How chocolate is made interactive site

I found this great website that is interactive and discusses how to make chocolate. I like it because it would be fun for students, and it is very informative (I even learned something)! It starts you off with growing coco beans and takes you through the entire process up to making it into a chocolate bar (allowing you to cut down the bean, stir the chocolate etc...).  I am going to use this site as my introduction to my chocolate themed Valentines Day.  Let me know what you think of the site, or if you know of a better one.

Click here to go to the site.

Valentines Day Writing Prompt

So if you haven't figured out already my theme for Valentines Day is chocolate. I plan to write more posts about my activates,  so stayed tuned for that! This will be my morning writing prompt for Valentines Day. Hope you enjoy and if you have any chocolate themed activities comment below!

Good morning and happy Valentines Day! Today we are going to have a great day! Please complete the prompt in your journals :)

If I were a piece of Valentines Day candy I would be...... because....

Valentines Day Science Lab: Melting point of chocolates

I can across this on the Hershey website and thought it would be a fun activity for my class.

Materials:
- Milk chocolate chips
- White chocolate chips
- Dark chocolate chips
- Hot plate
- Bowls
- Stop watch

Objective: To see which type of chocolate will melt the fastest.

Have students make a prediction. You could make a graph as well.

Break class into groups.

Give each group one of each type of chocolate.

Have the groups put the chocolate in a bowl one at a time on the hot plate and time how long it takes to melt.

Have them record their observations.

Duct Tape Rose Pen

I don't know about you, but my pens are always growing legs and walking away. I decided to make this one so that it will stay put on my desk. Enjoy!

Materials:

- Two colors of duct tape

- Pen

- Scissors 

How to:

1. Cut a strip of duct tape a little shorter than your pen.

2. Lay your pen on one edge of the tape and roll it around the pen.

3. Cut several strips of the different color tape about 2 inches long, so that they are squares. 

4. Fold one corner to the middle leaving a sticky strip at the bottom.

5. Fold the other corner to the middle making a point (these will be your petals). Make sure you leave a strip of stickiness at the bottom.

6. Wrap the sticky side around the top of your pen.

7. Continue to do this (alternating where you put the point) until you have a rose.

Borax Crystal Heart

I want to make these with my class to hang in the window. This could be a great activity to use to teach about solutions.

Materials needed
-Borax
-Water
-Pipe cleaner
-Food coloring

How to:
1. Shape your pipe cleaner into the shape of a heart
2. Bring water to a boil and add your borax. You know you have enough borax when a little powder starts to collect at the bottom.
3. Add food coloring if you want
4. Place your heart into a container. Its best if it doesn't touch the sides or bottom of the container.  You can hang it in the container by suspending it with a pencil.
5. Pour the borax solution into the container, and make sure the heart is covered.

Valentines Science Lab: Changing the Color of Flowers

I thought this could be a fun science lab for my students, and with Valentine's Day right around the corner I thought it would be a perfect time to give it a try.

In this lab students will be changing the color of white flowers, by giving them colored water. All you will need is
- White carnations
- Food coloring
- Water
- Vases (water bottles/cups work great)

For this lab I would have my class split into 4 groups. Two groups would get blue food coloring, and two groups would get red food coloring. One of the blue group would use warm water and one group would use cold water. And the same thing with the red group.

Each group would add 20 drops of food coloring into a 1/2 cup of water.

They would then place the stem of their flower into the water.

I would then have the students predict what will happen to the flowers. Which ones will turn more quickly? Which ones will have a brighter color?

Each hour we would check on the flowers. We would observe what is happening and put the notes into our science journals.

The flowers should change color within a few hours. The flowers in warm water should turn more quickly.  Sometimes it does take over night.

Let me know how this worked in your class!

Battleship Valentines Style!!

With Valentine's Day approaching I've been thinking about different activities I could do in my class. I found this game and thought it would be perfect because we are talking about ordered pairs in math. Hope you enjoy!

The main idea of this game is to have students be able to identify ordered pairs. This is a variation of the classic board game Battleship. I made a simple game board by creating a table using word.

I would pair my students and give each a game board and 5 kisses (you could use any candy you would like I had kisses so that's what I used). Put a folder between the students so they cannot see each others board.

Have the students place their candy on their board.

Have the students take turns guessing ordered pairs. If they guess a square that has a piece of candy, they get the candy. The first student who gets all the candy from the others board wins!

If I lived in a snow globe

Like I said in an earlier post I give my students writing prompts everyday, well this is another one I used that I thought was cute. If I lived in a snow globe.... You could have the your students write on white lined paper and then cut it out and paste it onto a black piece of paper and have your students draw a picture based on what they wrote on a blue circle. If you paste them together you have a snow globe. It is super cute, and is fairly simple. Let me know if you give it a try.

