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How Studying Animals And Watching Them Grow Captures The Interest Of Kids

10/30/2022

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Animals are fascinating creatures and kids love to learn about them and their life cycles. They are in awe from the moment of their births and they marvel at the ways they grow and change.
studying animal life cycles

What is a life cycle?

Every animal on Earth has a life cycle - this is the process they go through from when they're born until they die. All animals have different life cycles, and the length of time it takes them to go through each stage varies hugely too. Let's take a look at some examples.

A frog's life cycle has four stages: egg, tadpole, juvenile, and adult. Frogs start their lives as eggs, which are laid in water. Once they hatch, they grow into tadpoles, which have tails and live in water. As they mature, they develop legs and lose their tails, becoming juveniles. Eventually, they turn into adults and leave the water for good.

Honey bees have a very different life cycle to frogs. They have three stages: larva, pupa, and adult. Honey bee larvae hatch from eggs and are fed by the worker bees. After a few weeks, they enter the pupa stage. During this stage, their bodies change and they develop into adults. Once they emerge they take on their roles of worker bees, drones, or queen bees.
life cycle examples

Mammals life cycle

The animal life cycle that is probably the most familiar to us is the one we see in mammals. Mammals generally go through four distinct stages in their lives-embryo, neonate, juvenile, and adult.

As human mammals, we can relate to these.
When a woman is pregnant, the baby is in the embryo stage. This is the time from when the egg is fertilized by the male until the baby is born.
When the baby is born, it needs to be cared for by the parents because it is not able to care for itself yet. This is the neonate stage.
As the child becomes more independent and able to care for itself, we refer to this as adolescence or the juvenile stage.
When the child has reached full maturity and can mate and have offspring of its own we refer to this as the adult stage.
human life cycle

Life cycles in the classroom

In many primary classrooms, at some time during the year you will find a life cycle of some animal being studied. At my school, this was usually butterflies, chickens, or salmon. Not only were the students in the class excited to see the changes from eggs through the stages as they became these different animals, other students around the school would often stop by to check out the changes too. 

There is no better way to learn than to experience it in person. Learning from videos, books, or shared experiences of others is okay, but seeing that butterfly emerge from its chrysalis, watching that baby chick peck it way out of the egg or releasing fry into the river will imprint that memory for years to come.
studying life cycles in the classroom
If you are interested in studying the life cycles of animals with your class, here are some resources that I have created that might help.
Life cycle of a salmon
Life cycle of a frog
Life cycle of a chicken
​Life cycle of a honey bee
Life cycle of a butterfly
Life cycle resources
Here is a set of templates that may be helpful for gathering information about animal life cycles.  It is part of a set of 4 animal research templates.
Grab your free copy by subscribing to my newsletter.
life cycle template
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How Studying Life Cycles Of Plants Creates Excitement In Learning

8/28/2022

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Watching A Seed Grow

There's nothing quite like watching a plant grow. It's a miracle of life that never gets old, no matter how many times you see it. And there's no better place to see it than in the classroom, with a bunch of curious kids who are just as excited as you are. Seeing the wonder in their eyes as they observe the tiny seedlings sprouting up and then getting to watch them monitor the plant's progress day after day is truly a magical experience.
the excitement of growing plants

Seasons And Seeds

Spring is a great time to get seeds started for planting outside and growing fruits and vegetables throughout the summer. Watching that little seed that started its life in the classroom grow to maturity and produce food to eat is incredulous. Imagine one little seed producing an entire tree full of apples or a garden full of beans or other produce.
seasons and seeds
Fall can also be a good time to plant some seeds in the classroom. For example, if you plant a pumpkin seed at the beginning of the new school year, depending on the variety, it might produce a pumpkin in time for Halloween. Imagine growing your own Jack-o-lantern! 

Potatoes are another plant that would be great to watch in the fall. It can start producing tubers and then stay dormant through the winter and continue growing in the spring. This would be a terrific way to see how some plants are fast growing and others are slow growing. It would also help kids to see that some plants produce underground.
potato life cycle

Activities For Learning About Plants

Here are some different activities that you might like to try during your study of the plant life cycle.

1. Take an empty dvd case and put a bit of soil in it. Place a bean seed in the soil and moisten the seed and soil. Close up the case and place it near a window. Watch as the seed begins to sprout and produce roots. When it is about to produce leaves, remove it from the dvd case and plant it in a pot of soil. Continue to add water and watch it as it grows into a plant. Transplant it into the garden and continue to watch as the beans appear.

