Take a look at what's going this week in science! Fun stuff!!!!

This week for science some of us are building, a few of us are drawing, and a few are making a brochure. Whew! That is a lot going on! After looking at these pictures make sure you take a look at the 'Happenings in classes' page for more pictures.

4th grade designing and building reindeer with new adaptations.

Kindergarten drawing shadows for their snowmen.

3rd graders were designing catapults to toss garbage to the dump. This really stretched their thinking.

2nd grade is creating a delicious drink for elves with syrup and water.They noticed something wasn't quite right when one sat on top of the other one.

Hubble countdown to Christmas!

These are some amazing pictures from the Hubble telescope out in space. You will want to check back everyday or so because they will add a new picture a day until Christmas.
Follow this link:   Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar

And have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS this year!!!!!!!! HoHoHoHoHoHoHoHoHoHoHo

Whose Nails are These????????

I found these extremely cute Minnie Mouse nails today in one of my classrooms. Maybe I should have her do mine next time????  Love them!

Way cute Minnie Mouse nails!!!!!!

Last week at Harrison

Harrsion 1st graders were using their classification skills to put items in the correct season. They were very sucessful! Then they identified the season the apple tree was in and labeled it. They were so excited when they had time to color the apple trees. We have amazing colorers here. 

Liz Haugee from ID Power spent the week with 3rd grade teaching them about natural resources and how we can conserve them. They were able to share lots of knowledge with her as she did her presentation. She was very impressed with what they knew. 

Steelhead

4th grade has been enjoying a presentation from Liz Haugee from ID Power about their efforts to grow the populations of steelhead and salmon. KTVB had a report on the stocking of steelhead in Idaho. KTVB Steelhead Report

Wow! A lot has been going on! 5th grade is working on the respiratory system labeling and reading about it. 4th grade is working on plant adaptations. Mrs. Garcia's class helped me put together the activity we are doing this week. They matched plants with their decsriptions. No small task since they were in no order and about 45 of each.  They definitaley were synergizing! Thanks so much! 3rd grade is working really hard to understand nonrenewable resources. Such a big concept. 2nd grade is having fun with matter. Last few weeks we investigated solids and created properties for them. This week we are investigating liquids and then next week we will create properties for them. 1st is finishing up classifying with a pretty difficult activity this week. They are working with 2 properties of blocks; some of those blocks fit just one property, some blocks don't fit either property, and some fit both propertuies. We are really stretching their thinking! And Liz and Ouch from ID Power are visiting the afternoon kindergarten classes. The students LOVE seeing them! Thanks Liz and Ouch for helping us learn about electrical safety.

 Just how many kindergarteners does it take to push in Ouch's saftey cap?????

Having a little fun!

If you are in the mood for a laugh or two check these jokes out.
Thanksgiving Jokes

Halloween Week/Red Ribbon Week

On Thursday of Red Ribbon Week it was "Team Up Agaist Drugs" and everybody wore their team shirts. There were several BSU shirts and jerseys running around. We caught of few of them in a picture.

But first we had several who wanted to share in our picture. Gotta love the class togetherness!
Really love having fun with all of these guys.






      Halloween week we took a small break from our regular topics and explored some more Holloweenish activities. Some of us were seeing how different liquids dissolved candy pumpkins, Others were observing worms coming to life and then recording what we saw. Still others were exploding ghosts and pumpkins.

Our New Topics

Well we have all changed to new topics. We worked on scientific method, practiced the steps, and reviewed the step. I think now we are ready to use those skills to investigate all sorts of things! First grade is learning about classifying. Another skill scientists use to figure things out. Sencond grade is investigating matter. Third grade is beginning lessons concerning natual and man-made resources. Fourth grade is learning about adaptations. We are first tackling plant adaptations then will look at animal adaptations.  Fifth grade is reviewing cells and then moving to resiratory and circulatory systems. It is going to be a very busy and exciting few weeks coming up.

2nd grade Investigations

This week 2nd grade is investigating---observing----the properties of matter. They are answering questions about milk, water, a pencil, a block, a book, and juice. They are investigating if they can pour, put a spoon through it, or if it changes shape in different containers. Can you answer these questions?

LIZ and OUCH

This week Liz from ID Power and her buddy Ouch will be visiting all first graders and tellling them about being safe around electricity. The students are always excited to see them come. Take a look at their visit this afternoon:

TWINS!!!!!!

I was walking in the hall on my way to a 5th grade classroom.....when...I spotted my TWIN!!!!!! I didn't even know I had one! Wow, was I excited! She has some cool friends too that shared our picture.

Pictures from the first week of school. The students were all bulding towers out of various materials. Make sure you check out the 'Happenings inclasses' page to see the collage video.

The picture on the right is from the first week of STEM class in the afterschool program.

Pictures from the first week of school of students building towers using various materials. Make sure you check out the 'Happenings in classes" page and take a look at the collage video of everybody building towers.

Check this out!

Can you tell what is happening?? 