Superbowl Commercial Activity

So Superbowl Sunday is coming up and even though I am not a sports fan I cannot forget about it in my class. I thought it would be a fun writing/creative activity for my students to create a Superbowl commercial. This will be a group project. I supply the products for the students to advertise. Each group will be given a product and they must create a commercial for that product. This project will take a few days to complete. On the first day the students will brainstorm and complete a graphic organizer. The second day the students will write out the scripts.  The third day the students will be able to make props for the commercial. And the final day the groups will act out their commercial and I will record it using a flip camera. The next day I will show the commercials on our smart board.

  Some guidelines that I have set up for this project is that the commercial has to be within 30-45 seconds (I tell them that they only have enough money to buy that amount of air time), all members of the group must be in the commercial, and all parts of the project (graphic organizer, scrips, props, final product) will be graded. I think this will be a fun and interesting project for my students, let me know if you have any fun Superbowl project ideas.

Desk Organization

I bet your desk looks like mine did at the end of the day, with papers everywhere!! It would take me 10 minutes at the end of the day to organize it all. I made this cute and simple file box and it fixed my problem. Instead of putting the papers on my desk, I just slip them into one of the drawers.

This was so easy to make! I think from start to finish it took 10 minutes. I started with a basic plastic drawer unit.

And I printed off the categories I needed to keep me organized.

I then cut them to size 

And used double sided tape to put them in place. I measured the last one a little short, but it will work!

If you have an organization tips let me know!

Literacy Packets

Reading is such an important skill for kids to master! Many kids struggle with it and because of this they hate to read. The more kids read the better they will become and I try to get kids to read outside of the classroom. One of the ways that I promote reading outside of school is with literacy packets. These are easy to make and can make reading fun at home.

You might be thinking what is a literacy packet? Well these are kits that you send home with students that include a book and 3-4 activities that go along with the book. I use large zip lock bags for my kits and they work well. Inside the kits I include a letter to the parent (instructions and a questionnaire) a book, and all the supplies needed for the activities. I have 5 of each kit (I split my class into 5 groups so 5 kits makes it easier for me to keep track of who had which kit), and I let the student keep the kit for 2 days. My students get excited when its their turn to take home a kit, and the feedback from parents has been positive as well. I found this website which has great ideas for literacy packets.

Storing all the kits might seem like a problem but I clip them with pant hangers and hang them on a empty coat rack in my room.
If you have any ideas for literacy packets let me know! I'm always looking for more ideas!

Update!! Big News!

Hello everyone!!! So I have BIG news!!! I was accepted into the Teach For America program!! I am very excited to start this new journey! It is so nice that after only about a month after graduation I have a job lined up!!! I was so nervous because as soon as I became a education major and anytime I told people that I was a education major I was told I would never get a job so HA! LOL Anyway just wanted to give a update!

Science Is Fun! Acids and Bases Lab

This lab is one that I used with my 6th grade student teaching placement. They loved it! Hope it helps with your students!

Red cabbage juice is an indicator, so it will change color based on if something is a acid or a base. If you mix it with an acid it will turn red, if you mix it with a base it will turn blue.
To make cabbage juice all you need is

• A head of red cabbage
• Cheese grater
• Water
• Strainer

Take your head of cabbage and grate it into a bowl. Cover it with water and let it sit for a few hours (warning this does smell very bad and the sent will linger). After a few hours strain out the cabbage and there you have it cabbage juice!

I didn't have a long class period so I pre-measured the cabbage juice into containers for my student but you could let your students to this part. I split my class into groups of 5 and gave them 6 beakers with an 1/8 of a cup of cabbage juice. I then had table spoon for each group. I had 6 chemicals to test (one for each beaker) I gave my students lemon juice, Windex, dish soap, water, baking soda, and vinegar. I would have the students pass the chemicals around to each group. I had the class mix a tablespoon of each into the cabbage juice then record what happened.

If you have a short class period or cannot do this experiment in class there is a virtual one online. PBS Zoom does a great job. Here is a link Cabbage Juice

I had my students keep a lab binder. For each lab we did I gave them a hand out (which I had hole bunched) and they put it in their groups binder. This is an idea of a handout I would use for this lab.

Names:
Directions: Write what chemical you are using on the line. Then add one table spoon of that chemical to the cabbage juice. Color the beaker either red or blue depending on the result of your experiment. Write if the chemical is an acid or a base on the line.