2. Put a potato that has sprouts (eyes) growing out of it into a large pot with some soil. Water it and watch it as it begins to produce leaves. Take note of the tubers when you transplant it into a garden area or larger pot. The kids will be amazed to see small potatoes growing underground.

3. Gather seeds from different fruits and vegetables and dry them. Plant them in the spring and watch to see which ones grow into new plants. Do experiments to see what happens when you add too much water, not enough water, not enough sunlight, etc.

4. Do art activities to show how the life cycle works and the various stages a seed goes through before it becomes a mature plant. For example: Cut out shapes from construction paper to represent each of the stages of the life cycle and make a life cycle mobile. Write on each shape which stage of the plant life cycle it represents. 

​With these plant life cycle activities, your students are sure to have a blast while learning about plants!

Plant Life Cycle Resources

Here are some resources that I created to help with studying various plant life cycles. They include worksheets about plant needs, the life cycle of the plant, and types of plants. Each resource also includes an observation journal for that plant. You can check them out by clicking the images below.

plant needs and the plant life cycle
life cycle of a potato
life cycle of an apple
life cycle of a pumpkin
life cycle of a carrot
plant life cycles bundle
Teaching  plant life cycle activities are not only fun, but they're also educational. They help kids learn about the different stages of plant growth and development. They also learn about where our food comes from, how different animals rely on plants for survival, and the important role that plants play in our ecosystem.

​By incorporating plant life cycle activities into your lesson plans, you can help your students learn about these important concepts in a fun and engaging way. Plus, they'll always remember the time when they got to watch their very own plants grow!
learning about plants
Have fun watching the wonder in your students' eyes as they observe their tiny seeds sprout and become plants.
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talk soon. Thanks for stopping by. Charlene

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Round Up Of Tips And Ideas For Fun Summer Learning For Primary Kids

6/26/2022

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Round Up Of Tips, Ideas, And Activities

During the summer, there are lots of opportunities to do activities that blend academics and fun. This helps kids to practice and maintain concepts and skills already covered and also gives them chances to see how these concepts matter in real life.
​
​Here is a round up of different tips, ideas and activities that I have shared in the past that I feel are still relevant and worth revisiting.
roundup of tips and ideas for fun summer learning for primary kids
Math is often thought of as lots of calculations, worksheets, equations and critical thinking activities, but in fact, math is used in almost every decision and action that we make on a daily basis. Math is everywhere around you. We use math for most activities without even realizing it. In my blog post Tips For School And Home:How To Help Primary Kids With Math, I suggested a few different activities for sorting and classifying, measurement, estimation, time, geometry, fractions, and basic operations. 

In Math Real Life Activities For Children I talk about math in the kitchen, math in the workshop, shopping and math, and working with money. These are only a few ways that math can be connected to real life situations at home as well as at school.

measurement math activity
Language Arts - Reading and writing are only a couple of the components of language arts. In my blog post Tips For School And Home: How To Help Kids With Language Arts, I share several different suggestions and activities for the various aspects of language arts. 

It is important to note that language development starts at home and then is refined at school. There are many different ways to promote language development with reading, writing, and oral communication activities. I shared ideas and resources for phonics and vocabulary development, reading, writing, and oral communication in the above mentioned post.

If you are looking for more ideas that will help with reading and writing for students that struggle in these areas, check out the following posts:
Motivatiing Reluctant Readers
Tips For Helping Struggling Writers In The Classroom
effective communication, reading, writing and speaking
Just take a look around you and think about the various things you see and the things you do and if you start to analyze them, you will be amazed at how they involve science. Science is involved in every aspect of our lives. At school, kids are introduced to some of the basics, and various experiments and investigations are done. At home, more of these types of activities can happen and deeper learning can be accomplished.
In my blog post, Tips For School And Home: How To Help Kids With Science, I break science down into different categories to help with providing a broad glimpse into the world of science. Hopefully, this will inspire kids to look further and continue to learn about the marvels around them.
You will find some tips and ideas for chemistry, biology and life sciences, earth science, and several different areas of physics.
Science Ideas For School And Home also gives some more ideas and possible activities that might be fun to try.
science kids doing science activity
Social Studies is the study of people and their relationships to other people and the world. For young children, it starts with family and then spreads out to community, regions, provinces, states, or territories, and from there, to countries and the world.
It can be broken up into 5 different categories: geography, history, culture and society, civics and government, and economics. I wrote 2 posts last year because there was so much to cover.

