Five For Friday

Aloha! Who's happy it's Friday?

It's been a pretty good week, but who can't be happy about Friday!!!

I haven't linked up in awhile with Kasey from Doodle Bugs Teaching and thought it would be fun to share a few pics from my week.

We started off the week with a fun writing activity using M&M's and Skittles.  

I gave each student 5 M&M's and 5 Skittles. They tasted each and

had to decide which was their favorite.  Of course they loved it!

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We also started our Magnet unit this week.  

We experimented with different items

and then sorted them into Magnetic and Non-Magnetic 

pockets in our science journals.

Magnet Unit

In social studies we are working on Economics.  

We learned about Natural, Capital and Human resources.  

This activity was great for students to see how 

producers use all of these resources to make and sell their products.

Economics Unit

This week I also went to a 2 day training on the other side of the island.

This is a view from the Pali Highway.  So beautiful! 

Kaneohe is where our training was, which is about an hour from where I live.  

It's always nice to get to other parts of the island.

I spent Thursday and Friday in a Thinking Maps training geared for K-2.

I gained lots of ideas and will be taking them back to my team to share out.

There are so many ways to use them in all areas.  

I look forward to implementing some new ideas right away.

 My youngest daughter is in 6th grade.  This is her last year with me at my school before she heads up to the middle school.  We pulled over on our way home one day to watch some whales spouting.  We actually couldn't see them once we got on the beach because the waves were pretty big.  We still had some fun taking selfies and snapping some pics of the waves.

I am really going to hate driving alone to school next year.  

Who will listen to me ramble on about waves, surfers, whales and tourist traffic?!

I hope you had a fantastic week as well. Head on over to Kasey's blog to check

out some of her cute February activities.

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Science and Social Studies Notebooks Part 2

Aloha friends!  I hope your Monday was a good one and you are enjoying a little down time reading this.

In my last post I shared how I was using notebooks to keep track of all my Social Studies and Science activities.  You can read it here if you missed it. {Click Here}

I received lots of positive feedback and some requests to share what kinds of activities I would be using them for.

Lets start with science.  We have been working on Matter.  We went over Properties of Matter and States of Matter.  Now we are headed into how to change matter-The FUN stuff!  I have some experiments planned this week to help them see how matter can be changed.

Here are my supplies that I picked up for some of the fun.

I plan on starting off with the old baking soda and and vinegar trick.  If you can set up ahead of time it is so much fun for them to make predictions and see what happens.  Place a tablespoon of baking soda in a balloon using a funnel.  Then take an empty bottle and add in some vinegar on the bottom.

Wrap the balloon around the mouth of the bottle without putting the baking soda in.

If you use a Sharpie to draw a face, it makes it even more fun.

Pour in the baking soda and watch their faces light up!

The next experiment is the Coke and Mentos experiment found here. {Click Here}

We are going to have to head outside for this one!  And finally, we will be mixing cornstarch with water to make a liquid and a solid.  I think my kids are going to have a blast this week! {wink, wink}

We will be recording all of this in our notebooks and I made some templates to help us out.  {Click Here} to get them from Google Docs.

For social studies we are continuing with our study of Economics.  We started last week with "What We Want to Be When We Grow Up" and talked about Occupations and Income.

This week we will be moving into Needs and Wants.

If you are interested in the other activities I will be using for Economics I just finished my first interactive notebook unit!

I have included a variety of economic topics and activities.  All in an easy to print format.  I have also included an answer key and pictures of what each of the activities will look like in the notebook.

This unit is intended to supplement your current curriculum.  I am really looking forward to using this with the kids, and since I made it, I know it's exactly what I want to cover. Click on the pictures above to take you to my TpT store.

Once we have all these skills down we will be ready to use our Beach Bucks for the last quarter of the school.

I hope you gained at least a few ideas from my week ahead.  What fun social studies and science activities do you have planned?  I'd love to hear about any other interesting matter experiments that kids love.

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Beach Bucks

Aloha friends!  I am so happy I have only 3 days until Spring Break! Hurray!!  I actually really only have two teaching days left.  On Friday I have a sub.  I have to take my van into the dealer and the only day that works is Friday.  So I guess I am getting an early start.  

I know that I should probably get a new car, but I love the old beater that I have. It's filled with beach gear, sand and surfboards.  What more could you want on the North Shore of Hawaii?

Speaking of the beach, who is ready for warm weather and sunnier days?  As we head into the last quarter of school I wanted to share something I do with my kids for the last part of the school year.

Every year after Spring Break my kiddos get a little crazy.  Summer is just around the corner, they are used to the same old routine and start to test a little more, right?  Well I have been using this money system for awhile and it works wonders in my class.

This is a money system that I use to help my kiddos stay happy and engaged, and let me tell you it works!

Basically my students get paid for the work they do for the last quarter.  They get paid for their classroom jobs, homework and classwork.  It is a mini-economic system in your classroom.

Kids get a weekly salary, get paid by check, cash it at the bank, and go shopping in the school store.

There are specific jobs for all of this, and the students run the whole thing.

Today I posted the classroom jobs that kids could apply for.  I explained each one and told them that they were going keep this job for the rest of the year.  Here are some of their applications.

Notice the second one.  Do you have a problem with kids going to the bathroom ALL the time? This student will get $5 from each child who has to go the bathroom.  She is thinking ahead to all the $ she will earn for this job!!

Once we all have a job I post up our job board.

Each week they will earn $100 for doing their job.  On Fridays they get a check. Whoo Hoo Payday!!

They also have homework coupons that they earn over the week.

My bank tellers cash checks and then students can go to the school store.

The bank is a pretty crude affair with the money just sitting out on the desk.  We keep the rubber bands on because the wind blows everything away!!

My bankers have to be pretty good at counting out money in order to have this job.

 After the check and coupons have been used, my assistant banker stamps the check to show it has been paid and places it in our money box.

Now that they have cash they can head to the school store.

My storekeeper can use the cash register to add it all up.  They do have to be able to make change, which can make this job challenging.

The kids love this cash register.  It is perfect for our school store.

I purchased this through my Scholastic Bonus points a few years ago, 

but I know you can get them on Amazon too.

My kids love using our Beach Bucks.  We even make origami wallets to keep our money in.  

Many of them bring their own wallets from home.

Click on the pink wallet to take you to a tutorial.

Kids get paid for their work, but they can also lose money!  The money bucket is on my desk.

If you break a rule then you have to put $$ in the bucket.

Kids that show good behavior earn raffle tickets and can win the bucket of money at the end of the week!

At the end of the quarter I have a class auction for the kids to spend their money.  

I have used this system for the last 10 years and have finally put it all together.

I am sure many of you already use a money system in your classroom.  Hopefully some of these ideas will help you to add a bit more to it.

If you want the whole system you can pick this up in my TpT store. 

I also have two other themes that are the exact same system.

A fun Super Hero theme

and a Western theme.

Hopefully one of these fun themes will help keep your classroom running smoothly for the rest of the year!

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