Water Cycle - Summer School!

I'm a little bit delayed in writing this post about summer school. I suppose I let other summer fun get in the way of my blogging. Oops! :)

One day of summer school was spent discussing the Water Cycle. We started our chat about the water cycle by reading the story, A Drop Around the World. I've blogged about this book before because it is one of my favorites. The author does a wonderful job of explaining the multiple paths water can take throughout the water cycle. A class could spend a decent amount of time discussing only what they heard in the book!

The morning wouldn't be complete without a little singing and dancing...

Lastly, I wanted my students to be able to take home something about the water cycle. Using paper plates, colored pencils, cotton balls, and labels each student made a diagram of the water cycle. Hopefully my future 5th graders will remember this lesson when we begin talking about weather in the fall. 

Happy Monday!

Head in the Clouds - Summer School

Week one of summer school came and went quickly! 

Our fourth day of summer school was all about the clouds! We started with Tomie de Paola's "The Cloud Book". A very cute and informative book about the clouds. It tosses in a few idioms, popular phrases, and original theories about what the clouds meant. It held the attention of my students all day long. Plus, it provided a few giggles. 

After we figured out the three main types of clouds (cirrus, stratus, cumulus), we ventured outside with a diagram and sidewalk chalk. I gave each pair of students the task of drawing the three main types of clouds on the sidewalk and labeling each one. I was very impressed by their artistic and creative drawings! Of course, I had to get in on the sidewalk chalk action too. 

It's the Key to a Happy Life!

Well, what do you see?

Cumulonimbus Clouds

Low Stratus Clouds Over a City :)

It was time well spent outdoors in the sunshine. Plus, I hope that each of my students walked away knowing the three main types of clouds. :)

WE WILL ROCK YOU! Summer School Day 2

Summer school is trucking right along. It's fast paced and way different than the regular school day. It's nice not having the pressures of testing hanging over my head. Plus, the hugs from students in June is a wonderful added bonus.  :)

After our conversation about soil yesterday, we extended the conversation into erosion and landforms. Below are a few online videos I used and a great flipbook!

While the song was playing I started to hear, "Ohh... I get it now!" We weren't diving into the types of rocks, but it was a fun song to get our brains shifted into science mode. 

I also show clips from Bill Nye's erosion episode. I like these clips because he visits areas around the country to show erosion and cool experiments to try at home. 

Right as time was running out for the day, we started a landform flipbook. Thankfully, there are smart and talented teachers on the internet who share fantastic resources. Ginger Snaps has a fantastic flip book to demonstrate different types of landforms, plus you can download the file for free! 

Bless you, Ginger Snap Treats for Teachers!

Tomorrow, we are going to finish our flip books and move onto the atmosphere Thursday. Exciting week full of science! 

Eating Dirt - Summer School Day 1

Summer school has arrived! This is my first year teaching summer school and I'm focusing on Earth Science. To start our fun for the summer, we ate dirt. I got a lot of questionable looks when I said, "Welcome to summer school! Today, you're going to eat dirt." In fact, I got several "EWWWWW" responses. It was wonderful. 

We started our class with a read aloud,  Dirt: The Scoop on Soil. I like this book because it outlines ALL the layers of soil and fun experiments to try at home. 

After reading a little bit about soil, we made our own tasty version of dirt. 

We focused on three parts of the soil for our yummy treat. The bottom layer was made of hand crushed graham crackers and it represented the sand. The middle layer was a pile of chocolate pudding to represent the clay layer. On top, students sprinkled hand crushed oreos to represent topsoil. 

Today, we're moving onto erosion. Stay tuned!