Tips For School And Home: How To Help Primary Kids With Social Studies talks about geography, history, and culture, heritage and traditions and gives some ideas and possible resources that might work.

Tips For School And Home: How To Help Primary Kids With Social Studies Part 2 This blog post focuses on the rights and responsibilities of people and regional leaders, relationships between people and the environment, multicultural awareness and diversity, and the interactions of First Nations people and early settlers.

Social Studies Ideas And Activities For Outdoors also provides some tips and activities for learning more about the area where we live and the surrounding environment.


social studies kids with hands on globe
In my final instalment,  Tips For Summer Support: How To Help Primary Kids,  I focus on finding creative ways to do academic activities to make learning fun during the summer break.  

​Well there you have a selection of tips and activities for the various academic areas that can be used to help kids keep learning throughout the summer while they are enjoying their holiday break. 
Tips, ideas, and activities fun learning
I hope that these tips and ideas have given you some inspiration for ways to keep the learning going while having fun during the summer break.
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Talk soon. Thanks for stopping by. Charlene
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3 Fun And Easy Experiments That Use The Scientific Method

6/12/2022

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Using Experiments To Practice The Scientific Method

Last week I shared the scientific method and the steps involved in it. This week I would like to share 3 fun and easy experiments kids can try that use the scientific method.
3 easy experiments using the scientific method

String Telephones

This is a fun experiment that lets kids create telephones and then test them out. I did it with my grandsons last weekend and they really enjoyed it. The oldest one did the worksheets and the younger two just played with the phones. We didn't have all the different types of containers, but we did do two different types and we tried 3 different string lengths. Check out the photos below.
If you are interested in finding out more, check out the preview for the resource. Click on the image to go to the resource.
string telephones a craftivity and experiment

Are You A Rectangle Or A Square?

This activity is actually a measurement activity that I did with my classes. It was a great way to learn more about measuring, while using the scientific method and investigating in a scientific way. I used it as a math activity for my student led conferences a couple of times as well. The kids were excited to see if their parents were rectangles or squares. Find out more by clicking the image below.
are you a rectangle or a square

The Clink Clunk Test

If you want to surprise your kids, try this gravity experiment. They will be amazed to learn that the weight of the objects doesn't determine which will land first. It is also interesting for them to see how a crumpled ball of paper and a single sheet of paper react differently. Sign up for my newsletter and get your free copy of The Clink-Clunk Test.
The Clink-Clunk Test a gravity experiment
These are only 3 of many different experiments that can be done using the scientific method. The more comfortable your students get with using this scientific process, the easier it will be to examine and investigate different things they wish to learn more about.
If you would like to get your own copy of the scientific method along with the worksheets that accompany the poster, click the image below.

Scientific Method
Have fun trying out the above experiments and many more as your students explore the wonders around them.
3 Experiments Using The Scientific Method
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How Using The Scientific Method Helps Kids With Science Experiments

6/5/2022

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Using The Scientific Method

The scientific method, also known as the scientific process, is a method used to test out experiments and solve different hypotheses. There are several steps that help to prepare, test, and evaluate the results of your testing.
research using the scientific method
It takes a question or problem that needs to be solved to begin the process. Once the question or problem is determined a hypothesis or good guess of what will happen is formed.
hypothesis
Once the question and hypothesis are determined, it is time to prepare to do the experiment to test out the hypothesis. 
First the materials need to be gathered and then the steps needed to do the experiment are decided. This is the procedure.

procedure
It is important to observe what happens as the experiment progresses. These observations will help to determine if things are working or not. This is also referred to as data collection.
observations
Once the experiment is complete, studying the data results will help to determine if the hypothesis was correct or not. Data analysis is necessary if we want an accurate evaluation.
results
The final step is the conclusion. Was our hypothesis correct or not? Based on the observations and data results, this can help with deciding the next steps. If the hypothesis was correct we were successful. if the hypothesis was not correct, we can try to figure out what went wrong and revise our experiment to try again.
conclusion

Egg Drop Experiment

My grandson just completed an egg drop experiment with his grade 2/3 class. They started out the process with a class discussion of what would happen if an egg was dropped off a roof. They then discussed ways they could protect the egg so it wouldn't break.

