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!

Water Water Water Cycle, Ya'll!

I'm guilty. I'm guilty of picking two favorite subjects in science. Yes! Lock me up... I'm guilty of loving our weather and outer space unit a little too much.  Right now, we are studying weather and specifically the water cycle. Last year, we made water cycles in ziplock baggies (you can read about our water cycle excitement from last year here). This year, we decided to GO BIG with our own water cycle creations. Thanks to the wonderful Corkboard Connection blogs by Laura here... I found her idea to create a water cycle in a rotisserie container. So, that's exactly what we did!

Thanks to a generous donation of containers from Hyvee, small groups created their very own greenhouse. I told them the supplies to gather (rock, soil, foil for a pond, and water) and we headed outside. Luckily for us, November 1st (today) was an unseasonably warm day. We were outside enjoying the sunshine all day long. 

C'mon.. do something!

Waiting on Mother Nature to Work Magic!

Later in the afternoon, after our beautiful energy source (ahem...the sun) worked its magic, we checked out our little cycles. Honestly, you would have thought that I gave some of my kids a huge candy bar wrapped with gold paper because they FLIPPED OUT.  They were pumped to see condensation forming and vapor surrounding their container. It was incredible! I loved seeing them so excited about our project. 

We brought our cycles in overnight and a few students decided to label them for tomorrow. I was pleasantly surprised, and equally delighted, to see they had labeled them as their "cloud" group.  Let me back up... during each unit I change the name of each pod to something I want them to memorize. Read about it here. Right now, all of my groups are different types of clouds. Here you can see a picture of the Cumulus' water cycle. 

Ahhh... Science! It's a beautiful thing. Tomorrow, my students are headed on an incredible journey! Their fate as a water molecule is in the hands of the dice. Happy Friday!

Meeting Scientists

In college, I read an article for my science class about bringing scientists TO your classroom for an authentic learning experience. While reading it, I thought.. hmm? How on earth could I do that?

As a second grade teacher, my team brought in a crew of soil scientists to talk to our kiddos about soil and it was great! The kids (and teachers) liked it so much, we did it again the next year!

I wanted to bring this type of experience to my kiddos at Osage, so I started asking! Thanks to a good friend, I was introduced to Mr. Zach Paul. He's a meteorologist for KRCG News in Columbia, Missouri.  During our weather unit this fall, Zach graciously visited my classroom for an entire day and talked with my kiddos about the weather. They were so excited! Not only were they excited to have a REAL LIVE TV STAR in the classroom, but they were so intrigued by his line of work as well.

Filling our brains with weather knowledge!

Zach talked to us about all things weather his daily life. It worked out perfectly, because my kiddos had been studying clouds, the water cycle, and all that jazz so they could ask great questions. We even taught Zach our water cycle song!

Let's chat about the weather, Zach!

As you may (or may not) know, my class just finished its oh-so-wonderful unit on the solar system. Hands down, space is the most fun to teach! In a few posts, I mentioned how I was dying to take my kids on a field trip to space but the funds weren't available. (ha ha.. funny, I know).

Then, a wonderfully surprising thing happened! I received an email that Barbara from The Corner on Character had commented on my blog. She always leaves the most uplifting comments, so naturally I was excited to read it. Then, I had to read her comment again... and again...and again. Her comment offered a skype session with her husband who works for NASA!

Through Barbara's outreach, my students were able to Skype with her husband who works for the Johnson Space Center in Texas. Prior to our skyping session, I spoke with my principal, technology, and my team to make appropriate arrangements. The next thing I knew it was Monday morning and I was skyping with John and Barbara in Texas with 60+ students in my room!

First, we brainstormed a list of questions to ask John. I reminded the students SEVERAL times to ask thoughtful and meaningful questions. Besides, its not everyday that you get to speak with someone from NASA!

Hi John!

John talked with us about current missions, the planets, and a little insight on his work with NASA. Once again, my kids were enthralled and had millions of questions. Thanks to the power of technology, generous people (cough Barbara!), and this blog ... my kiddos got to experience something really great.

That's all folks!

Let's Chat About the Water CYCLE!

Weather is all the rage in 5th grade right now. I think I have said "precipitation"and "transpiration" (to name a few) a few thousand times. I found a few goodies on Pinterest that I tested out in my classroom.

Here are some great visuals to display in your classroom:

Google Image

First Grade Fresh

Who doesn't love a good water cycle song? Needless to say, my kiddos were bobbing their heads along to this little diddy.

One of the (many) perks of being a science teacher are the experiments! Here are a few that I found online (some tested in real life, too!) Click the caption to mosey over to the source.

I Can Teach My Child-Make it Rain

Make Rain in a Bag

There are oodles of more experiments out there, trust me! The most significant activity WE did this week was "The Incredible Journey". It's an activity that illustrates that there are MANY paths of the water cycle.

Are you familiar with this journey? If not... click here! 

First, to begin our Incredible Journey... we started with a nonfiction read aloud (my favorite!) Based on a recommendation from my Science Professor, we started with:

Click here to buy it on Amazon.

To save myself time and energy, I googled to see if anyone ELSE had prepared resources for this journey. Lucky for me, I found a friend who helped out and some online resources. An area school utilizes the FOSS curriculum and she sent me a few great resources! Plus, I found the following online:

James River Basin
Water Wonders (click the Story Station Descriptions!)

After students were bouncing all over my classroom from glaciers to soil ....to animals .....and the atmosphere (to name a few). I had my students write a story about their journey. Using "A Drop Around the World" as example, I challenged the students to tap into their creativity and create their OWN story. As I'm reading their responses, I'm SO IMPRESSED! They never cease to amaze me. Here's a few for you to see for yourself!

Now, we are working on creating illustrations of the cycle! Room 52 is crazy about the water cycle!

Before I continue grading papers... Happy Columbus Day!