(I would have 6 of these for each chemical but you get the idea)

Chemical Name:________________________
Acid or Base:__________________________

I Have a Dream Writing Prompt

Every morning  I like to have a writing prompt on my smart  board. My kids know that when they come in to sit down and to write in their prompt journals. This works for me because it keeps the class quite while I do my morning duties like attendance  lunch count, etc.... I also like doing this because I get insight into my students thoughts and feelings. I feel like I know my students better after reading their prompts. This also gives students writing practice everyday so I know where they strengths and weaknesses are, and I can monitor progress.

My prompts are generally whimsical, but when important days come up (like Dr. Martin Luther King Day) I like to have my students write about that. This is an example of the prompt I would use on Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

Good morning boys and girls! Today in your prompt journal I would like you to write about a dream you have for our country. Maybe you dream about ending hunger, crime, or drugs. While you write your prompt I would like you to think about Dr. Martin Luther King and his dream for everyone to be treated the same.

Normally after about 5 minutes after the bell rings I would ask students to pass their journals up and we would move on with our day. But I feel this is an important subject to talk about so I would ask for their opinions  and we would read I Have A Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This book is more suited  for older students about 4-5 grade.  It illustrates the I Have A Dream speech.

Let me know some prompts that you use in your class! I always need more!

  

Headbands Vocabulary Review Game

My students love review games! This is one that I made up one day.

Over Christmas my niece received the board game Headbands and I thought WOW this could be a great review game for vocabulary. words. The idea behind the game is that you have a word on a headband that you cannot see. You need to ask questions to your partner to guess what the word is. You could modify this to work for many other kinds of review, but the first thing I thought of was vocabulary.

Here is how I made the headband! It is so simple and easy!

Materials:

• Paper
• Scissors
• Magnetic Tape
• Markers
• Stapler

Step One:
Lay out your paper and measure about 3 1/2 inch strips.

Step Two:

Cut out 2 of the strips.

Step Three:

Staple one end of a strip to the other strip

Step Four:

Staple the last 2 ends together to make a circle.

Step Five:

Add magnet tape to your head band.

Step Six:

Cut out squares of paper for your words.

Step Seven:

Add magnet tape to the back of your word cards

You are ready to play! Like I said before this could be modified in so many different ways. Let me know if you try it!!

Scratch off tickets

I give these tickets out to students who get a 100% on a test. They love it!!!

How to :
Materials needed:

• Dawn Dish Soap
• Anita's Acrylic Craft Paint
• Paint Brush
• Packing Tape
• Paper
• Painters Tape

Step 1:

Mix one part dish soap with two parts paint. I used 1/2 TBS of Dawn and 1 TBS of blue craft paint.

Step 2:

Print and cut out your tickets. I used clip art and word to make mine. I suggest using card stock paper because it is heavier and holds up to the paint better.

Step 3:

Use the packing tape to cover the area you want to be scratched off.

Step 4:

Use painters tape to cover the area in which you do not want the paint. This will give you a nice clean edge.

Step 5:

Paint the mixture of dawn and paint over the packing tape in thin layers. You may need more than one layer to cover the text.

Step 6: 

Cut out your ticket! Here is another tip, let the paint fully dry before peeling off the painters tape. As you can see in the picture I smudged it a little while taking off the tape. LOL That's what I get for being impatient.

There you go! Now you can make scratch off tickets! I use them in my classroom, but they could be fun for family get togethers, parties etc...

Some of the "prizes" I use for my scratch tickets are a homework pass, extra recess, choose a prize from the prize box. You could use anything you want!



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Super Friend Cape

When it comes to classroom management I prefer to use positive reinforcement. When I reward a student for doing something I want them to do (lets say a student opened a book and read after they completed an assignment)  I always get a bunch more students doing the same and saying "Look I'm doing that too!"
One way I give positive reinforcement is called the "Super Friend Cape". These cute capes are easy and inexpensive to make.

How I use them:
When I see a student doing something nice for another student like lending them a pencil, letting them in font of them in line etc... I call out " We have SUPER friend in our class!!!!"  to get the attention of the other students. I then take a cape out of the basket and clip it onto the shirt of the student. They get to wear the cape for the rest of the day. At then end of the day I send home a letter explaining what the student did to deserve to wear the "Super Friend Cape".

How to:
Materials needed:
Felt
Glitter Glue
Hot Glue
Clothes Pins

Step 1:

Lay your felt out on a flat surface, and decide what you want your cape to say. You could change it from super friend to super student etc...

Step 2:

Use your glitter glue to write your message. You could also use marker, or glue and loose glitter. Let it dry for a hour or so.

Step 3:

Hot clue the clothes pin onto the back of the felt.

Here is the letter I send home to parents!

This is so simple I really didn't need to give step by step directions LOL. Hope you use this idea! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!