Jewel's School Gems by Jewel Pastor | Page 4 of 8 | Where Science and Math resources are brilliant, interactive and fun!

3 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES THAT YOU CAN DO IN YOUR SCIENCE CLASS

July 28, 2016 By Jewel Pastor 28 Comments

To make back to school easier for you, my TPT friends and I decided to offer you tips through our blog posts. We’re also giving away a $25 TpT gift card each that can go towards your back to school preparations! Read my post below on how you can have a great start to your year and find out how you can win.

We’ve all heard it. Set expectations right at the start. Though I agree that classroom management should be at the top of a teacher’s list at the beginning of the year, I also believe that first day back at school should be fun for students. Science classes are no exception. There’s nothing worse than making kids feel that this awesome subject will be borrrrrring because as teachers we failed to provide engaging first day of school activities right at the beginning of the year.

Here are three first day of school activities that I really think students will appreciate in your science class:

1. Secret Code

This activity will surely capture your students’ attention. And why not? Everybody loves a secret! Give each student a copy and see how engrossed they will be in cracking the code! You can also turn the activity into a race to make it more exciting. Don’t be surprised though if the room suddenly becomes too quiet. I suggest giving a prize to the first three students to decipher the message. Everybody knows how fun it is to win something, especially during the first day of school! You can discuss the message with your class and use this activity as a springboard to any activity you have in mind for introducing yourself as well.

3 First Day of School Activities That You Can Do in Your Science Class by Jewel Pastor | Read about three first day of school activities for your science class, grab an all about me freebie, and have a chance to win a $25 TpT gift card! — **Click on the image to see this resource in my TpT store!**

You can easily make your own secret code by turning letters into symbols through the Wingdings font or just grab my A Secret Emoji Code. Not only do you save time, but students will also think you’re cool. You just can’t deny that emojis are the rage nowadays and can easily be connected to STEM/STEAM. Wink, wink.

2. All About Me

Who says all about me activities can’t be hands on? Instead of making your students fill out another all about me sheet this year, why not create an All About Me Cube? You can download the template I have in my Free Resource Library by being a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber.

Print the template out, make multiple copies and give each child a copy. Have each student do a self-portrait and fill out the details being asked for. Have kids color and/or decorate. Each student should then cut the template and assemble the cube. If you have time, let the children swap cubes to learn more about each other. Why you can even do a sharing session in small groups or as whole class. Have a designated place in your classroom where all your students’ cubes can be displayed. If you want bigger cubes, just make bigger copies of the template.

3. Bingo

This one will surely be a blast as bingo allows your students to have fun while learning. Anybody who knows me know I love using bingo for introducing or reviewing concepts. In fact, I have several bingo resources in my TpT store on various science concepts.

My Science Tools Bingo allows you to introduce or review most (if not all) of the different science tools/equipment that your students will encounter in your science classroom or laboratory. Just print out the different cards plus a call sheet or the call cards. Cut out the call sheet or the call cards and put the squares or rectangles into a container. Hand out one bingo card to each child and let the fun begin! You can act as the caller or assign a student to act as one. The caller should pull out one image of a science tool, describe it, let the children guess what science tool is being described, and show it to the class. Your kiddos will then place coins, counters, blocks or something similar on the called image if it is on their card. Once a predetermined pattern (blackout, T, line, U, or square) is made on a card, the child with that card calls out BINGO!

There you go – three first day of school activities that you can do in your science class. Now, to make your first day of school preparations more fun, join my giveaway below through Rafflecopter! All the best and I hope you win!

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Get another chance to win another gift card by visiting It Happened in 3rd. Click on the link or her logo and continue the hop! All the best!

HOW TO TEACH THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD FOR KIDS

July 20, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

What Is the Scientific Method and Why Is It Important?

