Jewel's School Gems by Jewel Pastor | Page 2 of 8 | Where Science and Math resources are brilliant, interactive and fun!

HOW TO TEACH WEATHER TO ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

November 7, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

What Is Weather and Why Is It Important?

Weather is the day-to-day conditions in a place. For example, today it’s sunny here in my place, but yesterday it’s rainy. Other weather conditions are cloudy, windy, and snowy. Some people confuse weather with climate though, so let’s clarify: Climate is the average weather condition at a place over a long period, say about 30 years. A desert is a great example of a place that has a hot and dry climate.

Teaching about weather to our students is important because children need to understand the world they live in. Weather is an unescapable part of our everyday lives that has a way of controlling how and where we live, what we do, what we wear, and what we eat.

Teaching Weather to Elementary Students

Students can learn about the weather in a variety of ways. A combination of hands-on activities and printables usually work well.

Here are some ways you can teach about the weather:

You can introduce weather using this PowerPoint. This resource defines vocabulary related to weather, discusses what weather is, differentiates between weather and climate, discusses the types of weather, and checks for student comprehension at the end.

Use children’s books to boost your students’ understanding. Some useful titles include:
- The Magic School Bus Kicks Up A Storm: A Book About Weather by Nancy White
- National Geographic Kids Everything Weather: Facts, Photos, and Fun that Will Blow You Away by Kathy Furgang
- Weather by Anita Ganeri
- What Will the Weather Be? by Lynda DeWitt
- Weather Forecasting by Gail Gibbons

A variety of useful videos on weather can also be found online. Here are a few of them:

This video can be useful for explaining the difference between “weather” and “climate”.

This one discusses the difference between “weather” and “severe weather”. It also talks about what makes severe weather and how it interacts with the geosphere and biosphere.

This one is a video where a meteorologist, JD Rudd, explains a few basics about weather and how the “magic green wall” is used on television.

Why don’t you try doing science experiments? If you do a search on Pinterest, you’ll find a plethora of activities to do with your classes. You can try doing the following:
- Produce rain clouds
- Make a hurricane
- Create a tornado
- Grow a crystal snowflake

To consolidate your students’ learning, they can use interactive foldables like this flipbook. This weather resource is perfect for students who can already write. They can take down notes from discussions, videos, research, or this complementary PowerPoint.

Teaching Weather with Jewel’s School Gems

I currently offer a Weather Activities Bundle, which includes the following:

a PowerPoint introducing vocabulary related to weather, defining weather, discussing the different types of weather, and checking comprehension
a flipbook that provides opportunity to practice note-taking skills on the different types of weather
a QR code scavenger hunt activity where students find answers to different questions on weather by scanning QR codes with iPads or tablets

The resources in this Weather Activities Bundle will not only save you time, but make learning about weather engaging for your students as well.

HOW TO TEACH WEATHER TO ELEMENTARY STUDENTS | by JEWEL PASTOR by JEWEL'S SCHOOL GEMS | Are you looking for ideas on how to teach weather to elementary students? Read on plus download a free word search, observation chart and acrostic poem! — Click on the image to see the resource in my TpT store!

Want Weather Resources for FREE?

Your students can also do a weather observation, write a weather acrostic poem, or complete a weather word search and you can get these resources for FREE. Yes, you read that right. Just sign up to become a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber to access my Free Resource Library! Your students will surely enjoy learning about the weather and other Science topics with my resources! Sign up today!

9 REASONS TO DATE A MATH TEACHER

October 24, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

We’ve read of reasons why one should consider dating teachers in general. But why don’t we take it a bit further and be more specific – what about dating a Math teacher? Well, here are 9 reasons to date a Math teacher:

Reason 1: Chances are, if they decided to date you, it’s a calculated move. They decided to go out with you because they most probably have already calculated the chances that both of you will have a great time being together.

Reason 2: Obviously, you get a human calculator when you date a Math teacher. Calculating the discounts or percent off you’ll get for your shoes or groceries will be a breeze with a Math teacher around. Figuring out the amount to give for tips will be so much easier, too.

Reason 3: Math teachers like numbers. I guess most of them are looking for The One. Why, you can be The One.

