The phases of the Moon

This week we have been reading the book The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn Branley.  Our first grade team at our school uses the Guiding Readers 2nd Edition sets provided by Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills.

This book taught us about the phases of the moon.  This book did not discuss the gibbous moon, which I feel is an important one to teach my students...so I did.  

I shared with them the 8 phases of the moon.

Instead of doing the worksheet that went with the book, I chose to do one of my favorite lessons with my students...Oreo Moon Phases!  This was a super fun and yummy way to learn about the moon phases.

I sent home with my students a Moon Watchers work sheet as optional homework.  This will give us a some real world experience.  Of course I encouraged participation with a prize to anyone that returns their Moon Watchers sheet.   Hey, what can I say...ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

3-2-1 Blast Off!

Student's/Astronauts had a blast traveling through our Solar System...virtually!  

I hung 11 cards around the school, one for each planet, one as an introduction to the solar system and one for returning to Earth. Students used our iPads to scan a QR code on each card.  The code took students to various links on the Internet to watch videos, read, and hear songs about our solar system.  As they learned, they had to record their findings in their Astronaut Log Book.  (I included the AR codes in the log book so you can see the links too when the book comes home.)

If you would like your student's to go on a field trip through our Solar System, click on the link below!

We also learned about the different phases of the moon...with Oreo cookies!  YUMMY!

The best part was eating the moon!

Since budgetary restraints won’t let us take our students on a field trip through the solar system and we don’t have a Magic School Bus, I am bringing the solar system to you.
Tomorrow my students will be traveling through our Solar System....virtually!  I hung 11 cards around the school, one for each planet, one as an introduction to the solar system and one for return to Earth.  

Students will scan the QR codes on each card with the iPads, listen and answer questions about each planet and record their findings in their Astronaut Log Book. (The QR codes are also included in the Astronaut Log Book so students can share their experience with their families.)

Check back tomorrow to see some of my students in action and their work. Also, I will post pictures of our other space centers as we learn about the moon phases. 

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Amazing Animal Projects!

I can't say how proud and excited I am with what these kids did!  Can't wait for round 2 of their presentations tomorrow!



Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Amazing Animal Projects!: Today day we showcased all of our hard work for the past few weeks.  When I started this project with my firsties, I had a list of expectat...

Eggstrodinary Week!

Today we did the first candling of our duck eggs.  Our eggs have been incubating for 8 days now.

Our incubator hard at work, keeping our duck eggs at 99 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is what the inside of the duck egg looks like at day 8.

When we candled the eggs today we were looking for veins and possibly some slight movement of the developing duck.  If we didn't see any veins then we knew that the egg was not fertilized and there would be no duck.  

Based upon our observations, we predicted the following

Egg 1:  no veins, no duck

Egg 2: veins, duck!

Egg 3: veins, duck!

Egg 4: no veins, no duck

Egg 5: veins, duck!

Egg 6, veins, duck!

Egg 7: no veins, no duck

Egg 8: veins, movement, duck!

Egg 9: no veins, no duck

Egg 10: no veins, no duck

Below is a YouTube video of a duck egg candling at Day 7.    She gives lots of good information about candling.

We have also been hard at working learning all we can about ducks.

My attempt at humor.

We have been reading articles about duck.  Then, we have to answer questions about ducks and find evidence from the text that supports our answers.  

One question was, Could a duck survive in Antarctica?  We said no, and because we looked back in the article we were able to support our answer by adding... because ducks are found all over the world except in very cold places.  Some ducks even migrate during winter.

This is the article about ducks that we read.  Notice how we highlighted key pieces of information!

Click on the picture for the link to the TPT store A Year of Many Firsts.  This close reading packet has it all! 

This is the fun fraction activity we did with ducks!

The Water Cycle in action!

I love LOVE LOVE teaching science.  Last week we started our weather unit. Today's topic was the water cycle.  I started off reading from our science big book, useful, but no real memory burn there!  I had my students stand up and I taught them the water cycle song. (video to come tomorrow!)

After our wonderful rendition of the water cycle song, I called my students over to the table.  I poured some warm water into a cup and placed plastic wrap on top, securing it with a rubber band.  I asked my students what happens to accumulated water?  We came to the understanding that it evaporates.  Then, I asked my students, what happens when those water droplets (water vapor) meets cooler air?  Again, we came to the understanding, it condenses and forms clouds.  This is when I placed ice cubes on top of the plastic wrap.

Ice cubes on top of the plastic wrap.

I had my students go back to their seat and draw what they observed so far on their experiment sheet.

Click on the picture of the document to printout your FREE copy.

This document is great for explaining each step of the experiment to the teacher and to the parents when it comes home!

While we waited for 15 minutes, I had my students make a water cycle movable diagram. It showed the different stages of the water cycle with a raindrop that attached in the middle with a brad.  I would upload a free copy of this as well, but it is copy righted at I can't. (Insert Debbie Downer music here!)

After the 15 minutes was up, I called the students back to the table and I took off the ice cubes.  I asked a student to share with me what they noticed. She shared with us that there was water on the plastic wrap. I also asked, why did the water collect on the underside of the plastic wrap?  One of my sweet little ones, said that it was like the water collecting in the sky to make clouds!  WHAT?!  I was floored that she made the connection so quickly! 

I had my students go back to their places and draw in the second circle, what they predicted would happen next.  After prediction, we observed the container to see if our predictions were correct. I placed the container under the document camera so everyone could get a good look!

Apparently observing the container upside down is scientifically necessary.

Slowly, but surly we saw some drops fall from the plastic wrap and into the water.  My students were so excited to see this happen!  I had everyone return to their places to draw the outcome in the third circle.  We discussed that when water vapor that forms clouds is cooled, it condenses.  The droplets combine and adhere to other small particles in the atmosphere.  (Just like the droplets combined and adhered to the plastic wrap.)  When the droplets become heavy, they drop from the clouds in the form of precipitation.  Precipitation can be in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow, depending on the temperature.

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Welcome Back!

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Welcome Back!: We had a little bit of SNOW and some Pumpkin Jack to start our Monday off! Today we played in the "SNOW!"  Mrs. Wanke gave us so...

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 18

We love our Pumpkin Jack!

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 18: Well the decomposing of Pumpkin Jack has begun!  One pumpkin is completely flat and the other pumpkin is white and "furry."  YU...

 Do Pumpkin Jack with your students!