Basically, the scientific method is just a set of steps that scientists use to research something or solve a problem. In scientific terms though, it’s described this way: a problem or question is identified, information about the problem (or question) is collected, a hypothesis is created from the information known, and then the hypothesis is tested. While that explanation works for scientists, some of your kiddos might give you a blank stare if you say all that so let’s restate it in student-friendly language: If we need to learn about something or solve a problem, we can use the scientific method as a way to help show us how.

Now that we’re clear on the definition of the important process, it’s important for kids to learn about the scientific method because it’s the basis for all the science knowledge that’s been gathered in the world so far. It’s also the standard for how scientists around the world do research and solve problems.

Given how important the process is, here’s a “kid-friendly” list of the steps to the scientific method:

Purpose. Ask a question or decide on a problem that needs to be solved.
Research. Gather information and observe.
Hypothesis. Predict the answer to the question.
Experiment. Test if your hypothesis is correct.
Analysis. Record what happened during the experiment.
Conclusion. Present your final answer to the question.

Do you need a visual reminder for your students? Grab my free scientific method posters below by becoming a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber!

The Scientific Method for Kids: Why You Should Teach It

On top of being part of your school’s curriculum, as well as the science world’s standard for how to conduct research and solve problems, kids need to learn about the scientific method because it’s one of the fundamentals of science (and any science-related curriculum).

As teachers, we also love the positive side effects of kids learning about the scientific method: they become more curious about their world and how things work, they become more observant of their surroundings, they learn a new way to solve problems—whether in school or out!

Learning the scientific method is also very important because our students will be able to gain knowledge on keeping track of sequences, and cause and effect relationships.

Teaching the Scientific Method to Kids

The best ways to teach kids the scientific method, as you’ve probably already guessed, are through visuals, graphic organizers and hands-on activities!

HOW TO TEACH THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD FOR KIDS by Jewel Pastor of Jewel's School Gems | Read about several ways on how to teach the scientific method for kids in this post PLUS grab FREE scientific method posters when you become a subscriber. — **Click on the image to see this resource in my TpT store!**

Here are some fun experiments to try that will get your kids excited about the scientific method:

Which brand of popcorn has the most popped kernels?
What is the fastest route to school?
What is the cafeteria’s most popular food?
What makes ice melt faster or slower?
What can make old coins change color?

Just like the fun experiments mentioned above, there are so many engaging ways that kids can learn about the scientific method! A long-term experiment that students will look forward to monitoring every day is a classroom garden, with some plants by a window (sunlight) and others in a darker area of the room. The hypothesis for that one being: Will plants grow better by the sunlight or away from it?

Related: How to Teach Plants for Kids

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Assess prior knowledge with a pre-test based on the scientific method itself, and the vocabulary associated with it (i.e. hypothesis, data, etc.). The FREE scientific method posters in our Free Resource Library is perfect for this!
Introduce the process in an engaging way with this PowerPoint.

Have kids vote on what experiments they’d like to conduct first!
Have students set up the experiment in your class, with stations by the windows, in a darker area, and other locations.
Show interesting videos that demonstrate “cool” science experiments.

Have kids keep track (and stay organized!) with everything they’ve learned about the scientific method by using this awesome flipbook!

You can also save some money by purchasing the above resources in this helpful scientific method bundle.

Lastly, remember to have fun with the scientific method! If you make science exciting for kids, they will develop a true love of it!

What are some fun ways that you do to teach about the scientific method? I’d love for you to share your ideas in the comments below! Thanks for your time! Ciao!

MATH CENTERS: 3 ENGAGING RESOURCES PLUS FREE POSTERS AND GAME

July 13, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

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Need some fresh, fun and fabulous resources for your Math Centers? Look no further, my fab friend!

As teachers, we love the way centers make our classrooms seem to run on auto-pilot, but we don’t always love the time it takes to put them together, or the time we must spend looking for resources that are simple to implement, effective for learning and easy to set up. Setting up centers, whether for Reading, Language Arts, or Math can be a tiresome task. Discovering new and engaging resources that are ready-made (and both teacher-friendly and student-friendly!) is like a ray of sunshine in a teacher’s day!