​Once they came up with some possible solutions, they were challenged with the task to invent a way to protect the egg from breaking when it was dropped.
Invention How do we test out an idea?
The challenge was accepted and each student came up with a plan. They created their inventions and then the teacher took all the egg contraptions to the roof. The ultimate test was about to begin.
Dropping egg contraption from roof
​The students cheered as each egg was dropped from the roof. Did it break? According to the teacher, about half of the eggs did not break. That's a pretty good result.
boy holding egg contraption
Here is my grandson with his invention. Apparently it broke a few times during the trials at home, but when it mattered, it did not break.
egg holder invention
You can see the egg is still intact.

​Another student made a similar design, but he had a parachute attached to it. My questions to the class would be:
"How are the two designs similar?"
 "How are they different?"
"Did the parachute make a difference?" "Was it needed?"

I am not sure how the results were tallied or what happened next in his classroom, but it made me think about all the different types of experiments I did with my classes while I was still teaching.
​
data analysis what do we learn from the results?
When I talked with my grandson after the experiment, I asked what they had done to prepare for the experiment. He had used the steps of the scientific method but didn't realize it. I suspect that the teacher will be sharing this method with the class soon. That is only a guess, but it would make sense.

The Scientific Method

I created a resource using the scientific method for my students to use when we did the various experiments. It was a way to document the scientific process that was used while working through the experiment. I found it to be an effective tool for organizing their thoughts and observations. You can click the image below to check it out.
scientific method
There are so many different great experiments that kids can try to practice using the scientific method. The egg drop experiment is only one idea. I will share a few other ideas next time.
how can you drop an egg without it breaking?
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Talk soon. Thanks for stopping by. Charlene

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How Life Sciences Can Engage Students In Their Learning

5/8/2022

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Life Sciences Study

Studying life cycles is fun to do in the spring. These can be plant or animal life cycles, depending on the interests and availability of resources.

I am going to share a couple of different life cycle activities and an animal research project that I found successful and exciting for my students.
Life Sciences Study growing a bean plant

Plant Life Cycles

Plant life cycles are fun to do because kids love to watch a seed become a plant. When a vegetable seed is used, they can eat the vegetable when it is ready. They can also take the seeds and use them to start the cycle over again.

Bean plants are great to use because they grow fairly quickly and the various stages are easy to see. There are different ways to watch the changes, but a couple of ones I found worked well are the baggie and wet paper towel version and a CD case version. Both versions make it easy to see the seed sprout and the roots develop. When leaves start to develop, the seedlings can be planted in a pot to continue growing.

If you are interested in recording observations, I created this journal for my students to use and it has been popular with many other teachers as  well. I also did a plant investigation product about what plants need. Check them out here.
studying the life cycle of a bean
what does a plant need to survive

Butterfly Life Cycle

Butterflies are fun to watch as they emerge from the chrysalis. I remember studying the butterfly life cycle with my students. They were in awe of how a caterpillar could become such a beautiful creature. We ordered Painted Lady larvae and then watched them as they moved through the life cycle. We then released the butterflies into the schoolyard.

Painted lady butterflies are found all around the world. They take only a few weeks to go from egg to butterfly so they are great to study in a classroom situation. Here is a new resource that relates to the butterfly life cycle and includes some interesting facts, posters, and activities.

Sign up for my newsletter to get a free life cycle of a butterfly poster. You can find the complete product here.
life cycle of a butterfly

Other Life Cycles

There are many other life cycles that can be explored. Several of my colleagues have studied the life cycle of a chicken and a salmon. I didn't do these myself, but I did have my classes connect with those that were studying these life cycles and this allowed for some great conversations and opportunities for the other students to share their knowledge. They enjoyed seeing the baby chicks running around the classroom.
life cycle of a chicken

Animal Research Project

Animal research was a big hit with my students. They were able to find out basic information and interesting facts and then use the information to create a powerpoint of their animal. Check out these templateanim​
One of the most difficult parts of this research was learning to write down the main ideas in point form and use their own words when creating the project. I was really impressed with the powerpoints that they created once they understood this concept.
animal research planning templates
These are just a few of the different activities that can be studied when learning about life cycles and habits of plants and animals. Kids love investigating the world around them, so the hands on nature of these studies will engage them.
​
I hope you have as much fun as they do as you study plants and animals.
Don't forget to grab your free butterfly life cycle poster.
Life Sciences Study animal research
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How To Take Teaching Outdoors And Engage Students In Their Learning

3/6/2022

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Taking Learning Outdoors

Spring is just around the corner and along with it comes longer days, sunshine, fresh breezes, and early buds and blooms. What a great time to get outdoors with your students and take learning outside as well.
Take learning outdoors

Ideas For Social Studies And Science Outdoors

There are many different opportunities to cover academics outside and still enjoy the outdoors. Here are a few ideas that may help.

