Stimulating Science Simulations

5.L.2.2  Classify the organisms within an ecosystem according to the function they serve: producers, consumers, or decomposers (biotic factors). Last year, I purchased the "Follow That Food Chain" series.  These non-fiction adventure books are set up like a game.  Students begin by reading the introduction and then choosing a tertiary consumer from the ecosystem featured in each book.  From there, they read about the animal and continue to make choices that result in either survival and continuation along the food chain (which really becomes more of a food web) or a "dead end". Although my students can learn plenty from reading and interacting with this book, I was looking for a way to document their learning.  I decided to create a guided reading focus sheet for this purpose.   You can get a copy of it here.   Basically, students record the tertiary animal they chose. Then they read and respond with 3 facts they learned about the animal.  N...

If you missed out on this opportunity, don't fret. You'll have another chance the next time I get a big gift card to spend. Don't know what you missed? Read about it in my earlier post. And now for the lucky recipients... Sorry... the video isn't great. This picture shows the results better.  Congratulations!!

It is that time of year when we all pause to think about what we are thankful for. Today my students finished some incredibly thoughtful thank you letters to the generous citizen philanthropists who have funded our Garden Stepping Stone Mosaic project on DonorsChoose. I dropped the envelope in the mail and when I got home I found a gift card waiting for me in my email. I am thankful for the opportunity to volunteer with DonorsChoose. It is a wonderful charitable organization and I love the fact that through volunteering my time to screen proposals, I am able to earn a gift card each month. I dedicate these gift cards to paying it forward. My class has received some wonderful materials through generous donations over the years. In return, I try to show my appreciation by helping to fund the projects of other teachers. Do you have a project posted on DonorsChoose right now? Could you use a little help getting it funded? If your answer is yes then please follow the steps below to link u...