Science with Santa

To finish off our Physical Science unit on forces and to have a bit of festive fun we conducted an experiment to see which surfaces would be easiest for pulling a sleigh across.
The children were introduced to the idea via a letter from Santa which told them that Rudolph was too sick to pull the sleigh this year so he was going to have to use one less reindeer. To make it easier for the remaining reindeer, Santa needed to know which surfaces were the best for pulling the sleigh.
You can read about our experiment from the students' point of view on my class blog.
The first lesson involved the children discovering the letter from Santa and then thinking about different surfaces that Santa might travel along (when he wasn't flying, of course). We are seriously lacking snow and ice in Brisbane this Christmas!
The next lesson was very fun and creative. The students has to design their own model Santa sleigh to be used in their experiment. We had round tubs for them to use as the base. A more rectangular shape might be a bit easier (such as a margarine tub) but we needed something that we could get 24 the same.

In the following lesson we used spring balances to measure the force in Newtons (which was not really in the Year 2 Science curriculum but it was fun anyway and it did allow them to do a real experiment with simple measurements). If you would like to use the experiment worksheet we used, it is available from my TPT store.
The final part of the lesson sequence was to write a letter back to Santa with the findings. One of my students who struggles with writing used the iPad to record his letter instead.

This was a great assessment of the students' understanding of Science. It was interesting to see which students clearly understood the purpose of the experiment and were able to articulate this in their letter to Santa. A few of my "super-competitive" types were at first confused because they decided that the surfaces that had "the biggest number" must have been the best. It took a little while for them to realise that they were looking for the surface that needed the smallest number of newtons because they needed the "easiest" surface.
Since we had no icy surfaces, we used soapy lino to make something slippery that might be similar to ice.
The children's measurements were not exactly accurate and they didn't quite grasp the idea of having to keep the weight the same each time but they seemed to get the idea that some surfaces were easier to pull things along than others, which was the main aim. And they had a lot of fun!

Cows Moo Softly - Variables in Science

When teaching science I try very hard to make sure that we are truly doing science and not just another English lesson with a Science theme. I also try to help my students to make connections with the scientific process we are using by using a similar format (question - hypothesis - method - results - conclusion).
I introduce scientific words in context as I think my students are ready for this. They love the big words!
One of the important scientific ideas is setting up a fair test. In order to do this children need to begin to understand variables and how we can control these when we are doing a test.
Cows Moo Softly is a mnemonic for Change - Measure - Stay the Same and is easier for my students to grasp than "independent variables" and "dependent variables".
I have made some new charts that can be used to help kids to think about variables when they are doing science.

There are some that can be printed onto coloured paper and laminated to use as class signs. I pin this type of sign to my board (using blu-tac or magnets) and write next to it. That way I can reuse them over and over and my board work is a bit more pleasing to look at than my own scribble writing.
I have also squeezed the three parts onto one page that could be photocopied and used for individuals or groups to plan their experiment.
If you would like these files for your room, you can download them for free from my TPT store.
Click here for the signs.  Click here for the worksheet.
The cow is by Scrappin' Doodles - isn't she cute?

Winding up our History mini-unit

For the past few weeks, we have been engaged with the new History content from the Australian Curriculum for Year 2.
Our focus has been on our local War Memorial, as a site of cultural significance, and this has led us into exploration of Anzac Day and its associated symbols.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to make the history component of our learning more engaging for the students through a variety of craft activities.
I have written posts about these over the past few weeks during my planning, but I wanted to show some of the finished products in case they might be of use to others in the future.
Here is an example of the finished slouch hat:

The template for the slouch hat activity is available through my TpT store.
We also baked Anzac biscuits. This activity linked to History, Science and English.

One of my favourite activities (because it was both simple and fun) was our poppy potato prints. We ended up doing these in several steps. First we painted a blue wash and sprinkled it with a pinch of salt. The salt soaks up some of the moisture so it leaves patterns that look like clouds in the blue sky, and added a bit of interest to the activity. Next, we used a dry brush technique to make some green stems. We didn't try to match the stems one-to-one with the flowers because we were going for the "field" effect. Thirdly, we printed some bright red poppies with the potatoes. Once they were dry, we used dabs of glue to attach some real poppy seeds to the flower centres.

It is a very simple piece but they look effective as a frieze along one wall of my classroom and it gave the students an opportunity to experiment with a few different techniques.
I have a freebie poem activity about poppies that goes nicely with this idea.
For assessment, the students used an iPad app, SonicPics, to sequence some photos of the memorial and record some thoughts about how it has changed over time.
Next week we have two more simple art activities planned to finish up our War Memorial mini-unit, as well as a concept map as an assessment piece.
The first art activity is a simple watercolour rosemary using a cotton tip as a brush:

And the second will be a photo montage with crayon and watercolour based on the artwork of Patricia Mullins in the book, Only a Donkey.