For social studies, neighbourhood walks, checking out the community, following maps, doing geocaching and using coordinates are just a few things that can be done. If you want more information, check out my post about social studies outdoors.

For science, you can do experiments such as coke and mentos to check out chemical reactions, the clink clunk test to investigate gravity, or do things to check out nature. Starting a garden, growing plants in pots and following their growth, taking a walk in the park or the forest, if you live near one, or visiting the seashore if you live near the ocean are just a few ideas. Kids love to interact with nature and they learn many life skills that they can use later on as well.
Science outdoors

Reading and Writing Ideas For Outdoors

For reading and writing there are many different options to try.
Reading can be done in the environment by checking out signs, reading books with buddies while enjoying the sunshine, and playing games like Scoot for sight words are just a few ideas. 

During the warmer weather, we would often take our books outside for silent reading and find a quiet spot on the hillside at the edge of the playground to do our reading. 

One of my favorite activities for writing is to go outside and explore our senses. After making a list of different things for each of the senses, we use these ideas to develop stories. We choose a theme and use the list to create a descriptive story. My descriptive writing templates were developed for this.

writing activities outdoors

Math Ideas For Outdoors

For math, the outdoors is a great place to work on measurement activities. You can do activities that work with larger units such as meters or yards and you can do perimeter and area activities. Kids love using the trundle wheels and measurement tapes to measure the fields, buildings, and other objects.
​
​The information gathered outside can then be used for creating scaled diagrams on graph paper.
math and measurement

Taking Physical Activity And Gym Class Outdoors

Taking gym outside is an easy thing and I suspect is often done already. Many of the different sports can be done outside as well as inside. The fields and nearby parks are great open spaces for running activities, soccer, kickball, and games. Kids love being able to run around and get active without worrying about being too noisy.

At my school, there is a courtyard and blacktop area with basketball hoops, tetherball, foursquare areas, or hopscotch games available. I liked using this for doing rotations of activities. Everyone could be doing activities at the same time instead of some people waiting for their turn.
do physical activities and gym outdoors

Try Music Games Outdoors

Even music class can go outdoors. I used to take my primary music classes outside to do circle games that require running and even rhythm games. One of my favorite rhythm games was a version of California kickball. Instead of just pitching the ball, I would clap out rhythms and they would have to say the rhythm correctly in order to get the ball thrown for them. 

​
music games outdoors
These are just a few examples of how you can take learning outdoors this spring. It really comes down to your own comfort and creativity. Enjoy the weather and have fun teaching outside.
Exploring the world outdoors
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How To Help Students Succeed In Academics By Getting Back To Basics

12/12/2021

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Back To Basics Is Key

Getting back to basics is key this year as many children strive to catch up after a year of online learning and missed opportunities for individual support due to the pandemic. Last week I spoke about focusing on the mental health of the kids first and academics second. That doesn't mean that we stop teaching the academics and following the curriculum, but we need to find the balance that will support the students where they are at. Returning to some of the basics will be key.
Back to basics is key for catching up

Literacy Ideas

For younger children, literacy is huge. Developing and nurturing literacy skills is important. This may include phonics, phonemic awareness, word attack skills, emergent reading and writing activities, and guided reading groups. Sometimes all of these will be needed as the range in primary classrooms can be developmentally wide. 