Reason 4: Do you have problems? Well, guess what? Math teachers are awesome with problem solving. If they can teach kids how to find out how much money Tommy spent on 349 chocolate bars, they surely wouldn’t mind helping you with your own problems. Promise.

Reason 5: If you’re not great with Math yourself and not sure if you can help your own kids with their Math homework, well, lucky you! If the Math teacher you’re dating turns out to be the parent of your future kids, we know which parent will help your kids with their algebra assignment.

Reason 6: Do you know that Math teachers are good listeners? They’re so used to listening to kids explain how they got the answer to problems, most probably, they wouldn’t mind listening to your endless complaints about the traffic or even your rude colleague.

Reason 7: Math teachers can help kids understand Math concepts and strategies in a variety of ways until they’re sure their students understand. Well, it will be difficult to have miscommunication with someone this good in explaining things, don’t you think?

Reason 8: Math teachers must be patient. As you very well know, kids don’t always get the right answer to questions the first time (just like any adult, hello) and so, a Math teacher needs to be good-natured enough to keep persevering until students get it. Well, you would be fortunate to end up with someone who can put up with your tantrums (if ever you need to have one occasionally) and face uncertainties with you as you figure out things in your relationship.

Reason 9: Math teachers know very well that several strategies can be used to find the correct answer. I bet they wouldn’t hesitate to use various strategies to make your relationship work and have the outcome you both want – a happy ending.

Can you come up with other reasons to date Math teachers? A 10^th reason perhaps? Well, feel free to comment below. Thanks for stopping by!

7 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD PURCHASE BUNDLES ON TPT

October 11, 2016 By Jewel Pastor 1 Comment

Bundles. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of the term before. A bundle is basically a collection of two or more resources put together, usually in a zip file or a pdf file. Many teacher-authors offer a regular bundle, which means you will get two or more resources and that’s it. Some offer growing bundles, which means the teacher-author will add a set number of resources in the bundle before considering the bundle complete. Others offer a forever growing bundle, which means items will be added to the bundle till…well, the end of time. LOL. Most teacher-authors on TeachersPayTeachers offer at least one bundle in their stores and why not? Bundles are wonderful, not only for teacher-authors, but most especially for teachers like you. With a little help from my friends in the TpT Down Under Tribe, here are 7 reasons why you should purchase bundles on TpT:

Reason 1: Grab a bargain.

Who doesn’t love a bargain?! Bundles are basically like that – you’re getting a bargain. Most teacher-authors offer great discount for their bundled products, ranging from 5% to 95%! Sometimes the bundle is so heavily discounted, you’ll think it’s crazy! If you buy a growing bundle or a forever growing bundle you get even more bang for your buck since future additions to the bundle will be free, just like my Science PowerPoints Bundle and Science Flipbooks Bundle.

Reason 2: Save time.

Let’s face it. Who has the time to search for every little product that you need to teach a concept? By purchasing a bundle, you save time by not having to comb through hundreds of resources in a particular seller’s store or even thousands of items in the Teachers Pay Teachers website just to find what you need. Of course, you also save a lot of time by not having to do all the research and formatting of the resources in the bundle yourself. Let’s be real, who wants to spend all night planning and creating what they will be using to teach the next day, right? If you’re like me, I’d rather spend my time after school being with people I love or doing activities not really related to work.

Reason 3: Have a similar-looking line of resources.

With bundles, you often get resources that have different topics, but come in similar formats. This works well as you have to introduce the format only once to your students and since they’re already familiar with the format, they will have an easier time doing the next activity from the bundle. Furthermore, if you have OCD like I do and many other teachers I know, wouldn’t it be sooo nice to have resources that look uniform and match each other? The flipbooks in my Animal Research Bundle, the interactive wheels in my Animal Life Cycle Bundle and Plant Life Cycle Bundle, and the worksheets in my Graphing Bundle are great examples.

Reason 4: Discover new resources.

Purchasing bundles give you a great opportunity to discover new resources that you wouldn’t have found otherwise. Sometimes it just takes a bit of an introduction to a new resource for you to realize that you have options other than the ones you’re used to. Also, even though you may not use all the resources in the bundle to begin with, you might just find a use for them later.

