What do Dollar Stores, Writing and Science Have in Common?

UPDATE:  I FINALLY FINISHED THIS UNIT.  Here it is: 20% off through August 3, 2014!
You can see the unit here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Science-Blasters-by-Kim-Adsit-1362349

This packet contains the following 20 experiments/activities.  There are 17 Simple Experiment Cards with response printables, 3 recipes with follow up acitivities, 10 graphing activities for graphing the hypothesis.  The following titles name the 20 experiments/activities.

•Shake It!

•What’s in the Bag?

•Making Music

•Mouse Paint (with paint)

•Mouse Paint (with gel frosting)

•Rain Paint

•Secret Messages

•Ducks Like Rain

•Float or Sink Pumpkins

•Do Seeds Travel?

•Volcanoes

•The Windy Day

•Do Whales Get Cold?

•Candle Races

•What Can a Butterfly Eat?

•Clean a Penny

•Fossil Cookies

•Rainbow Number Salad

•Making Butter

•Ice Cream in a Bag

Today I am in Albertville, AL at the NEAEC conference and here’s what is happening….I’m presenting on Writing Workshop (getting it started), Science, and Teaching Standards…Dollar Store Style. Here’s a few of the ideas from each of the sessions….
First session is all about integrating science with literature, cooking, math, and art. One idea I share is how to make this super easy shadow box.

*First, get a zerox box.
*On the bottom of the box draw a line 1/2 from all 4 sides.
*Cut out the square.
*Spray paint the box.
*Glue a piece of bulletin board paper to cover the hole.
Now to use the shadow box….

* Place an object inside of the box.
*The children are sitting on the other side of the box where they can only see the white paper--not what is inside.
*Shine a light on the object from the back.
*Now the children can see the shadow of the item in the box.
Here are some of the resources that I used to plan this session. They are 20% off today only. 
HEADS UP: I am almost finished with my Science Blasters Unit! It should be on tpt by next week. I used it for this session, but it’s not quite done yet!

Another session today is all about getting your writer’s workshop started. I love using anchor charts. So when I find an anchor chart that I can use all year…all the better!

This chart is perfect! It anchors the writing process --regardless as to the genre being taught! It tells the children exactly what to do:
*Think about what topic you are going to write.
*Plan out your piece. I show my kids how to plan out their piece on their hand.

*Thumb-Name your topic.
*3 Fingers-Give examples, reasons, steps, beginning-middle-end, etc. (depending on the genre)
*Last Finger- Name your topic again.
Check out these links for more anchor charts for Writer’s Workshop:
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2012/10/more-apples-are-you-kidding-anda.html
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2012/02/using-rubrics-as-formative-assessments.html
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2013/04/informational-writing-charts-rubrics.html
****Here are some of the resources that I used to plan this session. They are 20% off today.

The third session is super fun! In this session I show teachers great things they can get at the dollar store to teach almost any standard. I love this set of coasters that I picked up at the dollar spot in Target. They are great for teaching subitizing.
Here’s how you play:
*Make the game by taping the dice faces for 1-6 to the front of the coasters.
*Invite the children to roll a dice.
*The children select the part of the sandwich that show how many dots were on the dice.
*They keep rolling and collecting the ingredients to make the sandwich.
*The object of the game is to make the sandwich.
Here are a few more posts about ideas from the Dollar Store:
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2014/01/thrifty-thursday-target-dollar-spot-and.html
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2013/10/thrifty-thursday-linky-and-freebee.html
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2012/07/thrifty-thursdaywords-and-phonemes.html
Here are the resources that I used to help plan this session. They are 20% off today.