Magnet Investigation FREEBIE!

Well, I survived another 2nd grade field trip! We went to the Oklahoma Science Museum and the kids had a really fun time! To get the kids pumped for the Science Museum, we did our mini-unit on inventors. We focused on Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and the Wright Brothers. Their inventions helped us tie in some science skills {sound, light, force/motion}. As we learned about each inventor, we recorded our learning in our inventors journal that sweet Cara shared awhile back!

We also did our magnet investigation! It is always a hit. Before we read anything about magnets or even talk about them, we set up about 20 stations around our room. **We team teach and have 49 students! If you have a "normal" sized class, you could use less stations!** The students visited each station to test out different items to see if a magnet would attract them.

At each station, we put two note cards; one with the name of the item, and one that said "magnet." When students were done testing each item, they had to put everything back on the note cards. That way, no one walked off with any items!

Students filled out a record sheet as they visited each station. They wrote the name of the item (Bonus! The note cards ensured that they spelled it correctly!), made a prediction, then recorded the results!

The students had a great time, and were surprised by the results of some items, like the the brass brad and the pipe cleaner! This activity doesn't take a lot of prep on your part! 

Just find any items you have lying around your classroom or at home, make some note cards, and print the record sheet! I have made a record sheet that you can download for free! Click HERE or on the picture below!

First TpT Item! (Freebie!)

I have been wanting to do TpT for awhile, but just never took the time to set up an account. But I finally did it (with the encouragement from my teammate, Amy)! Last week I did a mini unit on inventors and inventions, and this is one of the printables I used. In 2nd grade, we like to throw in some timelines when we get a chance :)

Check out this little Inventors & Inventions Timeline :) Enjoy!

Inventors & Magnets

Well, I survived the field trip to our Science Museum! My parent sponsors were fabulous, and the kids had an AWESOME time!! This past week was spent learning about inventors while tying in some science skills (sound, light, force/motion, and magnets). It turned out to be a fun week!!

I got many of my ideas from Cara! Also, if you haven't picked up her Inventors FREEBIE yet, you need to! We focused mainly on Thomas Edison (so we could tie in light), Alexander Graham Bell (to tie in sound), and the Wright Bros. (so we could tie in force and motion). Each day they added to the inventor journal that Cara made.

Then at the end of the week, the kids got to make their own inventions. They had some cute ideas :)

Amy and I also got our classes together to do a magnet investigation, and it went GREAT! We set up about 20 different stations. Each station had an item and a magnet. The kids had to write the item, make a prediction as to whether or not the item would be attracted to the magnet. Then they had to write the results. Even with 46 kids in one room it went smoothly!! Then we had a great discussion afterwards, along with some demos by Amy and I. Such a fun day!

I am SO glad we did this mini-unit before our field trip because the kids were able to apply what they learned and were twice as excited!!

I need to get off here now, we are having some stormy weather :) Have a great weekend!!