Teacher’s Brain

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Free Activities for Teaching Forms of Energy

Science, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Teaching sound, light, and energy is an important part of early elementary education. Energy is all around us! The sun that shines down on us, the food we eat, the lights in our home. Understanding forms of energy is essential knowledge to have to understand the way the world works. 

Getting our kindergarten, first, or second grade students to understand this concept can be really fun if done right! 

When teaching with younger students, just remember to take it slow to start. This lesson can get a little overwhelming. Explain what energy actually is first, and then introduce examples (sound, heat, light). 

After that, you can read some books on the topic of energy. This is a great way to add variety to your lesson and increase comprehension. 

Then make it fun with science experiments! This is a great time for some hands-on learning. Think Diet Coke and Mentos eruptions or popsicle stick chain reaction activities. These are a great way to see forms of energy in motion. 

For more tips for teaching forms of energy, check out my post here. 

One of my favorite ways to do that is to use these free forms of energy activities.

forms of energy

These printable activities are easy and fun for kindergarten or first grade students. 

Included in this free resource you’ll get:

  • HOME CONNECTION – Parent Project
  • Energy – List the items that produce energy
  • Heat & Light Energy Mini-book
  • I Spy SOUND objects
  • What is energy? POSTER

forms of energy

If you want more, you can check out the full resource here. It covers Sound, Heat, and Light with a 3-week plan including 3 inquiry lessons, data notebook pages, a rubric, a home project, and so much MORE!

These activities are great for helping your early elementary students really understand the topic of energy in a  fun and engaging way! They will love learning and it will set them up for success in later grades.

What are your favorite ways to teach about forms of energy? Let me know in the comments! forms of energy

 

An Exciting Digital Escape Room For High School Students!

Distance Learning, Teacher's Pay Teachers

I know it is not normal for this elementary teacher to produce a high school product, but I have high school children who were bored because of the pandemic!

 My daughter and her friends all asked me to make a fun digital escape room for them like I do for kindergarten. So, I thought no problem!

 Well, let me tell you, since I have no clue about high school curriculum, this took me a lot of painful research and time to create for these high school students to enjoy for about 30 minutes. 

But, it is one of my favorite resources because of the research and seeing the joy on the kids faces while they solved the clues together.  

This one is an extension activity to the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.  I can’t believe I never read this story before or that it is something they read regularly in high school, but it is a great piece of literature! 

The escape room I created is great for high school students because it is digital.

digital escape

 So students can do it in the classroom or from home while distance learning or as homework. 

To get started, students will read the short story. When they start the escape, they will be tasked with helping Mrs. Hutchinson to escape The Lottery to change her fate. 

There is a pdf included in this download with directions, the link to the site, an answer key and an optional note taking worksheet for students. This extension activity takes about 30 to 45 minutes to complete.

digital escape

To complete this escape room, students will: 

  • Read about Shirley Jackson and answer questions
  • Solve a Jigsaw Puzzle
  • Watch a YouTube video and answer questions about The Lottery
  • Complete a slide puzzle
  • Solve clues to unlock 4 locks

digital escape

You can easily share the link in Google Classroom. Students can complete this activity on Chromebooks, laptops, on an iPad or in a computer lab. They can work individually or together for a fun group activity! 

Check it out here!

digital escape

For more escape room ideas, check out my post here! 

 

The STEM Toothpick Challenge That Your Students Will Love!

STEM

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

Fall & Halloween

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!