Color Themed STEM in the Classroom

Do you spend time with colors in your classroom?  Does your entire class dress in a certain color on a certain day?  Do you read color themed books?  Do you practice reading and spelling color words?  Do you sing songs about colors?  Do you make colorful artwork?  If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," then you may want to incorporate an exciting (according to my students) and easy color themed STEM activity into your color fun.

One of the most important parts (if not the most important part) of doing STEM activities in your classroom is gathering and organizing your materials.  For this color themed STEM activity you will need:  food coloring, various household liquids (I used water, vinegar, shaving cream, and oil), eye droppers, see through contains (I used Mason jars), and some small paper cups.
To go along with our activity we completed mini books to record our predictions, observations, and creations during the experiment.

Because of time restraints, we conducted part of the activity as a whole group, with yours truly doing the demonstrations.
To begin, students predicted what the water would look like after adding the colors and then I added them.  Next we did vinegar.  Nothing crazy happen with the water or the vinegar.

We added colors to the shaving cream.  It didn't mix.  The students really liked how it turned out.  It was pretty funny, a couple of my young learners thought the shaving cream would explode.  They were a little relieved.

The last observation was how color mixed with oil.  Oil really has the coolest reaction.  Because the food coloring is mixed with water, the colored water doesn't mix with the oil.  It created pretty little bubbles in the oil.

While I conducted the demonstration, the students asked lots of questions and we discussed why the colors looked the way they did after adding them to the liquid.  We also talked about mixing colors to create new colors, which was the segue to the final part of our color themed STEM project, creating your own color.

Each student got their own small cup and shared the eye droppers and colored water.  They mixed two or three colors until they reached their favorite new color.  After they created their color, they illustrated it and wrote about it in their mini books.

This activity worked out really well.  It was simple and engaging.  I will definitely use it again next year when we are focusing on color.  I'll probably make one change by adding some additional liquids into the mix.

As far as other activities during the week, we did quite a bit of work with color words during our literacy time.  Sorts, matches, writing, and centers...students need plenty of work reading and writing color words.
I'll leave you with a few of my favorite color themed read alouds.
(Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers, The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers, Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd, A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni, White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker, Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin, Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall, and Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds)
Wow! such variety about one topic.  That is why learning about colors can take your so many directions in your classroom.

What are some of your favorite color themed books and activities?  I'd love to know.
Have a great week.

Five for Friday (Including a Useful Assessment Freebie)

Happy Friday!
I cannot believe we just wrapped up our fifth week of the new school year.  It has been a total blur.  But, things are really starting to come together for my little class.  I can tell because I am not absolutely dead tired at the end of this week.
I actually have enough energy to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share 5 things from my classroom during this week's Five for Friday Linky.
Here goes...

Number 1

I brought in a couple of super exciting additions to our classroom.  Click and Clack are our new class pets.  They are adorable parakeets.  The kids are totally in love with them.  They come home with me on the weekends to visit with our kitty, bunnies, and dog.
Things are working out great with these colorful guys.

Number 2

Back to school means lots of assessing.  It's so important to have a strong understanding of where your young learners are.  Some assessments are informal, some are done whole group, some are formal, some are on the computer, and others are individual.
It can be a real challenge to fit in individual assessments with primary students, especially at the beginning of the year.  They are so not independent on most tasks.
A couple of assessments I like to use are running records (Reading A to Z) and my data binder basic skill assessments.  If you would like a free copy of my data binder assessments, click on the picture below.

Number 3

While doing my assessments I used a new little goody from etsy (The Preppy Ladybug), my monogramed clipboard.  I've had it on my wish list for a while.  I finally got around to picking out the details to order one of my own.  It is so cute, that I had to order a second one, this time in my school colors.

Number 4

In my free time (hehehe-really just staying up too late), I made a new set of pieces for our class agenda.  Students really like to know what we are doing each day.  Having an agenda helps them feel more at ease and they don't ask nearly as many "when are we going to..." questions.  It also helps me stay on track to better fit everything in.

Number 5

Each year my students' first homework assignment is to learn to tie their shoes.  During that week, they can tell me when they are ready to demonstrate their shoe tying ability.  At the end of the week students that can successful tie their shoes, join the Shoe Tying Club.  They are awarded a certificate and visit the principal's treasure box.  It's a pretty big deal to my firsties.

For a FREE copy of my shoe tying certificate, click on the picture.

I guess that's about it.  I hope the beginning of your school year is going smoothly.  Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting Five for Friday.

Enjoy your long weekend.

A Peek at My First Week of School

The first week of school...

It's exciting.  It's nerve racking.  It's busy.  And boy, is it TIRING!

The first week (or three) are certainly not a normal picture of how things flow in the classroom during most of the year.  My main focus is helping students get comfortable with me, each other, and how we do things in class.  

While it's tempting to go ahead and dive into curriculum, I think it is really important to take plenty of time to teach your students routines and procedures that will follow them the rest of the year.

With that being said, here's a peek at some of what went on during the first days in our classroom.

I made little Welcome to 1st Grade goody bags, which I totally forgot to give out one first day.  So, my new firsties got their treats on the second day of school.  Oh well...

During the first few weeks of school, I do lots and lots of read alouds.  My young learners need breaks during the day.  Read alouds are a wonderful way to break up the time.  Plus, I love, love, love read alouds!

Two favorite books during the first week of school is Tad Hills' How Rocket Learned to Read and Rocket Writes a Story.  I used these stories to help introduce Read to Self and Work on Writing during our Daily 5 launch.

Speaking of the Daily 5, we spent loads of time working on Read to Self.  We usually start Read to Self on the first day.  But, this year, we started Read to Self on the second day.  To date we are at six minutes of sustained Read to Self.  We have more work ahead of us for sure.