Reason 5: Get a bonus.

Sometimes, as a way of saying thank you, teacher-authors will include a bonus resource in their bundles. Not everyone does this, but you might just buy a resource that has one, like my Science Classroom Decorations Bundle.

Reason 6: Plan your unit around comprehensive bundles.

Isn’t it nice to have a comprehensive bundle on a particular topic? If you know the outcomes that can be met by resources in a bundle, then you can plan your lesson around them and incorporate the resources into daily or weekly lessons.

Reason 7: Great chance of getting high quality resources.

Who wants to worry about the quality of the resource they will purchase, right? Well, chances are, if you’re buying a bundle from a seller you already trust or whose other work you consider of high quality, then there’s a great chance of getting high quality resources from the bundle you’re going to purchase from them.

So, there you go, girl – 7 reasons why you should grab bundles on your next purchase on TpT. Make sure to check out the Science and Math bundles in my store to get all the fabulous benefits mentioned above.

4 FUN FALL SCIENCE RESOURCES FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS

October 3, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

Pumpkins. Apples. Bats. Spiders. What season do you associate with those words? It’s fall, of course! Do you need fun yet practical fall science resources? Well, you came to the right place!

In this post, you’ll read about four of my fall science resources that I’m pretty sure will help your students learn more while having fun, as well as make your teacher-life a whole lot easier during this time of the year! Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned teacher, these fall resources are just what you need to make Science learning lots of fun!

4 FUN FALL SCIENCE RESOURCES FOR PRIMARY by Jewel Pastor of Jewel's School Gems | Do you need fun yet practical fall science resources? Read about four fun fall science resources and download a FREE Pumpkin PowerPoint sampler! — Click on the image to see this bundle in my TpT store.

Apple Activities Bundle

What’s fall without apples? Before having your students do some apple-themed activities, why not make sure that your students know a lot of information about the popular fruit? My Apple Activities Bundle consists of a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation on apples and a complementary flipbook.

The PowerPoint presentation can be used as a whole lesson since it helps facilitate unlocking of difficulty, discussion of key ideas, and assessment of students’ learning.

The key ideas tackled in this Apples PowerPoint presentation are:

What an apple is, its parts, and its varieties
Some common apple products
How apples grow through the seasons
How apples are harvested and stored
Trivia about apples

The flipbook complements the PowerPoint by asking information based on the same key ideas discussed in the presentation. The flipbook can be used in science interactive notebooks, in research projects, or as a graphic organizer. I know of teachers who use my flipbooks for classroom displays, too. You’re only limited by your imagination really.

Pumpkin Activities Bundle

If you have apple-themed activities, then surely, you’d want to have pumpkin-themed activities, right? My Pumpkin Activities Bundle is just what you need to introduce pumpkins to your students!

This resource is quite similar to my Apple Activities Bundle in terms of the PowerPoint and flipbook being complementary to each other. My PowerPoint presentation on pumpkins can also be used as a whole lesson with Words to Know, discussion of key concepts, and True or False questions. The flipbook is also structured based on the key ideas discussed in the presentation just like my flipbook on apples.

The key ideas tackled in the Pumpkins PowerPoint presentation are:

What a pumpkin is, the origin of the term “pumpkin”, and its physical features
The parts of a pumpkin and its varieties
Some common pumpkin products
Where pumpkins grow and the pumpkin life cycle
How pumpkins are harvested and stored
Trivia about pumpkins

Plant Life Cycle Activities Bundle

Do you need quick and simple, but fun fall crafts on apple, pumpkin and sunflower life cycles? Well, then this is the bundle for you! My interactive plant life cycle wheels can be used for individual presentation of understanding about the life cycle of apples, pumpkins, and sunflowers in front of the class or within small groups. They can also be placed on bulletin boards or taken home to be shown to parents. These wheels will come in handy for your science interactive notebooks as well.

Halloween Animals Research Flipbook Bundle

Now, what’s fall without Halloween, right? When one says “Halloween”, a few animals come into mind. For me, it’s bats, cats, frogs, owls, rats, and spiders. You can use my Halloween Animals Research Flipbook Bundle to integrate English Language Arts and Social Studies with Science by having your students research about these animals.