In this post, you’ll read about three of my awesome Math Center resources that I know can offer a great deal of learning for your students, as well as making your teacher-life a lot easier! Whether you’re a newbie at Math Centers, or just in search of some new Math Center resources, these comprehensive Math Center activities are just what you need!

Here is a Math Center Bundle that will turn your students into math champs! This bundle has three huge sets of center activities that ensure you your kiddos:

have a sense of what numbers mean
can understand their relationships to one another
are able to perform mental math
can understand symbolic representations
can use those numbers in real world situations

Yep! My Number Sense Activities Bundle: Mental Math, Word Problems and Numbers covers a wide array (pun intended!) of math concepts within the three sets detailed below. Bundles offer BIG SAVINGS, so let’s take a moment to look at how each resource within the bundle can help you and your students!

$MATH CENTERS: 3 ENGAGING RESOURCES BY JEWEL PASTOR OF JEWELSCHOOLGEMS.COM | Need some fresh, fun and fabulous resources for your Math Centers? Look no further! Read about three engaging resources that you can use and grab freebies!$

Number Sense Activities and Task Cards

This resource contains more than 300 task cards, displays and worksheets that can be used to build and strengthen your students’ number sense, reading skills and understanding of whole numbers to 999,999! This set can work well for students in grades 1-6, depending on their individual math level, and will enable you to differentiate for their individual needs.

Through this resource, your kiddos will be able to practice:

Reading and writing numbers to 999,999 by matching digits to numbers in words, guessing numbers before and after certain numbers, and underlining the numbers in the sentences and then answering the questions.
Ordering numbers to 999,999 by circling the smallest number and underlining the largest number in a group of numbers, arranging sets of numbers in ascending order then descending order.
Creating and comparing numbers to 999,999 by using the correct symbols: <, > or = using digit cards to record answers to questions.

You can try one of the activities in this resource by becoming a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber and downloading the freebie below:

$http://jewelschoolgems.com/free-resource-library/$

You can print, cut and laminate the cards depending on how far you would like to go in terms of the number of digits. Once laminated, with the use of erasable markers, the task cards can be used over and over in your Math Center. You can put the cards in separate envelopes and/or place inside folders that you can label using the covers provided. Whole pages can be printed and laminated too to serve as answer key for independent learners or can be flashed for the whole class to see using the interactive whiteboard. The introduction that comes with each activity can be printed and enlarged and placed on bulletin boards. You can always have your students work on the tasks by pairs or groups and in rotation.

Mental Math Worksheets

This resource consists of worksheets with Mental Math number and word problems that can help students have sharper mathematical skills, be more confident with Math, and develop a love for the subject. This set works well for students in Grades 3-6 and covers:

Numbers – Fractions
Number Sense – Place Value
Addition Mental Math Strategies
Subtraction Mental Math Strategies
Multiplication Mental Math Strategies
Division Mental Math Strategies
Multiplication and Division Mental Math Strategies
Subtraction from Addition
Story Sums Using Mental Math Strategies
Measurement
Adding Decimals
Subtracting Decimals
3D Shapes

For your center, you can print and laminate each worksheet to serve as master copies, then have your students record their answers in their notebooks. You can also laminate the answer keys so students can mark their own work. You can have your students record how fast they can finish the sheets each time and their scores through the recording sheet included in this resource as well. Use these worksheets repeatedly until your kiddos master the skills or mental strategies involved.