Getting Set for Science

This term we are doing a chemistry unit in Science. Our work will be based on the "All mixed-up" unit from Primary Connections.
The Science Understanding content from the Australian Curriculum for this unit is: Different materials can be combined, including by mixing, for a particular purpose.
There are so many exciting ideas on Pinterest and in teaching blogs for potions and creative mixing, so I have been trying to organise all of my thoughts and ideas and work out how much is humanly possible for us to do in one term!
Yesterday I decided to get organised with all the basic ingredients and tools we will need to do the experiments in the Primary Connections unit, plus a few others that I know I won't be able to resist.

I am collecting recipes and procedures at the moment and am working on formatting them simply for my Year 2s to read. Then I hope they will be able to use the cards I make to follow directions and create something, then write a recount of their experience. This way I can do a little bit of reading and writing through the science. And plenty of art fun too!


I did a little science experiment myself this morning to test which of our paints was going to be best for our background wash on the poppy prints we will do. It will be a simple wash with salt sprinkle.
I used edicol paint (in khaki, although obviously we will use blue for the sky tomorrow)

acrylic paint mixed with water

and watercolour paints (from little trays)

I sprinkled them with salt while they were still wet to see which one gives the desired "cloud" effect.
I am tossing up between the edicol and the acrylic wash. The edicol worked immediately but the acrylic wash has turned out well after it is completely dry.
Science in art - I love it!

Mother's Day - already?

It's not quite May yet, but Mother's Day is creeping up slowly and before we know it, it will have arrived.
I haven't quite settled on an exact idea for Mother's Day yet this year.
Last year it snuck up on me so quickly that my own dear mother had to come in and help me out! She assisted my darling Year 4s and 5s to bake sweet little cupcakes which they packaged up in a cute little box.
This year I am determined to get in before the last minute, but I would like it to be related to the rest of our learning too, so that it adds to what we are already doing and the students can get the most out of it.
I had thought about planting herb seeds last term since we were doing life stages in Science, but I was concerned that my thumbs were not so green and they would not result in healthy looking plants. Do you think mums would like limp herbs anyway? Maybe they would. At least with Year 2, anything they make will be considered sweet - it's the thought that counts, and when coupled with a toothless grin, it would be heart-melting!
Since we are doing "Mixing Things" in science, and I had already ruled out the plant thing (too late now, anyway) I am thinking bath bombs or bath crystals. We made soap a few years ago when I had Year 4, but I had ordered the stuff online and it took weeks to arrive, so again, I'm not organised enough for soap....
I googled "Mother's Day craft mix" to see what came up, and searched the images. I found a very simple recipe for cinnamon sugar (basically just cinnamon and sugar, LOL!)

This picture is from Mommy Cooks. Check their blog for the recipe too.
I think this would look great in a little bag with some pink ribbon if I can't find enough jars.
We have Year 5 buddies who I am sure would love to help us out so I just have to narrow down the plan and work out a time to do it!

What are you making this Mother's Day?

Using iMovie on the iPads

Last term I set myself the challenge of getting my Year 2 students to the point where they could make their own iMovies using our school iPads.
Of course they managed it because seven-year-olds are more confident with new technology than we are!
Each student created a short iMovie about the life stages of an animal. Because we had been looking at Eric Carle books, we used painted paper collage to create the images and the students talked about the pictures. I was pleased with their oral explanations because I know if I had asked them to write it down, I wouldn't have seen so much detail from a lot of my students. Using iMovie gave even the reluctant writers a chance to engage with the Science curriculum.

So how do they learn to do it?
Firstly, I needed to become a bit more comfortable with using and teaching with the iPads myself and I wanted to enlist some helpers to work with my Year 2s at first, so during my non-contact time one Friday, I headed over to our Year 5 buddies and taught them how to use the iPads to make a short iMovie. I knew there were a few students in this class who had some basic skills already because they were in my class last year and we had used the iPads, as well as Garageband on the computers, so they had some background skills.
After this one lesson, the Year 5s had a practice on their own as well, working on their own project. This quick tutorial meant that another teacher now had a basic knowledge of how to do it and I had 28 Year 5s who knew more than I did already.
Next, I worked with my Year 2s in small groups of 8 with 4 iPads to share. I did this during our Literacy rotations. I spent 20 minutes with the groups working in pairs to take a photo of the partner and record them reading a page from a book. They got to learn a few basics of iMovie through this experience, as well as how to take a photo, and they also learnt that they needed to speak clearly and hold the iPad close enough to get a good recording.
(I'm not suggesting they were experts by the end of twenty minutes, but some of them were confident, and at least they all had a basic understanding of what iMovie does.)
Next we worked on our unit, learning about life stages and the students created pictures with their collage.
I took some photos of our seed growing experiment and loaded them onto each of the 10 iPads, ready for our buddy work.
The Year 5 buddies worked with my Year 2s to select and sequence the photos of the seeds, change the timings and record the Year 2 explanations of the stages of a seedling sprouting. The Year 5s knew more than me by now so my Year 2s had great teachers!
We viewed our seedling movies and discussed what we had learnt about making movies.
The final stage was the students creating their own iMovie about their chosen animal or plant.
I was lucky enough to have my prac teacher there on the day that we did it so she was able to work with individuals as they took turns with the iPads, and I taught the rest of the class.
Having Claire there to help was great because she was able to send all of the iMovies to DropBox for me so I could collect them in one place where I could access them. She also named all the files properly and kept check that we hadn't missed anyone.
I was very pleased with their efforts - we still have room for improvement, but I am amazed at what these kids can do with just a little bit of guidance.
This term we will use iMovie again, but I also want to try Sonic Pics to compare it to iMovie.

