Take a trip with your homeschool students grades 3-8, and notebook across the USA with these states unit studies. There's a FREE unit study for all 50 states.
Take virtual science field trips to teach plant life cycles in 2nd grade! Students observe seed dispersal, adaptations, plant needs, and more!
For our grade four science, I created my own plant unit study for our homeschool. From notebooking to books, check out all of these educational (and fun) ideas!
CC Cycle 1 Picture Book Lists
These Ancient Rome activities will keep kids interested while they learn about this ancient culture.
Top educational field trips in Florida for families and homeschoolers!
This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank ...
Take a virtual field trip to Mexico with our homeschooling Mexico unit! We have art, books, STEAM projects, music, and more for kids of all ages!
Science We did a lot for science this week, since we LOVE learning about the ocean. Ocean Layers ActivityThis was a great way to visualize the epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic and abyssopelagi…
Become part of the Field Trip Crew with our stylish "Field Trip Crew" Shirt, a fun and entertaining tee designed for teachers, especially Science Teachers. This Field Day 2024 Teacher Shirt is more than just clothing; it's a lively and amusing addition to your wardrobe, perfect for expressing the excitement of educational outings. Product Description: ⇝ Bella and Canvas Brand Shirts ⇝ Unisex Adult Sizing ⇝ Rolled Sleeves in pictures are for styling purposes only ⇝ Props used in photos for are NOT included with purchase ⇝ Please consult the listing image for information regarding the sizes available for the T-shirt. ⇝ When applicable, white shirts will be printed with black letters. ⇝ CARE INSTRUCTIONS * WASHING: Machine wash lukewarm or cold, inside-out, gentle cycle with mild detergent and similar colors. * DRYING: Hang-dry for the longest life or tumble-dry on low. * IRONING: Medium iron inside-out ONLY if necessary. Do NOT iron the design area. ⇝ DON’Ts: * Do NOT use bleach * Do NOT use fabric softeners * Do NOT dry clean ⇝ IMPORTANT NOTES ↳ Due to the customized nature of the item, all sales are final and non-refundable. We utilize a top-notch direct to garment (DTG) process to print our designs, which employs fabric-grade ink directly onto the garment, fusing with the fibers to achieve a seamless blend. This technique enables us to achieve a vintage-style appearance in many of our designs, as well as a texture that is comparable to screenprinting, while avoiding the thick and rubbery sensation of vinyl. *It is common for there to be slight discrepancies in color and size when compared to what is displayed on a computer screen, but rest assured that this is normal. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us through Etsy messaging.
He runs over and grabs my hand – something that has become more and more rare in this middle school year – “come look at this Mom!” He pulls me from display to display, expl…
Get this free printable Mini Unit on Latitude and Longitude for kids ages 8-10. Inspired by our recent field trip to the equatorial line in Ecuador!
This free pack of frog life cycle printables helps you easily boost learning fun with a 3D paper diorama for simple science activities.
Learn how to integrate art into your plant science activities by having students make chlorophyll paintings. Similar to leaf rubbings, this simple science based art project is a fun and creative extension for teaching kids about photosynthesis.
Ahh, the yearly Pumpkin Patch trip. Some teachers love it, some don't...but almost every student adores it! What isn't there to love? A bus ride, maybe a hay ride, tromping through the mud, choosing a pumpkin, carrying it around, and bringing those rolling fruits back on the bus. :) If you are planning on going on a Pumpkin Patch trip this Fall, here are a few tips for you. 1) Always assume it will rain. Wear suitable clothing and footwear. Even if it's not raining on the actual day of the field trip, those pumpkin patches can be muddy! (Photo from Dollar Photo/ Adobe Stock) 2) Prepare your students for the pumpkin patch by learning about the parts of a pumpkin, the pumpkin life cycle, etc. If your pumpkin patch trip has a learning component put on by the farm, your students will have a lot more fun if they know some of the answers to the common questions! Also, as this is often the first field trip of the year, discuss some of the emotions your students might be feeling about their upcoming trip. 3) Ask each child bring along a plastic bag. And then, assume that none of them will bring one along, so bring along a class set to school just in case! Before leaving on the trip, write each child's name on their plastic bag in WATERPROOF sharpie (in more then one place if possible). After choosing their pumpkin, the child will then put the pumpkin in the bag to make transport easier. Also, those pumpkins can all start to look the same after a while, so this will prevent any confusion. 4) Bring along enough helpers. Once those kids are let loose in a pumpkin patch it can be hard to reign them back in. Assigning parent volunteers to groups of 2-6 students can make SUCH a huge difference. 5) If possible, check ahead of time if your students are going to be allowed to choose ANY size of pumpkin or not. On my first trip, the students were allowed to choose ANY size of pumpkin. It was a gong show, because even if they can carry it for the first few minutes, soon they can't. By then, they've gotten attached to their pumpkin and want someone to carry it. You don't want to be in that situation. Ask if they have "field trip" sized pumpkins. Some pumpkin patches will even bring the students to a field that has only the smaller ones. That is the best! 6) Take time to reflect on your field trip afterward. Write about their memories and utilize some of their new vocabulary! 7) And the most important of all...make sure to bring along a warm drink. It's amazing how a warm tea, hot chocolate, apple cider, or coffee can make all of the difference :) If you want to use the Pumpkin Patch Field Trip printables found in this post, you can see them here.
