The Teaching Bank

Interactive Science Notebook

If you have been a reader of my blog for awhile you'll know I am a bit of a NASA fan. I was very saddened to hear the news last weekend of the death of Neil Armstrong. Neil Armstrong was a true American hero and an inspiration for everyone. When reading the various stories about Mr. Armstrong over the past few days I came across this quote from him that I love:

"Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand."

This quote embodies what we do in the education world. We hope to create wonder in our students so that they will desire to understand and learn.

I had been working on putting together an interactive science notebook to help teachers and students organize their science resources when I came across this quote. It prompted me to add a section to my notebook that I call the Why/How Does... section. This section integrates writing into the science curriculum. Everyday (or however often you want) students will write a Why/How does... statement. Why/How does... is a statement that asks the student to pick something that they wonder about and ask why it works the way it does, or how does it work? By creating these Why/How does... statements on a regular basis students will start looking at the world with more wonder and be on the lookout for new things to write about that interest them.

Writing these daily Why/How does... statements do not take much time. It can be used as a sponge activity or bellringer activity as the student comes into the classroom.

My Interactive Science Notebook is now complete and I have it listed in my store. I have created three versions: 1-3rd grade, 4-5th grade, and 6-8th grade versions. The main difference in the versions is the size of the writing lines, clipart used, and some of the scientific vocabulary. The 6-8th grade version also contains a Periodic Table reference chart that the others do not.

All of the versions contain the following:
•Cover for the notebook

•Teacher Directions
•Teacher plans for the WHY/HOW DOES writing activities
•Why/How Does... writing page

•Experiment pages for note taking and reflecting

•Unfamiliar vocabulary page

•Scientific Method reference chart
•Metric Measurement reference chart
•Standard Measurement reference chart
•Neil Armstrong quote 8.5"x22" bulletin board decor

•Labels for organizing the binder including blank labels that you can customize.

This Interactive Science Notebook is a great way to keep your students organized and encourage them to write daily to increase their wonder and desire to understand! Check them all out in my Teachers Pay Teachers or Teacher's Notebook stores!

1-3rd grade version:

4-5th grade version:

6-8th grade version:

Does Texting Erode Kids' Grammar Skills?

Click the image to read more!

Summer Flying By?

Hello everyone! I don't know about you but my summer is just flying by! I had planned to do a lot of work on my products and be really productive this summer but the time is slipping away! Having my 3 kids home for the summer is taking up a lot of time. I love having them around but boy do they keep me busy with baseball, Tae Kwon Do, the pool, and running them all over the place! I feel like more taxi driver than anything some days!

Family vacations are taking up a chunk of my summer time too. My husband and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on May 30th with a Disney cruise for the whole family! We had a wonderful trip.

One interesting and educational experience on the cruise was during our 2 days at sea. The ship stopped because they saw rafts in the water. The first day we rescued 4 Cuban refugees who had set sail on a small raft in hopes of a better life. To see that tiny little raft out in the open ocean was very eye opening. To think their life was so bad in Cuba that they would risk that for something better was humbling.

Our second day at sea we stopped for another raft, but this time it was empty. I am left to wonder whatever became of the passengers. I hope they were rescued by someone else before we came along.

After returning home we had 2 weeks with a stream of house guests. It was nice to be able to celebrate my daughter's 10th birthday with the love of family surrounding us.

Upcoming we have a week at a Northeastern South Dakota lake with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law. Last we will head to Chicago to go to the American Girl store and to attend the Chicago Bears training camp at Soldier Field! Then of course it is back to school!

To help get you in the back to school groove check out this fantastic

Pinterest Back to School Board

There are a multitude of items from some fantastic Teachers Pay Teachers sellers!

Enjoy the rest of your summer! I promise to get back to business and blog more once school begins!

Trouble Opening TpT Files? Tips from Erica Bohrer

Erica Bohrer's First Grade: Trouble Opening TpT Files?: The top question I get emailed or asked in my Teachers Pay Teachers store : Can you help me? When I open your file, it shows these blac...

Spending the Summer with Katniss Everdeen, Willy Wonka, and Jigsaw Jones!

Summer vacation is almost upon us. That means I will have 3 kids home and looking for something to do! Every summer I plan some reading and math activities for my kids to keep them fresh and ready to return to school in the fall. This summer I have planned the following for reading:

My oldest son will be going into 7th grade next year. He has pretty much gone through all my novel units and is ready to branch out. We decided The Hunger Games would be a great novel to choose since he really wants to see the movie and I won't let him until he's read the book! I read the entire series a couple months ago and I loved all of the books! I can't wait for Joey to read it so we can have some real in-depth discussions and go to the movie together. Since I do not have any activities to go with this book I turned to the TpT expert, Tracee Orman! She had so many wonderful products to choose from but I felt that her product, Hunger Games Q & A Chap. 1-27 + Arena Activity, Chap. Summaries, would be the best fit for our summer work since it would be a single student instead of an entire classroom. I can't wait to get started!

My daughter will be going into 4th grade next year. Since I taught 4th grade more than any other, this is my specialty! There are so many fun books to choose from. I plan to start off with one of my favorite books, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! This was one of my very favorite units to teach and I can't wait to have that fun with my daughter!

My youngest son will be going into 2nd grade next year. This will really be the first summer that he will get to complete one of my novel units. We plan to start with Jigsaw Jones: The Case of the Missing Baseball Cards. Sam really loves sports and collects cards of his own so this should be right up his alley! It is a great book to start chapter book reading.

So that is what I have planned to start off with for the summer with my kids. They start out each day with a school work assignment and some household chores before they head outside to enjoy the sunshine. Helps them transition back into school a little easier in August too! Check out my store at Teacher's Pay Teachers, or any of the hundreds of other great stores (like Tracee's) for some ideas for your kids for some fun summer learning!

Please Vote in for The Teaching Bank in the TpT Banner Contest!

I have entered three banners into the Teachers Pay Teachers Banner Contest. If you like the look of my banners and would like to see TpT use them on their website please head over to the Teachers Pay Teachers Facebook page and "LIKE" my submissions!

You can find submissions in the right hand column:

"Recent Posts by Others on TeachersPayTeachers.com"

Click the "See All" link and scroll down for The Teaching Bank's submissions and click LIKE. Voting ends on Saturday, April 28, 2012.

Here are the banner designs that I have submitted: