A Boost for Back-To-School!

I am counting my blessings this week, and one of the things that I'm trying to really luxuriate in, is the fact that I have three more weeks of summer vacation! Since our school district is undergoing some renovations this summer, I have a little extra summer time! I've just begun truly digging in to school prep, and I found a great way to help embrace the back-to-school excitement:  a GIVEAWAY!  :)
Two wonderful educational bloggers are teaming up to share some resource ideas, and give away some Teachers Pay Teachers credit! Browsing on the TpT site always gets my creative juices flowing and jump-starts ideas for my classroom!  Here are links to the blogs and some more information about how you can get signed up, too!
The Science Penguin  
Teaching With A Mountain View

Friday was our last day of studying electricity and circuits this year. Our class has LOVED this hands-on unit and the freedom for each child to chose some of his/her explorations. On Friday, the kids chose to work together to make the biggest circuit they could, trying to use as many of our electrical supplies as possible!

 Figuring out the basics - including the fact that they are going to need to make the circle a little bigger!

 How many batteries can we connect? Notice the handful of alligator clips - we used every single one that we own!

 Here they are with their finished product! It's too bright to see the tiny light bulbs shining!

And here's their favorite picture - love those personalities shining through!  :)

Well, it's been AGES since we've posted here - we've been using Facebook to share our daily activities more than any other venue! But I wanted to share a little more about today's activities. We are just beginning our unit about electricity, and this is reminding me of why I became a teacher. The kids are SO EXCITED and they are naturally making wonderful connections to "real life" and talking about ways they can try the experiments in new ways! Hearing them say, "I can't wait to go home and try this again!" makes me love my job.  Our classroom has the lights turned off - the better to see the tiny lightbulbs when they light up - and they are working in teams. They are so focused and enthusiastic about this, begging to try new versions of the experiment tomorrow. I feel like this is what school should ideally be like - full of activities that your kids are interested in and that help them make connections!