Choosing activities that are interactive and hands on will be more engaging than worksheets and will also allow for small group work so that everyone can be working on different skills or concepts that are appropriate. This will require some assessment, preparation, and scheduling, but it will be worth it. 
​
​Check out my guided reading post to see how I managed this in a multi-level classroom.
Developing and nurturing literacy skills is important

Math ideas

For math, most curriculums work with a spiral approach so that skills are reviewed and then built on as the concepts are mastered. This is a good practice and makes it easier to adjust to meet the needs of the kids. In the primary grades it is important to make sure that the activities start with the concrete before moving to the abstract. Some kids are able to do this quickly and others will require additional practice with hands on activities. Small group activities and guided math situations will help with this as well. As with the literacy activities, you will need to assess, prepare, and schedule things to make them run smoothly. Check out this blog post for tips that help kids struggling with math.
Use concrete activities before abstract ones
Social studies in the primary grades can be global or community based depending on the specific concepts being taught. Mapping activities can be simple or complex to fit the needs of the children. Studying about the community and more global ideas can also be made simpler or more detailed for the children. Project based activities work well for this. Check out this post to see how I successfully used projects with my primary classes. You can also grab a mapping activity from my followers free resources page if you have subscribed to my newsletter.
Social studies is a great subject for doing projects
As for science choose a few different areas and focus on them. It isn't necessary to do all the different topics. This will allow deeper learning and concept development. Kids love doing science experiments and learning about how things work. You can even add in a project if it works. There is a free gravity experiment on my followers free resources page as well as some other free resources in my TPT store that may help you out.
Explore the wonderment of science and the world around you
Get Back to Basics to Catch Up
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How Can You Take Learning Outdoors With Fun Fall Activities?

9/19/2021

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Fall Is Almost Here

Fall is around the corner. I don't know about you, but we had a beautiful summer. Some days it was a little hotter than we liked, but for the most part, we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a great time to get outdoors and enjoy nature.
Now that fall is arriving, this doesn't have to end. There is still time to get outdoors and do things before the weather gets too cold or wet. This is also a great time to focus on nature and science in the classroom using the outdoors as your source for material and data. There are also many opportunities for math and literacy activities.


Fun Fall Activities for kids

Fall leaves

Fall colors are so beautiful. Driving along the streets, the different colored leaves create a wonderful backdrop. Kids love to explore the different kinds of leaves and collect them as they begin to fall off of the trees. 
​There are many different activities that can be done with the leaves such as math activities, science activities, writing activities, and art activities. You can use the colors and shapes for creating art projects, do sorting and classifying activities in math, investigate how the colors change and why as a science activity, or maybe use the collecting of the leaves as a story prompt. These are only a few ideas. Get creative.
boy collecting leaves
math activities with leaves
art ideas for leaves

Beach Study

Beach walks can still be done in the fall, and different activities can be included that explore the sea life there. It is always fun to watch the kids explore the seashore and search for the different sea animals and plants there. They can be found in the tide pools collecting shells, crabs, seaweed, and other things for scavenger hunts. The sea stars and sea cucumbers are always a big hit as well. I remember taking along lots of magnifying glasses so they could get a closer look at the different things they found.
​
Note: We were careful about handling the sea life and we made sure that we were able to return them back to their environment safely. We always put everything back before we left. It is important to leave the sea creatures in their environment.
Investigating Sea Life

Exploring Parks And Forests

Going for walks in the parks and forested areas can also be fun to do in the fall. Taking a look at how things might have changed during the different seasons, what different animals might be around, what different plant life looks like, checking out the streams or creeks, etc. are just some of the possible things that can be investigated.
Investgating in the forest
Geocaching is also a fun activity to do. It is difficult to do with a large group because it is supposed to be stealthy and not attract attention, but it still can be done in certain settings. A modified scavenger hunt could also be done that mimicks geocaching but is set up for a specific group instead of the public.
Go geocaching
Try a scavenger hunt

Farm Visits

Most people think about planting seeds in the spring and watching them grow throughout the summer, but there are also many things that can be planted for the fall. Checking out some of the fall harvests and taking a field trip to a pumpkin patch or farm could also be fun to do. Perhaps some plant investigations can be done now and even compared with plant investigations in the spring.
visit a farm
This is only a sampling of things that can be done in the fall that get kids outdoors. The key is to find ways to keep them actively exploring and learning both inside and outside the classroom. The more connections to real life, the richer the learning will be.
Fun Fall Activities For Outdoors
I hope you find some of these ideas helpful for your students. I would love to hear about some of the things you do outdoors with you class. Let me know in the comments.
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How To Keep Kids Learning With Fun Activities When The Unexpected Happens

9/5/2021

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Getting back into the swing of things

Summer break is over. School is back in session! For some, you have already been in session for a few weeks. For others, this is your last weekend of break. The question on many teachers' minds is "What will this year bring?"

