Teacher’s Brain

The STEM Toothpick Challenge That Your Students Will Love!

When working with kindergarten and first grade students, it’s important to keep things fresh and exciting in the classroom. Their attention spans aren’t exactly long and they can get restless easily. STEM activities are a great way to do that! 

stem

When I was in the classroom, I was always looking for STEM activities that would make our lessons interesting and exciting for my students. I love STEM because it makes it so easy to increase student learning and educational outcomes. What kid doesn’t love to get their hands dirty and create?!

STEM challenges provide endless possibilities if you have some basic supplies stocked in your classroom. 

Some great materials to have on hand include: 

  • Bingo daubers
  • Whiteboards and Expo markers
  • Playdough
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Small candy 
  • Finger paint
  • Shaving cream
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Aluminum foil
  • Pencils 
  • Construction paper
  • Markers 
  • Legos 
  • Cotton balls
  • Tape
  • Straws

Another supply we use is tooth picks! These are a great, inexpensive supply you can use for so many things. 

Our favorite activity is this STEM Toothpick Challenge. 

stem

This is a hands-on activity you can use when you are teaching about 2D and 3D shapes. This resource comes with Build A Shape mats to show students what shapes to make. Just print and laminate them and you can use them year after year. 

stem

Students build their 2D and 3D shapes with toothpicks and playdough. You can use marshmallows or gumdrops instead if preferred. Students will engage in STEM thinking as they count the toothpicks, sides, vertices, and trace the words. 

Included with this resource you get:

  • 8 2D Mats for shape building
  • 6 3D Mats for shape building
  • 2 Recording sheets
  • 2 Answer keys 

stem

This challenge encourages thinking, teaches shape recognition, sides, and vertices, and increases problem solving skills. 

stem

Check it out here! 

If you are looking for more STEM activities, check out my STEM challenge here that ties in with the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Numeroff. 

What are your favorite STEM activities for kindergarten and first grade? Let me know in the comments!


 

Pumpkin Patch Virtual Field Trip for Kids

You can be every student’s favorite teacher by taking them to a pumpkin patch! Virtual Field trips are a great way engage students in learning.  These interactive, editable Google Slides make it easy to have students use movable pieces, tour a pumpkin patch, learn about pumpkin parts and the pumpkin life cycle!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

This makes for a great book companion with any pumpkin-themed book. Pumpkin lessons can be used in October or November since it’s pumpkin-themed. This is GREAT for virtual or in-person teaching.

What is in this download?

There are 32 Google Slides with editable text boxes, directions, movable parts, videos, and so much more!

  • KWL Chart
  • Packing A Suitcase for the Trip
  • 1 Minute Take OFF Flight Video
  • 14-minute Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Video (Review pumpkin parts, the pumpkin life cycle, and take a Hayride Adventure)
  • Sequencing Events, 4 Writing Prompts (digits, print primary lined, print intermediate lined options), Counting Objects (Up to 10), Labeling Parts, Calendar Song, and Comprehension Questions, Home Connection Project
  • One extra slide for you to add anything you would like to the lesson. (videos or an assignment)
  • Home Connection Optional Assignment for students to design a pumpkin face.
  • Black and white ink-saving Writing Pages and Home Connection Page for in-person teaching.

Slide backgrounds CAN NOT be edited, just the text boxes and movable parts can be edited.

You can delete slides you don’t want to send to students, add your own directions or images to the sides of the slides to personalize.

Here are some ideas of what you can do with this virtual field trip:

  • Have a local store or parents donate small pumpkins for you to give the students after the virtual trip to decorate.
  • Write about how to sell pumpkins.
  • Cut a real pumpkin and have students label the parts on a chart.
  • After learning about the life cycle, have students explain it to someone in a letter.
  • Make some items like pumpkin pie or seeds for students to try.

GRADES Kindergarten (non-readers need help reading or you will have to do it whole group) – 2nd GRADE

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

YOU DO NOT need Google Classroom to use Google Slides. It will force a copy of it on your Google Drive. Students do not need to have Google Classroom to participate. They will need a Google account, which does not have to be a Gmail account, but just an account with Google that gives them access to Google Drive.

Easily share through Google Classroom to collect information or share from your computer to Zoom or Meets. Students move images, add text, and moving parts to get plenty of writing and computer practice!

Your kids will love the field trip and beg for another!