The kindergartners in Mrs. Jacobson's AM class were very excited about it. We had to wait quite awhile for this to happen. But not one of the pastas joined in.  :(

         School is off to an exciting start. We built towers using various matereials--check the pictures! We checked  out the breaking down of fats in milk and watched colors mix. And this week we are setting up science interactive notebooks in 4th and 5th grades. Once we get these set and are using them, I am hoping  they will help students retain and understand more science. Thanks to the 4th grade teachers for letting me hijack the back of their data binders.
          For the first few weeks all grades are tackling the Scientific Method. We are specicially looking at the steps, terms, and procdures associated with this process. Keep an eye open for students doing the silly actions and using the terminalogy.

Take part in an ART CONTEST!!!!!!!

Idaho Power is sponsering an art contest  with these categories:
1. electrical saftey/Ouch the outlet
2. Ways to save energy
3. energy/electricity
check out the link ART Contest 
You could win a $50 gift card!
Deadline is October 8, 2014

What did you do to 'sharpen the saw'?

What did you do to "sharpen the saw" this past weekend?  I went and visited my daughter...and a few animal friends. Check this out! Labor Day Adventure

Welcome back to another exciting year of science! I can hardly wait to get started...how about you?!

Let's start with something 'happy'.....

Year in Review

Have a look at all that we did through out the year. Click here

Carnival Day with the Robots

One of the 'games' at Harrison's carnival was underwater  robots. LOTS of students had fun driving them...maybe they should have had a licence. Mr. Hyer brought over the robots his high school students had built and let us play with them. You too can have one of these awesome robots. There are kits or you can get the plans and build it yourself. Go check out Seaperch.

Take a look at these pictures. There will be more on the Harrison page...go check them out.

See the International Space Station

You will be able to see the International Space Station (ISS) over Twin Falls the first part of June. This page will tell you when and where to look. To understand what all of the information means check out this page.

Can you answer this question?

What’s @NASA term 4 “wearing away” heat shield 

during reentry: ablation, erosion, debrement? 

http://Go.usa.gov/b2u5 

Let me know your answer by posting a comment below.

I'll be anxiously waiting responses!

Looking for something fun to do this summer?

Check out Steve Spangler. This link is to 20 favorite activities. There are several experiments on his website to do with and without his products.Go. Experiment. Explore.

Have some fun this SUMMER!!!

Check out this site it has amazing experiments for you to try this summer. And don't forget to check out the activities on my 'links' tab.

Interesting information about our moon! Check it out!

NASA ‏@NASA  

Is the moon lopsided? Scientists using Grail data say it is. Find out why! http://go.nasa.gov/1nGLx8o   

Want to see Jupiter???

Jupiter will be the first 'star' that you can see at sunset. Go out tonight and take a look!

New pictures of Mars

Take a look at this link . It shows Mars with a new creator! Exciting!

What was Ms. Hayes up to?????

The school mentor at Harrison had some things she wanted to try out with 4th grade. 

She has balloons, milk, soda, juice, ketchup, vinegar, oil, and water. And oh a few more items....a candle and a lighter! What could she have in mind? Check out Harrison's page to see what happened in  Mrs. Garcia's class.

Bickel Science Discovery Day

Check out the pictures from Bickel's Science Day.Go to Bickel's page. There will be more to come as I get them sorted. The students really seemed to enjoy the presenters and for the most part were very respectful and attentive. Thanks for showing how great our school is!

Ms. Milligan got to hold the ball python Mr. Usenbach brought. I think she found a friend!

For all of those astronomers out there

This is Neptune, the farthest planet in our system. Here is the link for this image  Neptune's picture. It includes how and where the image came from. This page includes links that give you more pictures and information about Neptune. This is also a site for an astronomy picture a day. Take a look and enjoy!

Finding Saturn in the night sky.

Here is a map of how to find Saturn in the night sky.
This website has information about how to find planets and stars that are visible in out night skies. Enjoy!
Earth Sky Tonight

ID Power Presentation

Last week 5th graders were treated to a presentation from Liz Haugee from ID Power. She presented 'The Shocking Truth'. Showing the students why and how  to be safe around electricity. She even dressed a few up in some of the protective gear the power line workers wear....exciting!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!!!

Here is a video from the astronauts orbiting Earth about Earth Day.
Earth Day greeting from space.

Look at what the sun did today!

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 9:03 a.m. EDT on April 18, 2014, and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however – when intense enough – they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. This flare is classified as an M7-class flare. M-class flares are one step below the most intense flares, which are designated as X-class.

Check this out!

As the only operational vehicle capable of taking significant amounts of cargo both to and from the International Space Station, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is already a critical piece of the American space program. Rocket launched....take  a look:
Launch of SpaceX-3

LUNAR ECLIPSES!!!!!

We are about to be treated to a full lunar eclipse. Here is a link to a video explaining this very cool phenomenon.NASA link to Tetrad And if you are extremely tired Wednesday, we might have an idea. The eclipse will happen around midnight.Happy moon viewing!