​Some kids are excited, some are anxious, some are disinterested, and some are unhappy. There are so many emotions during the regular return to school, but with the uncertainty and constant changes last year as we navigated through the unknowns of the pandemic, some emotions escalated. Many kids experienced more anxiety, confusion, and frustration as they tried to learn in new environments and situations, many parents experienced anxiety and frustration as they navigated online and at home instruction, and teachers experienced anxiety, uncertainty, frustration, and burnout as they tried to balance in person, online, and hybrid teaching situations.
What will this year be like? Are you ready?
There was hope that we would be closer to a more normal school year, but things are still changing and we need to be ready to change gears at any moment. This uncertainty is causing teachers stress even before school begins. Many of my teacher friends are still waiting to find out what grade level they are teaching, how many students they will have, and even where they will be teaching. 
planning for the unexpected

Primary teachers survival kit

It is important to have some things ready for any situation to help get through the transitions of the first weeks. You might call it a survival kit. This kit would need activities for various grades, subjects, and configurations of students. The question is, what should be in this kit? Here are some ideas for primary grades. (Some could be modified for intermediate classes, but since most of my teaching was in primary, I have decided to focus on that level for this sample.)
primary teachers survival kit

Literacy ideas that are ready to go

Here are some literacy activities that will engage and provide reading and writing practice for your students.
Selections are from various free and paid products. The full products are listed below.
Refreshing Idioms Task Cards (sample from the full product)
5 Senses Stories
Story Board Fun (activity from Back To School Math And Literacy Ideas)
Summer Parts Of Speech (one set of cards from the package)
Fall/Autumn Parts Of Speech (one set of cards from the package)
Find The Evidence (sample pages)
Soundo (part of Alphabet Game Boards) 
Vocabulary Mandalas (one mandala)
Basic Vocabulary Activities ( activities from the product)


Literacy activities

Quick and fun math activities

Here are some fun math activities to help your students work on basic math skills. 
Selections are from various free and paid products. The full products are listed below.
Ipad Glyphs (sample from the full product)
Pumpkin Glyphs (sample from the full product)
Measure Up! (activity from Welcome Back To School)
Summer Sports Activity Bundle (activity from the bundle)
Measurement Games Team Events ( one event from the games)
Number Mandalas Addition and Subtraction ( one of the mandalas)
​Literacy and Math Game Cards (2 game cards)
math activities

Science fun and experiments

These science activities will keep kids entertained while learning about science facts. Selections are from various free and paid products. The full products are listed below. 
Amazing Weather Facts Posters (freebie)
Are You A Rectangle Or A Square (freebie)
String Telephones 
​The Clink-Clunk Test 
science activities

Team building activities

​Team building is important at the beginning of the year, but also throughout the year. Here are some activities that can be done in groups or with partners. 
Back to School Ice Breaker (freebie)
Escape Room What Am I? Vocabulary activity (one activity from the set)
Find Someone Who (activity from Back To School First Week Activities)
Stumpers (activity from Back To School First Week Activities)
What Am I? (sample pages from What Am I?)
team building activities

Self esteem activities

Making sure that children understand that they are valuable and important will help to develop positive self esteem. Here are some activities that will help with this.
Paying It Forward (freebie)
Optimist or Pessimist Task Cards (one set of cards)
​Goal Setting And Reflections (freebie)
self esteem activities

Brain breaks and active games

Here are some active classroom games that can be played as brain breaks or in the gym or outside to provide movement and stimulation between other subject activities.
Active games brain breaks
Each of these areas is available as a separate package, or you can get the whole bundle to keep on hand for activities to use throughout the year. It will be helpful when you need to prepare for substitute teacher on short notice or if you just need a quick activity to use.
​You can find them here.
​As I indicated, this is just a sample of some of the things that could be done. It will be up to you to add your own creativity, experience, and preference to your survival kit.
​For more ideas and resources, you can check out the various categories in my TeachersPayTeachers store.
If you are looking for back to school resources, you can check out my recent blog post for resources and tips. I wish you all the best as you venture into a new school year.
Activities for primary classrooms
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Talk soon. Thanks for stopping by. Charlene
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    About Me Charlene Sequeira

    I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 9, and a retired primary and music teacher. I love working with kids and continue to volunteer at school and teach ukulele.

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