 

Must Do HALLOWEEN Lessons

October is here and that means it is time to bring out the Halloween lessons and activities! This time of year is fun for both teachers and students. 

Pumpkins, candy, and all things spooky. 

What’s not to love?!

In honor of Halloween season beginning, I am sharing some of my absolute favorite lessons for this time of year. These lessons are especially perfect this year because they can easily be used for online or distance learning or in the classroom. 

Here are my three favorite Halloween activities for elementary

Whether you are in person or virtual learning, letting students design a Haunted House for sale is a huge HIT! You can print these out or let students use the virtual Google Slides shapes to design their very own haunted house! 

halloween lessons

After their design is perfectly spooky, now it is time to sell it! Let their imaginations run wild as they write a story and explain why their house is for sale. 

This resource is versatile enough to be used for any grade in elementary. It is so much fun to see what they design and the creative stories they come up with when they write about it! 

halloween lessons

Here’s a review of this Halloween activity

This is a wonderful resource for many reasons. My kids were able to pick their backgrounds and design their own haunted house. Then they got to review and work on a variety of writing prompts. My students loved designing their houses on Google Slides. This activity makes students believe they are not working.” 

Check it out here! 

The next activity I want to share is another one that is always a hit with students, no matter what.

 It’s my Halloween Mystery Escape Room! 

halloween lessons

 

This activity is ideal for K-2 students and is a great way to get them engaged and thinking critically as they solve the mystery. With a little prep, your students will work as a team to break into a box, which breaks them out of the classroom as they beat the clock!

The best part? It’s simple to set up! Just add a pumpkin for students to find. 

Here’s a review for this Halloween escape room: 

“I used this during our Halloween party and the kids had such a blast figuring out the clues to escape the classroom! Will definitely be doing this activity again next year.” 

Check it out here! 

Are you looking for something that is perfect for this time of year but is not actually “Halloween” themed? This virtual Bats Escape Room is perfect! 

halloween lessons

During the escape, students will be tasked with solving 4 lock clues in order to escape the bizarre bats buzzing around their building.

It is super simple and never fails to get kiddos excited. 

halloween lessons

Here’s a review for this bat themed escape room

“During our virtual meeting the next day, student could not wait to share with me what they learned about bats.  I love that they used critical thinking skills to solve problems while learning.  Excellent resource!”

Check it out here! 

Bonus! Looking for free activities? Check out this Halloween Sticker Story resource!

Let each student pick a Halloween Sticker out, add a spooky background and write a story using these fun printables. Sticker stories are a great way to get kids motivated to write creatively!

These activities are perfect for Halloween parties, individual work, or group activities. They are guaranteed to get student engagement!

halloween lessons


 

Haunted House For Sale Writing

If you know me, you know I love ALL. THE. THINGS. FALL!  That includes candy, pumpkins, scarecrows, witches, bats, ghosts, and monsters. I loved playing that song Skin and Bones for Halloween.  If you haven’t heard it, I will link it at the bottom. I memorized it and used it every time I wanted the kids to sit down with me on the floor in the month of October. They love it! I also find it easier to get students to write when the prompts are fall-related, especially if it has to do with a spooky haunted house!

Haunted House For Sale

More Time

As much as I love celebrating fall, I never had enough time to do all the fun things I wanted to do because October to December was always so busy. This is why I spend a lot of time and energy on creating fall resources for you. I worked every weekend planning fun things for my students, but you don’t have to because I’ve done a lot of the hard work for you. Take your weekends back and be THAT teacher students remember!

You can take your students on a fun Virtual Haunted House Field Trip!!
Students will:

  • learn about fiction and non-fiction
  • tour a haunted house virtually
  • take an airplane ride
  • write to persuade someone to buy the haunted house
  • write a narrative or opinion paper
  • count objects
  • play I spy
  • pack for the trip
  • take a comprehension quiz
  • discuss with a partner if the trip was fiction or non-fiction

Students can be provided the materials virtually or you can print the black and white printable options for in-person learning.  There are primary and intermediate lined prompts provided.  These trips are a blast!

Grab it HERE!

You can also find this in the Virtual Field Trip BUNDLE.

One field trip bundle review:
“This was a great source to use for live lessons. I was able to make it my own by adding the objectives and standards and make connections cross-curricular.” – Ashlyn W.

Virtual field trips make learning so much fun that students don’t even know they are learning!

SONG – Old Woman all SKIN & Bones