Pumpkin Patch"
**These centers are normally sold separately for $4.

2. Sentence Puzzle

3. Falling for Great Books: includes book list with 40 books that has reading levels, center sign, and 2 assignments

4. Fall for Homophones - fall leaves are cut in half, on each half is a homophone. Student match the homophone pair and then use 3 of the pair in a sentence.

4. Homophone memory game

5. Journal assignments: one page with 6 strips of sentence starters for school and one with 6 strips of sentence starters for home journal (homework program)

6. ABC order & autumn word bank - arrange the words in the autumn word bank in alphabetical order and then write on worksheet

It is available on TPT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FALL-Literacy-Centers-aligned-with-Common-Core-Standards


The second wonderful material I got was Go Pirate - Multiplication and God Pirate - Division, which are material designed for 3rd and 4th graders.

It is available on TPT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Go-Pirates-Multiplication-Go-Fish-Game-The-Not-So-Tricky-Ones-3-4-9-11

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Go-Pirates-Division-Go-Fish-Game-The-Not-So-Tricky-Ones-3-4-9-11


These materials are worth buying, super well designed and wonderful eye catching illustrations. I highly recommend!!! Thanks.

Fabiana

Friday, October 19, 2012

Wind Vane

Today we started leaning about colonial days. The following picture is a book that we borrowed from the library, which its very good. It has a variety of projects, activities and recipes that we can experience to make our children to understand how other children lived in America many years ago. The context of the book is very informative and simple to understand.



The first project we made was to create a wind vane. I thought it was wonderful as yesterday we did science and this instrument was part of our studies.  I explained to my son the history behind the wind vane, which was described easily on the book I above mentioned.

Materials to make the wind vane: newspaper to cover the table, pencil, ruler, poster board about 10 inches, which can be printed from the internet, scissors, crayon or colored pencil, 1/2 pound self-hardening clay or play-doh, tape.

1st step: After printing the poster board from the internet ask your child to color it, which must be colored on both sides. Cut the vane model after coloring.


2nd step: Using the pencil make a hole in the center of the play-doh or clay of the stand. Push the pencil all the way through the stand and make the hole large enough for the pencil to turn freely.


3rd step: Tape your poster board weather vane to one end of the pencil and insert the other end in the hole in the stand.


4th step: Try your weather vane outdoors on a level surface. The vane will turn in the breeze and point to the direction the wind is blowing. There was no wind in Chicago today :)), so we couldn't try outside, but we will do it as soon as it happens :)).




Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks.

Fabiana

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Temperature

We had an amazing science lesson today. The focus of the lesson was temperature. We read the Science Almanac and the Big Book of What? by Time for Kids, as well as the Exploring Science - Blue Book by Laidlaw Brothers. These three books are very informative with eye catching illustrations, and the language is appropriate for children which makes listening and reading very pleasant.

After reading the books and explaining the meaning of temperature to my son, he began to investigate his first experiment of the day. The experiment was to examine the temperature of the water in three stages: hot, cold and warm. The materials for this investigation are only three bowls. Fill the first bowl with warm water, the second one with hot water and the third one with cold water.


Furthermore, I asked my son to put his hands in each bowl, and my questions were the following:
- How does the water feel?
- Can you tell the temperature of the water? Why?

I also requested him to put one hand in the cold water and the other in the hot water, and leave it for 3 minutes. Afterwards, I asked:
- Does the water in the third bowl feel the same to both hands? If not, which hand feels warm? Why?
- Which hand feels cool? Why?

He wanted to try to measure the water using a normal thermometer but there was no result.



Other questions to request to your child about hot and cold:
- Why is feeling something with your hands not the best way to measure its temperature?
- What does the temperature of something tell you?
- What is the best way to measure temperature?


After my son answered the queries aforesaid,  I clarified to him that the best way to measure temperature is to use an appropriate instrument within the categories below. For example if you want to measure the wind speed, you need an anemometer. I introduced him a few types of measurement instruments and its meaning. We glued the cards on our weather wall. This set of cards is  available for free on TPT:
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Types-of-Measurement-Instruments



Moreover, we created an anemometer, which was super cool :)!!!
Materials:
2 strips of cardboard, 1 inch x 12 inches; glue or stapler; 4 baking cups; sharpened pencil with an eraser;  stickers; lump of clay or play-doh to flatten the base; push pin.


Instructions:
1st step: Cross the cardboard strips in the shape of an X, and glue or staple it at the center.


2nd step: Decorate one baking cup with sticker or markers to stand out from the other cups.


3rd step: Glue or staple the cups to the cardboard frame. Make sure the open ends all face the same direction.


4th step: Push the sharp end of the pencil into the play-doh or clay.


5th step: Push the pin through the center of the cardboard frame and into the pencil's eraser.


6th step: Take your anemometer outside on a windy day and secure it on a flat surface. Record the number of revolutions it makes per minute by counting the decorated cup each time it passes you.


The wind was quite strong in Chicago today which made our cups rotate quite fast. Making this anemometer was a lot fun, but seeing it in action was fantastic!!!! My son was giggling and saying: it works mom!!!!!!! Awesome :)))!!! 



I also downloaded a weather unit for free on TPT which includes a variety of activities, experiments and worksheets. Today, we only focused on temperature and hot/cold activities. This package is worth downloading :
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weather-Unit-Science-Fun-for-Pre-School-3rd-Grade


We are going to monitor the weather temperature for 10 days.  I am teaching my son Celsius and Fahrenheit at the same time because I think it is important for him to know both, and because Fahrenheit is used just in a few countries, and Celsius is more worldwide. In Brazil we learned Celsius, hence this teaching will be useful for me too :))).
 

It was definitely a very productive and fun day. Hope you were inspired by my post today. Thanks :)!

Fabiana