Rock Cycle Resources

Teaching the rock cycle can be fun. Even though it is a real-life process that takes millions of years to observe, there are many ways to model the rock cycle.

This lab uses chocolate, butterscotch, and white chocolate chips to model sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rock formation.

If you have some broken crayons (what teacher doesn't), this lab uses crayons to model the three types of rock formation.

Love starburst? This lab uses starburst to model the processes.

(I did not create any of these lab. I just found them on the web.)

Types of Rocks Foldable

Digital Types of Rock Sort on Google Drive

This interactive webpage overviews types of rocks and the formation. There is also a little quiz at the end. 

Moon Phases, Seasons, and Shadows TEKS 4.8C

5th grade science teachers in Texas need to spend some time reviewing/reteaching some 3rd and 4th grade science TEKS in addition to the 5th grade TEKS. 

Science TEKS 4.8C says "Collect and analyze data to identify sequences and predict patterns of change in shadows, seasons, and the observable appearance of the Moon over time."

This TEKS has been tested once in the last 4 years and it was over tides--which was dropped from the TEKS this year. It isn't enough for students to know what causes these events but they should be able to look over data and predict. 

Moon Phases

This video shows all the moon phases from 2017.  

• Ask students what they notice and wonder after watching the video. Do they see a pattern after watching it?
• Give students a calendar with some of the moon phases filled in for the month. Have them complete the calendar based on the pattern they see. 

Seasons 

Use this file to assess what students remember about the different seasons. There are 24 cards. Give each student one card and they can walk around the room meeting up with their classmates. When they meet another classmate, each students will share the characteristic on their card and discuss what seasons they believe it belongs in. At this point, they can switch cards and then find another partner. At the end of the activity, create a chart and have students place their cards in the correct season. 

Shadows

Students need to understand how shadows are formed (because light travels in a straight line and when light hits an object, that object may block the light) and they need to understand that shadows form a predictable pattern. You can put an object outside and predict where the shadow that object creates will be. 

This activity lets students practice where the shadow is. It also doubles as an activity for 5.8C which is about Earth's rotation. Place the page with the tree in a sheet protector. Have students label the time for each of the Sun's position. Then have them draw where the tree's shadow will be with a dry erase marker at any given time. 

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All three of these patterns can be summed up with this free foldable found in my TpT store. 

Positive and Negative Situations Vocabulary

This week we started classifying numbers and I introduced integers and the concept of positive and negative numbers.

We started by looking at a thermometer and a table with temperatures decreasing and asking the students what the temperature would be if the decreasing temperatures went below zero. 

This would also be a great time to ask students where they have seen/heard about negative numbers so they connect this new knowledge with what they already know. 

Then I gave students words to sort into negative, positive or zero. Afterwards we I asked students to give me examples of they words belonged into each category. 

It would be "easy" to just skip over this vocabulary as we went into integer operations and word problems. However, I have several LEP students in my classes and just assuming they know these words will make things more difficult in the future. 

This sort is available in the Real World Integer Situation Product on TeachersPayTeachers. 

Measures of Center

We started our unit on Statistics after spring break. It is one of my favorite things to do and teach and it is not easy for students to understand. There are so many little things about that you understand once you've studied statistics for awhile. I took some pretty intense statistics classes in college, so I feel like everyone should learn everything about it--I have to remind myself that my 6th graders need to be gradually introduced to it.

So this is the foldable we created for Mean, Median, Mode, and Range--I let my students use my markers and they loved it--I'll have to pull out markers more often.

I read this book in college and it is so interesting. It's been a few years since I've read it, I might have to pull it out again.

Properties of Operations Foldable

I found this foldable on Fabulous in Fifth and used it when we did Properties of Operations.

I had the students come up with their own definition and their own examples. We did numerical and algebraic equations as examples.

Interactive Notebook Pages

I have loved the notebook we are doing in class this year. I have a combination of foldables, handwritten notes, and practice. I am actually a little worried we might run out of room before the end of the year. I'm going to have to start watching my pages. 

Here are some of the pages we've done over the last few weeks. 

This was an idea from a co-worker. We use algebra tiles to teach integer operations and having this reminder is good for the students. 

This was one of my favorite lessons of the year. It kind of came together as we went through the lesson. I am going to do another post on it later.

Fortune Teller Project

I found this idea on Pinterest awhile ago and have tried it twice this year. 

The first time was when technology failed me horribly. One day I had a lesson planned where I needed the computer and internet, and I just couldn't get them to work. Luckily my conference period is first thing in the morning when I realized my day wasn't going to work. I remembered this foldable and sent my intern to cut some large 11x17 paper to square size.

That day, we reviewed science vocabulary. The students chose 8 words from their science notebook. On the top triangle, they put the vocabulary word. Underneath, they put the definition and a picture or example of the vocabulary word. The students loved it. Who doesn't like  making fortune tellers in the open instead of trying to hide it! Best of all, if they didn't finish that day, they got to pull it out later in the week when they finished something else. 

The second time I used it, I planned it out a bit more. At the end of our unit on Renewable Energy, I set up a choice/menu board. One of the choices was a fortune teller.  On the top triangle, students wrote the 4 types of renewable energy they chose and included the pictures. Underneath they wrote the advantages and disadvantages of each. 

Some students, really did their best work on this. These are some of my favorite examples. 

Mini Science Board

I have used a Science Notebook for my entire teaching career. (2 years) I love them so much. I attended a workshop this summer about them and have even more ideas to try.

Science Experiment Board for an Interactive Science Notebook

This idea I found last year, probably on pinterest. I tested it out with a students a few times this year and it worked pretty well.

I always have an example to show my students first. My first year I didn't always have one. Usually those activities were the most frustrating for me and the students. This past year I saw teachers try to explain activities without giving students a visual of what they wanted. I know I don't learn well with someone just speaking to me. I have to see.

First, start with a shutter fold. It makes the construction paper look like a mini science board. Mini anything is already just adorable! After they finished the inside of the foldable, the students decorated the outside. (This is my teacher copy. I am not the best artist. But I try, which is what counts.) The back can be glued into a science notebook.

On the inside the students put the problem/question, hypothesis, procedure, data, graph, materials, and conclusion. 

For this lab, the students had to come up with their own experiment to test force on an object. (Which is Texas Science TEKS 5.6D) They weren't allowed to test the question I did for the example. So while they had a visual of what to create, all the content was original. They did work in groups on this. 

Some of the tests were as follows:

Does the number of books on a person's back affect the number of push ups he/she can do?

Does size affect the distance a paper football can go?

Does size affect how long a paper spinner will spin?

Will different size balls bounce at different heights?

And yes, I had an observation the day the groups were experimenting in class. So I had students flicking paper footballs, doing push ups, and bouncing balls when my principal came in. Luckily, she likes (productive) noisy classrooms.