Anzac Biscuit Science and English

I love a good science experiment and a chance to get messy, so I am cooking up a storm this week! Well, cooking up a batch of Anzac Biscuits, actually.
I have developed a series of ideas around the idea of Anzac Biscuits that will tie in nicely with our History unit on the Anzac Memorial.
I have linked the lessons to the Australian Curriculum for both Science and English for Year 2, but the activities could be useful to anyone who wants to do some science and writing about cooking.
The first part of the lesson (or series of lessons really) is the Science. Our Science concept this term from the Year 2 Australian Curriculum is: Different materials can be combined, including by mixing, for a particular purpose (ACSSU031)
The experiment question looks at the changing size of the biscuits as they cook, so it really addresses the Science Inquiry Skills - making predictions, participating in guided investigations, measuring, comparing observations etc.

Download the science experiment for free at my TPT store.
After the science and cooking part, I will look at the recipe itself. I have made a file with a number of resources in it to support these activities.

You can find it at my TPT store also.
The students will complete a cloze activity for the procedure text which draws attention to the verbs used in the text. This highlights they way that most of the instructions begin with the verb. The words are written in the right order down the bottom of the page. It is not really designed for a comprehension test - more a lesson on procedures.
The next page is a comprehension page (NAPLAN style multiple choice - just so they have been exposed to this style of question) and then a reflective activity on the cooking which looks at adjectives.
I plan to do a joint construction of a recount of the cooking and we will post it on our class blog. I have made a sheet in case someone wants to do individual written recounts. Or maybe I will change my mind between now and then, and at least I will be prepared.
Finally, I will compare the two different texts - the procedure and the recount. I have made an Anzac cookie Venn diagram worksheet which we will probably do in small groups during literacy blocks.

Writing Animal Reports

My class have really enjoyed the work we have done over the past few weeks about animals. We (my teaching team and I) have decided to give them a go at writing their own animal reports.
I think they will need a lot of scaffolding. I have a few students who can write confidently but just as many who are still struggling to read basic sight words and can not write sentences that I can read without them there to translate. Some of them have a long way to go this year if they are to meet the standards in the Australian Curriculum for Year 2, so the more help I can give them to get there, the better.
In order to give the students the support they will need I have created a suite of resources this weekend.
The collection is based on the use of icons for each section of the report. I used a similar system a few years ago when I taught Year 1 and it worked well so I have developed the idea a bit further.

I have created a Powerpoint presentation to introduce the icons, a collection of animal note cards with keywords and phrases about ten different animals, and three different scaffolds for student writing that I can use in different ways with different students.
You can check out the collection at my TPT store.
I have made the three scaffolds freebies so that people can pick and choose what they think will work best for their own class.
If you download them and use them I would love some feedback.

Science with Mealworms

We are having a lot of fun learning about growing and changing in our Science unit.
The unit is designed to support the Year 2 Science in the Australian Curriculum and so far my kids are loving it.
This week we read the book "Guess the Baby" and have started playing the game in our class.
We also had our buddies (Year 5s) come to help us to measure our height, weight and head circumference and compare these to our size when we were a baby.
We have started learning about mealworms and have made predictions about how we think they might grow and change.
Next week I plan to conduct some science experiments and introduce the concept of a fair test as well as the scientific process to the students.
To this end, I have created a series of experiment templates and put them together in a mini-unit available from my TPT site.

I have also made a PowerPoint presentation which can be used alone or in conjunction with the unit plan.
The PowerPoint introduces students to the idea of being a scientist and focusses on the idea of a fairtest.

I am really looking forward to doing some "hands-on science" with my students. I hope you find the PowerPoint and unit useful too.

My first Freebie! - Animal Match Cards

I spent all day making these Animal Matching Cards, after wasting about the same amount of time on Google trying to find some that someone else has made for me. No luck - so hopefully that means I have found a gap in the market and they will "sell like hotcakes". Given that they are being offered for free, that should help things along also! ;-)

I am going to use them to help build vocabulary and also for matching and sorting activities and card games.

Can you think of any other uses?

Please visit my TPT store and download them then let me know what you think.