Word Problems Worksheets and Problem Solving Strategies Posters

This another great resource included in the bundle. This all-inclusive set of word problem-related worksheets also includes a set of Problem Solving Strategy posters (that you can get for FREE when you become a subscriber) to supplement the enclosed worksheets. The posters will help to teach students the many different strategies they will need to solve word problems. This resource consists of worksheets with almost a hundred real-life word problems. The topics included are the following:

Adding and Subtracting Decimals
Rounding Off Decimals
Percentage
Multiplying Decimals by Whole Numbers
Division by Non-Zero Whole Numbers
Fractions (Vocabulary)
Addition and Subtraction of Proper Fractions
Addition and Subtraction of Improper Fractions
Multiplying a Simple Fraction by a Whole Number
Prime and Composite Numbers
Perimeter
Area
Volume and Capacity
Chance and Probability
Interpreting and Using Timetables
Direction
Transformations

These worksheets are PERFECT for math centers, or as tutoring materials, cooperative work, and even for home practice as well!

I’m pretty confident about the quality of these resources since I used them with my own classes, but don’t just take my word for it. Here is some feedback from wonderful teachers like you who made the wise decision to purchase these resources from my Teachers Pay Teachers store:

Number Sense Activities Bundle: Mental Math, Word Problems and Numbers

On April 21, 2015, Disa Loizzo said:

So many great activities that can be differentiated to fit all students’ needs!

Number Sense Activities and Task Cards

On August 31, 2015, Candice A. said:

Wow, thank you for making this. I couldn’t have done it better myself. The part I love the most is all of the number sense concepts that are addressed.

Mental Math Worksheets

On October 18, 2015, Kristine V. said:

I am using this as a tool to strengthen mental math skills in middle school students who simply never got it. I am all printed and ready to begin. It looks SO promising!!!

Word Problems Worksheets and Problem Solving Strategies Posters

On July 7, 2015, LISA M. said:

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

So, there you go – three engaging resources for your Math Center and a couple of freebies! Make sure to become a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber to download these fabulous freebies, my friend!

What are your best ideas for Math Centers? I’d love for you to share your thoughts with a comment below!

12 SONGS FOR TEACHERS: MY TEACHING LIFE PLAYLIST

July 3, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

If you could describe each year of your teaching life with a song, what would your playlist look like? After coming up with my list below, I realized mine is a mix of old and new upbeat tunes, plus a lot of feel-good and inspirational songs. These songs very well describe the experiences I’ve gone through all these years. Here are some songs for teachers like me and you:

2003: Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves

This was the year I graduated from college and got my first teaching job!

2004: The Climb by Miley Cyrus

This year was busy. I taught English and Journalism in my high school alma mater during the day and education subjects to college students at night.

2005: Fight Song by Rachel Platten

I left my high school alma mater and joined its rival school. I was still teaching college students on weekends.

2006: I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas

This was the year I was hired by the University of the Philippines Integrated School (UPIS)! It was the first of three fulfilling years in the prestigious university’s laboratory school.

2007: Happy by Pharrell Williams

I was really happy with my teaching life in UPIS. Colleagues were actually my friends and students were very bright!

2008: Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

This was the year I got more confident as a teacher and as an individual.

2009: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

This was the year I gave up my teaching position in UPIS and decided to move to Australia.

2010: Born This Way by Lady Gaga

I realized how different I was to most of my new colleagues and students this year. I think this was one of the saddest years in my teaching career.

2011: Brave by Sara Bareilles

This year, I had the opportunity to become a tutor, a substitute teacher, a part-time ESL teacher and a full-time Kindergarten teacher in a new school!

2012: Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson

This was the year I married the love of my life and was transferred from Kindergarten to sixth grade. It’s also the year that I realized how great I could be as a teacher. I loved my sixth graders! I felt happy to be a teacher again.

2013: Just the Way You Are

I had sixth graders again this year and they were fantastic, too! I felt loved and I loved my kids as well. This was despite being sick for most of the year as I was pregnant with my child.

2014: Somewhere over the Rainbow by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole

This year, I spent the first half of the year on maternity leave. I also started getting serious with my TpT journey during this time. Being a mother was an absolute joy; however, I had to go back and teach again. This time, I had fourth graders. Though there were more kids in the class, their sweetness and enthusiasm made up for any difficulty I had with a bigger class size.