As part of our launch, we continuously reference our Daily 5 I charts.  There is link to the free set of my Daily 5 I charts later in the post.

As part of the launch, I really love using my Daily 5 Trace and Read Mini Books.  These books reinforce the procedures we are working on in class.  Plus, students can work on them independently.

In math we began working on numbers to 120.  This week and next week, we will focus on number representations.  I made cut and glue bubble maps for students to show their understanding of ways to represent numbers to 20.

In addition to our practice with number representations, we also worked (as a whole group) on the first week of our Calendar Connection.  As the year goes on, the daily Calendar Connection activities will be independent.  But for now, students need guidance in how to correctly complete the tasks.

The back to school packet we used (pretty much) all week goes along Melanie Watt's book You're Finally Here!  My students love this book.  We did math and literacy activities inspired by You're Finally Here!  We also made cute You're Finally Here! bunnies to hang outside our classroom.

Even with all this craziness going on, I had to get started my beginning of the year assessments.  These assessments will take a few weeks to complete.  To be honest, the individual screenings are tough to fit in this time of the year.  But, they are really worth it.


Below are my lesson plans for the first week of school.  You can maybe get a better picture of how things fit together.  Click on the plans for a free copy or just to get a better view.

Here are links to some of the resources listed in the lesson plans:  Daily 5 Owl Themed I Charts, Daily 5 Trace and Read Mini Books, You're Finally Here! Math and Literacy Activities, Fun With Firsties (by Abby Mullins), Calendar Connection, and Student Data and Goals.

I'll leave you with one more resource that I stumbled upon this summer, Scholastic's 20 Back-To-School Tales.  This dvd has wonderful stories on it.  It is a life saver if you need a few minutes to turn in your lunch numbers or get a dismissal list in order.  Best of all I got it on Amazon for around $5.  (I know...pretty exciting;)!)

I guess that's about it.

If you are still on summer break, enjoy and know that many of us are totally jealous of you.  If you have started back to school, I hope you have a wonderful year.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Customize Your Class Calendar (Plus a Calendar Math FREEBIE)

Calendar area in my classroom has gone through so many different  revisions.  I'm always looking for a way to display materials in a cohesive and organized way.    My current calendar was inspired by the supremely creative Babbling Abby at The Inspired Apple.
Last year she posted a painted canvas calendar she was using in her home school classroom.  I loved the idea, so over Christmas break, I stocked up on canvases, black paint, and velcro and then went to work.  (My daughter loved it so much she helped me make a canvas calendar for her playroom).

To make a canvas calendar, paint your canvas any color(s) you would like.  Do a little measuring to create the lines.  Print and laminate your calendar pieces.  Then add velcro rounds to the back of the calendar pieces and the canvas.  You can also add mini clothes pins for additional display options.

 I decided to add additional components to my calendar area.  I created a 120 chart.  Of course, all of the numbers are attached with velcro which makes it is easy to remove them to do various 120 chart activities.

I used small goodie boxes to make holders for the number of days straws.  We track the number of days in each month on the tally canvas.  I found dry erase paper in the scrapbook paper section at Hobby Lobby.  I used the dry erase paper on the calendar (numerical date) and on the tally mark canvas.

 Two of the canvas serve as focus areas.  There is a math focus canvas and a reading focus canvas.  There is enough space for a couple of anchor charts on each canvas.  When the anchor charts come down, they go in binders that students can look through for review.

I use touch math with my students.  I have the touch numbers in my calendar area for easy reference.  If you are interested in a free set of these touch number posters, click here.

Some of the materials I use are not posted.  I keep a tote on the shelf under the calendar that holds additional calendar pieces, a model clock, demonstration coins, pointers, calendar instructions for a substitute, and more.

There you have it, the calendar set up in my classroom.  Using the canvases made it so simple to create a set of materials that all go together.  The canvases are light weight and easy to mount.  Since I'm using a bulletin board, I just used several thump tacks and a little hot glue to hang everything.  If you don't have one long bulletin board, I'm sure they would be just as easy to hang on other surfaces.
This project was well worth the effort.  I love that I have the flexibility to customize the display to best suit my students and to make it work in my space without looking too cluttery.

In addition to the classroom calendar area, my students also get independent practice with various calendar math skills using our monthly Calendar Connection booklets.  Each month students complete interactive printables covering calendars, counting, number representations, coins, time, graphing, word problems, place value, and more.  If you are interested in using my Calendar Connection packet with your own students, you can try it out with my Calendar Connection {A FREE Sampler}.  
The free sampler is a great snap shot of the full Calendar Connection.  You can find both packets at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Happy Monday!

The Daily 5: Breaking It Down (Part 3)

Hi friends.

Before the summer gets away, I'd like to share the third (and final part) of my look at the updated Daily 5.  Part 3 focuses on The CAFE and Math Daily 3.

When The Daily 5 Second Edition was published, I was super psyched to see there was a chapter on Math Daily 3.  I was so excited, I actually had to make myself wait to read the math chapter.  #totalnerdalert

The CAFE and Math Daily 3 are two more ways the authors of The Daily 5 enrich classroom instruction and help students take ownership of their learning.

I hope these Daily 5 breakdowns have been a helpful review or have inspired you to take the leap and implement it in your own classroom.
Each year, the Daily 5 has looked a little different in my classroom.  However, the training outlined during the "launch" has seriously upped my classroom management, because students really understand what is expected of them during literacy and math time.  The Daily 5 has worked great with my students.
By the way, if you would like to read a little more about how our class started with Math Daily 3, click here.
Have a great week!