Science Fair Experiment - Right or Left?

Here's the question: Does a child's propensity to go right or left at an intersection correlate to whether they're right- or left-handed?

1. Don't discuss this ahead of time with your students. Just tell them you want to try something.
2. Take them to a dividing intersection in the school.
3. Tell them to walk down the hallway and go either right or left. It's their choice, but they cannot tell anyone which way they're going.
4. Tell the class they cannot sway their friends on which way to go.
5. Tally the results.

Back in the classroom, discuss the results. 

Compare which is the dominant hand for each child, and which direction they went in the hallway.

Show how this experiment would be presented in a science fair project.

Painting With Coffee

This was shared by a fellow teacher. Painting with coffee, including the grounds! Not only is it an unusual medium, but it also makes the room smell terrific!

Here she did a tree, but you could use a coloring page (something dealing with the letter C?).

Kid-Friendly B&Bs

Just in time to start planning those summer getaways! Click on picture to get a larger, readable version. 

Source: Better Homes and Gardens May 2016

Recommended Education Site - EDUCASTIC

According to their Facebook page:

"Sights is the FIRST classroom connected sight word learning tool that kids and parents use in conjunction with their child's teacher to help them learn to read. 

Teachers using Sights report over 10% MORE time to teach vs organizing flashcards, and students learn and retain 3X MORE sight words than years past!

Educasic specializes in connected-classroom apps for teachers/students PK3. Our focus is supporting the 7.4M kindergarten + 1st grade students plus millions of pre-schoolers entering school in the United States each year. Our first app, Sights, is the FIRST classroom connected, digital sight word learning tool that kids + parents use together at home to study their sight words, in conjunction with the child’s teacher. Sights offers REAL-TIME reporting for both the parent/student app + a private teacher dashboard, that shows history for each practice test the student takes. We have also created our own adaptive learning algorithm into the app to help kids learn words they are struggling with."

Here's their website. 

Whatever Works!

Good Deed Bingo

A friend of mine does these on a weekly basis. For every good deed a student does (and proves it), she marks their card. When they get a Bingo, they get a little treat or sticker.

Sometimes she says their Bingo has to be straight across. Some weeks it's a down Bingo. Or an X. Or diagonally. Or four corners. Or blackout. But she varies it every week to keep it interesting.

Using Pinterest Pictures in the Classroom - bouncing balls

1. What do you see?

2. What do you think happened?

3. How many do you see? More than 100 or less than 100? Why do you think that?

4. Are they all the same size, or different sizes? Why do you think that?

5. When do you think they will stop?

6. Could something like this be dangerous? Why or why not?

7. Would you do something like this at home? Why or why not?

8. Name a reason why you could do something like this at home, and it be all right with your parents.

Toma Todo, a Neat Little Counting Game for Cinco de Mayo!

 Fellow teachers introduced me to this neat little game that is very much like the dreidel game played by Jewish children. Except, in this case, this is the hispanic version.

It's called TOMA TODO, and it's played this way.

The "top" is six-sided. Each side has a phrase.

Toma means to take. Pon means to put. So Toma Uno means to Take One, Pon Dos means to Put Two. 

Todos means all. So Todos Ponen means to Put All. And Toma Todo means to Take All.

Here's how the game is played. Each child begins with 10 tokens. (In many cases, these tokens are pieces of candy. For adults who play the game, they use nickles, dimes, or quarters.) Everyone puts one token in the middle of the table, or "pot".

Each person twirls the top and follows the directions that end up, putting in or taking out however many they're told. If a person luckily gets the Toma Todo, or Take All, they get everything in the pot, and the game is over.

To say this game is addictive is putting it lightly. It's a lot of fun, and makes an excellent center activity, too! Furthermore, it's a super way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

* Note: You can get these tops at Amazon.

This is So True!

Have Them "Write" a Sentence...

... by cutting and pasting words from a newspaper. Only restriction? It can't already be a sentence in the paper.

Alternate: Put several 3, 4, or 5 word sentences on the board, and have them pick one to replicate.

Food For Thought

An Adequate Definition

April Fools!

Here's some neat ideas for an April Fools Lunch!