2015: Roar by Katie Perry

This was the year when I embraced my “inner resource artiste”. I left teaching to become a full-time resource creator and to take care of my daughter.

So, there you go, girlfriend. A few songs for teachers like you and a short story about me.

Do you like any of the songs above, too? Please share in the comments.

HOW TO TEACH PLACE VALUE

June 27, 2016 By Jewel Pastor Leave a Comment

What is Place Value?

Do you remember learning about place value in school? For some, it’s probably easy, but for many… well, it can be a bit tricky. Simply put, place value is basically just the value of a digit, depending on its position (in a multi-digit number), such as ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands place. Place value is an important concept that your students will need to carry with them as they advance in their math studies. Through experience, I learned that if a student doesn’t grasp the concept early on, Math will become very stressful and frustrating for them later. It’s important then that we make sure they comprehend it!

Why Is It Important to Teach Place Value?

Place value is important for students because it’s truly the meaning and value of numbers, rather than numbers being an abstract symbol. By conquering this concept, students will learn number value, patterns, sequencing, organizing and the correct structure for numbers. Math skills are also cumulative so students need to become proficient with place value. They will need this skill to perform simple computations—and later, multiplication and division. Students need to grasp place value and become fluent in the language of place value, in order to become proficient in higher level math skills as well.

Teaching Place Value to Kids

There are various ways in which your kiddos can learn about place value—and yes, there are even many fun ways to learn it, too! Some of the best, most effective ways to teach about the concept are usually a combination of manipulative activities and printables. I’ve had lots of success (and so have many other teachers) with this fun and engaging set, which includes both hands-on and printable place value practice!

Place Value | How to Teach Place Value by Jewel Pastor of Jewel's School Gems | Are you looking for ways on how to teach place value? Well, you came to the right place. Read about various ways. Grab a FREE place value game, too! — **Click on the image to see this resource in my TpT store!**

Once you feel that students have a basic understanding, you need to make sure their knowledge and capabilities with place value will continue to grow. Here’s how:

Teach place value using food! For example, goldfish crackers can stand for hundreds, gummy bears for tens, and marshmallows for ones. Add more goodies as you go to higher place values. Your students are sure to remember your lesson!

Use children’s books to boost your students’ understanding of place value and base ten in your math lessons. Some useful titles include A Place for Zero, A Million Dots, How Much Is a Million, Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens, Two of Everything, and One Grain of Rice.

Have students play whole group activities about the concept like my Place Value Digit Game! Students form numbers and answer questions related to the place value of the digits included. Subscribe to my Free Resource Library and get it for FREE!

Use free apps and let your students play with them on iPads! A few free apps that are perfect for place value practice include Chocolate Chip Cookie Factory, Popplet and Math Slide.

Teach kids about place value of hundreds, tens, and ones while playing with dice! Have them roll the dice and write the numbers they come up with in a practice sheet. It can look as simple as this:

_2_(hundreds)_5_(tens)_6_(ones) = 256 = two hundred fifty-six

Use a place value chart and manipulatives like Lego bricks! You can look up how Crystal of Science Kiddo used Lego bricks to teach her son about place value. You can also have your students create place value towers to understand this topic like Ashleigh’s students did.

Once students seem to have understood the concept, start playing “whole group” rounding games/activities on your big screen with a doc camera/paper or your computer screen projector.

Teaching Place Value with Jewel’s School Gems

I currently offer a place value activity pack, which includes I Can Statement posters, an introduction to place value, worksheets from two to six digits, cut and paste activities, and a group game (which you can get for FREE if you become a Jewel’s School Gems subscriber). This packet explores place value blocks, digit values, standard form, and expanded form. This resource will not only save you time, but make learning about this important topic engaging for your students as well.

Want More Teacher Resources for FREE?

Save yourself valuable time and sign up to access my Free Resource Library! Your students will surely enjoy learning about Math topics with my resources!

What are some fun ways that you’ve had success with teaching about place value? Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.