Happy Pi Day!!!!!!

It is also Albert Einstein's birthday. Enjoy your  Pi!

Birds Of Prey presentation

Liz Haugee from Idaho Power is presenting this week  to Harrison 4th graders about birds of prey in Idaho. Did you know the wing span of an eagle can be 7 feet!? And their eye sight is 7 time better than ours! Liz gave us lots of amazing information about birds of prey.  She explained the power poles and how Idaho Power is changing them to help protect our birds of prey. She also showed us pictures of baby eagles and gave us a website to watch a nest of eagles. Eagle cam Click and go check it out. Here are a few pictures from one of the presentations.

Chance to have a leadership job at Harrison

The concept of school-wide leadership jobs (besides Patrols) is a new one at Harrison.   Several students have been asking about them (What are they? How to apply?  etc).  The jobs are posted on the front bulletin board (Rocket Math board) and blank applications are in a file folder on the board.  Check out the power point Mrs. Jensen has prepared explaining the process. And go apply!!!!
How to be a Leader

Found a cool website!

This website allows you to create pictures with words. Take a look of the picture created with words from my blog! It is the Wordle website. You can find the link on my 'Links' page.

Here's a chance for you interact with my blog. I can't wait!

MATTER!!!!! MATTER!!!!!

The gray square off to the right side is to let me and your friends know what you know about matter. This is very simple and quick. You just need to put your response in the white box and hit submit, if you would like to do a second one then hit the refresh button on the website and enter a second response. Mrs. Long is having the 4th grade classes do this at the beginning of their computer block, but anyone can get on my blog and enter responses on your own from home. I am anxious to see how much the students here at Harrison know about matter.

Happy President's Day! 

Ok it's a little late but better late than never...my grandma always told me....hehehehehe  :)

A friend sent me this video and I thought it was important enough to share with all of you.
Please take a look, listen to it's message, and have a laugh or two.

Kid President "What Are You Teaching the World?"

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!

New Topics!!!!!

Fungi, birds, cows, omnivores, liquid, gas, food chains, heat, energy, metamorphic, lava, bacteria, sedimentary, pressure, earth, moon, and sun What do all of these have in common?

Students at Bickel and Harrison schools---that's what!!!!

  We have all started studying new topics. 5th grade is taking rocks and the rock cycle. 4th grade is learning about solids, liquids, and gases--matter. 3rd grade is finding out what eats what and it is all connected while studying food chains and food webs. 2nd and 1st graders get to find out about earth, the sun, the moon, and how all the bodies in space move. Kindergartners are getting to explore all of their senses. This should be a fun quarter!

Great Opportunity

Students and families here is an opportunity for you to have some fun together and explore many different subjects.

BSU hosts STEM Exploration Day – The 10^th annual STEM Exploration (previously Discover Engineering Day) will be held Saturday, February 1, 2014 at Boise State University. The event is a free family day that offers something for everyone and all ages. Families will be introduced to the many fields of science, technology, engineering, and math, and the excitement that comes from being able to learn and play together. Various activities will be held in various locations on campus: Student Union Building, Engineering Building, Micron Engineering Center, Civil Engineering Building, and Kinesiology Building. For more information, visit http://coen.boisestate.edu/STEMExploration/

Friday at Harrison
Ms. Hayes....Ms. Hayes....Ms. Hayes.....

3rd graders found out how  much Ms. Hayes likes to do experiments. And she learned that we usually have to work before we can play...darn it!
She had a question for them....How can you eat 6 saltine crackers in just 1 minute? She thought she knew how to do but didn't tell the students what she was thinking. They all came up with a hypothesis first then they all got try them out. None of them were successful. We had all sorts of ways they tried, but no  one was able to eat all 6 crackers in just the 1 minute.

 Now it was Ms. Hayes's turn. Her hypothesis was one cracker at a time. She was pretty confident.
Let's check out how she did:
Ms. Hayes trying to eat 6 crackers in one minute.

Brennen trying his hypothesis.

Check out the video on the video page "cracker experiment"

We love it when Ms. Hayes brings science experiments to our class!

     Welcome back from Christmas break. I hope everybody had a great time. I trust all of you rested up and of course reviewed all we have been doing on my blog over the break. Heheheheheheheheh...ok I am pretty sure nobody did, but I can dream...right?!
      This week will be a bit different. Wednesday Ms. Newnham will be visiting you instead of me and Thursday we will be having a Science Discovery Day. There will be several different presenters ready to share what they know about science and how it applies to real life things. I hope you all will enjoy this treat and I know you will be on your best behavior! I have been bragging about how great all of the students here at Harrison are.
       This week and next we will be wrapping up topics: 4th, the digestive system; 3rd, resources; 2nd, matter; 1st, seasons; and 5th circulatory and respiratory systems. And those classes that have been studying scientific method be ready to take a little test on the steps and what they mean.