"Simple as That" Project Meets the iPad in 2015

If you've been an avid follower of my blog for years, then you may remember my post in February of 2012 about our simple machines project. 

For the record, if you really have been reading my blog for that long.... I'm sending you a virtual hug right now. 

Now...hop in your time machine and flashback to 2012. 

Using the six computers in my classroom and Publisher my students created advertisements for Wal-Mart selling simple machines that had been disguised as common household products. Read more about the logistics and requirements for the projects ---> here. 

As the technology in my classroom has changed this project has evolved. Because of our iPads, we were able to do the same project this year... except we gave it major facelift and upgraded to Explain Everything! 

To begin the project, I handed out the project description and checklist. After we discussed what Wal-Mart would be looking for in the ads, I asked my students if THEY could be the teacher this time. Of course, students were more than willing to grade my work. :) While my 30-second ad played, students were checking off things I had included. 

For your viewing enjoyment, "Furnelly's Forks & Company":

I was slightly weary of showing an example to my students. I didn't want to stifle their creativity. However, I really think the example helped get my students in the right direction. The example was a great way to demonstrate my expectations for the project. I was also able to demonstrate how to get your point across - and stay focused - in about 30 seconds. 

Tomorrow we'll be uploading our projects to Dropbox and viewing the advertisements in class. Hmm.. I wonder if Wal-Mart will pick any of our products? :)

Putting the Students in Charge! Simple Machines Activity

To begin our simple machines unit, I had my students take a pre-test showing me what they already knew about the different types of machines. This was great information to have, because when I introduced our force and motion unit I heard many, "WE ALREADY DID THAT LAST YEAR!" Now, after their pre-test I have proof of whether or not they remember. :)

After the pre-test, students filled in a pie chart showing their mastery of simple machines. Some were filling in 1-2 slices of pie, where others were able to fill in the entire pie! [email me and I will share the pie chart with you! jordon.furnell@gmail.com] Since I found that I had several resident experts of simple machines. I wanted these students to have a chance to teach their peers a little thing or two on simple machines. Today, I had my experts leading the building and assembling of simple machines.

A few years ago, our 5th grade purchased a Simple Machines kit to build examples of each type of machine. Each kit has enough materials for you to assemble one example of each simple machine at time - which makes it great for students to move around to different stations and build each one. 

Purchase the kit here. 

 While I was doing a mini-training with  my experts, I had my students logging examples of simple machines disguised as common household items on the whiteboard. (This was an extension activity from the previous day)

Check out our Instagram video to see the fun that was had today!

Newton's Laws of Motion & Angry Birds

Do you ever walk into your classroom in the morning and have a weird feeling about the lesson you've planned? I had this idea in my head and it was partially written in my plans, but I felt like there were several holes in my "idea". I kept thinking thinking thinking about how to make it just right. Granted, this was all this morning around 7:00 AM.  Have you ever felt this way? Oy! It happens often to yours truly. Today, actually worked out in my favor because the lesson turned out to be quite delightful. Jam packed with collaborative thinking, group work, and whole group time. Here's what we did:

I wanted to connect the reading strategy of cause and effect to our science lesson about Isaac Newton's 3 Laws of Motion. In our text book, it offered a suggested passage and graphic organizer as an intro to the topic but I wanted to take the thinking a bit further. 

To start, I displayed a new anchor chart in our room relating cause and effect to the oh-so-popular game Angry Birds. Coincidentally, three of my students were actually wearing Angry Birds t-shirts. Talk about timing! I borrowed the idea from this blog post here. We chatted about the game and how it relates to cause and effect. 

Then, we jumped in a slightly different direction and pulled out a classic picture book. My original intention was to read, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..." but alas, at 9:00 (five minutes before my kids returned from specials) it was MIA. Instead, we read "If You Give a Pig a Pancake...". Just as great! While reading, I had students interact with the read aloud by identifying causes and effects of different scenarios. 

Next, I had each student draw the cause and effect thinking map seen below. Each Law of Motion had 6 boxes for three different law of motion scenarios. My goal was for students to identify examples of each law and plug them into the diagram to identify the cause and the effect. 

I got everyone started with an easy example of a book demonstrating the law of inertia by sitting on a table overnight. After the whole group example, I partnered the students up and had them come up with other examples to fit each law of motion. They had their book as a reference as well as a foldable and StudyJams.com. Note: this took some time! I wish my science time was longer, but I had to cut things a little short. 

To close the lesson, I brought everyone back to the carpet and told them it was THEIR turn to teach their classmates and me something. While partners were working, I had them pick one scenario to jot down on a post-it to share with the whole group. Once we were on the carpet, partners got up in front of their peers and shared their examples. I loved hearing their use of our science vocabulary and key phrases to describe cause and effect scenarios. They grow up so fast! We stuck the post-it notes on an anchor chart for everyone to see and now it's on my stack of papers to be laminated. :)

Tomorrow, we're going to start our conversations about simple machines. Any tips? Suggestions?

Happy Monday!

Simple as That!

We're still chugging along in force and motion. I'm loving it! Today, we started to investigate the six simple machines. Right now, students pods are separated in simple machines. The kids are constantly saying the names of the machines (wedge, lever, pulley, etc.) and I sound like a broken record. In addition to learning the lingo, I gave the kiddos a little task. Let's just say, I fibbed.

I found an awesome webquest for Simple Machines here. In the webquest, students researched the simple machines and shared the information with 1st graders. Unfortunately, I didn't have that much time. We're on a time crunch with the 'ol MAP test approaching. Instead, I modified the webquest a tad and gave my kiddos this project:

In Microsoft Publisher, I made three templates for the kiddos to choose from. That way, I provided some options but made the initial leg work much easier for them. After they got the hang of Publisher, they were changing fonts, colors, adding photos ... the whole kit and kaboodle.

We had a blast. I can't wait for the groups to present their finished projects!

Three Cheers for Teamwork!

Publishing Fun For All!

 Here's the project description on Scribd. The formatting is a little funky - but you get the idea!


SimpleMachinesProjectChecklist (1)

Have a happy leap day!

Forcing It

We're in the swing of Force & Motion. I have to admit, I am extremely excited to be discussing forces, energy, motion, and machines. Maybe it is the nerdy science teacher in me! 

I've mentioned before that I want to find a way for students to enjoy their text book.  Next year, I may have to think of a different name for our text to make it sound exciting. Well, today we had to buckle down and take notes. Try not to boo me! Luckily, after stumbling upon blogs and Dinah Zike's resources, foldables have become a constant in my classroom. 

Our big question of the day was, "What are forces?" Instead of having the students take notes and read the text. We did things a little differently. We read the text together and as we encountered a new type of force (i.e. gravity, magnetism, work, power) we defined it underneath its flap. Of course the foldable wouldn't be complete without a little sketch and demonstration. Let's just say, I was throwing things and running around my classroom all day long. 

Thanks to my new SmartBoard bulb, I was able to put the notes on the board and guide the students through each flappity-flap. For being a day full of notes and reading, it was a pretty fun time! I hope the kiddos enjoyed it as much as I did.

Have you taught force and motion? What exciting experiments and demonstrations have you done?

I know have the greatest job on earth, but I think tomorrow I will be applying this philosophy. I'll be the one in a Spiderman costume.