Each flipbook consists of five pages of black and white templates that can be used to create a research report flipbook on:

What the animal is like
What it does to survive
Where in the world it can be found
Its place in the food chain

You also get a grading rubric to facilitate easier assessment of your students’ learning.

Do you want to see a sample of the slides in the Pumpkins PowerPoint? Download the slides on the Pumpkin Life Cycle below by becoming a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber.

I’m so proud of these fall science resources and I’m pretty confident about their quality too after having received a lot of AWESOME feedback from fellow educators like you! Here is some feedback from wonderful teachers who made the wise decision to purchase the bundles or individual resources (inside the bundles) from my Teachers Pay Teachers store:

Pumpkins PowerPoint (found in the Pumpkin Activities Bundle)

On February 2, 2016, Jennifer C. said:

Thank you. Just what we needed!

Apples PowerPoint (found in the Apple Activities Bundle)

On September 27, 2016, Joan S. said:

I used this activity in a Functional Skills classroom on Monday. This morning, one of the students shared facts about apples in her general education homeroom. This is a huge thing. We’re all so excited. Thanks for your part in my day today.

Plant Life Cycle Activities Bundle

On September 23, 2016, Buyer said:

This is a great resource for reinforcing plant life cycles, especially for my Fall unit. It comes with both a color and a black and white copy, which is great for teacher demonstration then student work. It is a simple project with a creative design. I also appreciated that there are two sizes of “wheels” for each of the three plants. (A full page size and half page size) I needed an activity for each of these plant types and purchasing this one package provided cohesiveness and worked perfectly!

Halloween Animals Research Flipbook Bundle

On October 20, 2015, Heidi F. said:

This is a great product. I work with special needs students and they loved working with these during our Halloween themed times. They are easy to work with.

Make sure to check out these fun fall science resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store today!

This post is also featured on the TpT Blog.

9 PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES

September 26, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

Knowledge of various problem solving strategies for Math is undoubtedly important for students of all ages. Knowing how to find solutions to difficult problems not only gives your kiddos the ability to identify and tackle more complex Math problems, it also gives them the confidence to take on some of the responsibility for their own learning and practice higher levels of thinking.

To help your students become more proficient in solving Math problems, here are nine problem solving strategies you can teach them:

Underline the important words.
Write these words down.
Read them a number of times.
Make sure you know what to do.

Find a similar thing happening over and over again.
See if finding this pattern will help solve the problem.

Think of a possible answer.
Try and see if it works.
See if your answer makes sense.

Think if a table or chart can help you.
Try using one to help you see a pattern.

Try drawing the problem in some way.
Sketch a picture that can help you see what needs to be done.

Start at the end of the problem and work your way backwards.
When you do this, see if your answer works.

Find out what is the same about the two problems.
Try using the similarity you found to help you solve the harder problem.
Look for a pattern.

Try creating a model out of paper to help solve the problem.
You can also try using blocks to help you solve the problem.

Think about what you already know about the possible answer.
Take note of what the answer must look like.
You can also take note of answers that obviously do not work.

So there you go, my friend. Nine problem solving strategies that will help your students! I actually have these strategies in poster form. Become a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber and download these nine problem solving strategies posters for free! Just click on the image below to sign up.

$9 Problem Solving Strategies (Plus Free Problem Solving Strategies Posters) by Jewel Pastor of Jewel's School Gems | Read about 9 problem solving strategies to help your kids become more proficient in solving word problems plus grab FREE problem solving strategies posters!$

These posters are also a part of my Word Problems resource on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Here’s what a couple of teachers who downloaded this resource have to say:

On July 7, 2015, LISA M. said:

Love these!!! I have been using them for extra activities and practice. An excellent package, well prepared!

On January 6, 2015, Gramma Elliott – Clip Art said:

An excellent packet of story problems that children can relate to. Well written, with answer keys for each page. These can make a good math center, sheets for tutoring, cooperative work, and take home practice.

Just click on the image to check out this resource in my store! Thanks for stopping by!