We enjoy getting outdoors with the kids. In fact, this week I said something about being excited to find trails near our new home, and my ten-year-old said "Because you love hiking, Momma." And I
I saw this fun idea on The Creative Homemaker (via a friend's pin on Pinterest) and immediately set to work creating something similar for James. We won't be going on our hunt for another week or so, but I know it'll be a big hit. We recently went on a nature walk/hunt with our homeschooling group and James had a blast looking for and finding the items on the list. Inside of the bag are a variety of things to assist us on our hunt: :: A copy of our hunt list, adhered to the bag with temporary double stick tape. :: A few small baggies - I'm sure you can buy these online somewhere, but I always just collect the ones that hold the extra buttons you get with clothing. Of course you could always use regular ziplocs, too. :: A pair of child safe scissors for clipping - we always opt for items already on the ground, but in the event we need to further prune said items, these scissors will come in handy. I should note that I plan to have my Swiss Army knife handy as well (kept in my possession, obviously). :: Connected to the bag is a pen on string for checking off the items we've found. :: Magnifying glass :: Empty containers - I purchased the white-capped containers here, but baby food or spice jars would work well, too. :: Camera (for those items you can't/don't want to take with you). :: Mini notepad to record thoughts or findings in more detail. :: A drawstring bag to hold all of the kit items, making them easy to find among the natural goodies. For folks that want to look, but not touch or remove items from their natural habitats, instead of a full-on kit may I suggest simply bringing along your list, a pen, and a disposable camera (or one you're comfortable having your child use). For my fellow islanders, we're planning on going to Cooper's Island for our hunt as it has a beach and a nature reserve. I've made my list available to you here. (Of course anyone is welcome to use this, it's just that some of the items are very specific to Bermuda.) :) PS: This colorful nature hunt is another fun activity we've done in the past. ~Thank you for your comments!~
Free Ancient World History Curriculum Part 1: Ancient Civilizations/Old Testament Hi ! I'm so glad you're here ! START HERE! For an introducti ...
We completed Spring Series #2: Spring Weather Observations today. We headed outside to make our observations this afternoon and then came ...
Adapting CC to a more CM-friendly approach was actually fun!
Get ready for your upcoming visit to the pumpkin patch with this field trip unit! Includes reading passages and fun activities for before and after the field trip, as well as a trip reflection activity that can be used for any field trip. Includes: Parent/Teacher information sheet that gives a quick run down of all the pumpkin patch information included in the unit Pre-Trip Activities Pumpkin Patch reading passage Pumpkin Life Cycle activity in full color and black & white History of Pumpkin reading passage Three Sisters reading passage Three Sisters writing and drawing activity for younger students Three Sisters writing and drawing activity for older students Pumpkin Baking activities - comes with instructions, plus 4 recipes to chose from (these could also be done post-trip) Post-Trip Activities Field Trip Log - for homeschoolers to track the year's field trips Field Trip Reflection - comes in two difficulty levels Home Again reading passage Roasted Pumpkin Seeds baking instructions Jack o' Lantern drawing activity Inside the Pumpkin drawing activity Inside the Pumpkin labeling worksheet Additional resources sheet The Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Unit is part of my Field Trip Unit Series. The series was created with homeschoolers in mind, but can be adapted to be used in a classroom as well. Field trips are a great way to supplement learning, but often homeschoolers don’t get any background information on the location of their field trip and want to enrich their experience by expanding the learning at home before and after the trip. These units help give information and fun activities before and after the field trip. These units are available in PreK/Kinder, Elementary, and Middle & High School levels. All Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Units follow the same outline and the parent/teacher info sheet is the same for all three so that if you have children of several ages, you can seamlessly teach them together. Homeschooling parents and teachers taking multiple grades on the trip can easily combine different units. Check out all of the levels below, as well as a money saving bundle. Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Unit - PreK Preschool and Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Unit - Elementary School Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Unit - Middle & High School Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Bundle - save 20% on all three **This unit comes in a zip file. Extract the files to access the Parent/Teacher Info Sheet and the Student pdf file** ***************************************************************************** Before you go... Follow me to be the first to know about discounts, sales, and new products! Get credit to use on your next purchase • Leave feedback for any purchases you've made and TPT will give you a credit toward your next purchase! Plus, feedback helps me make better products tailored to what my customers are looking for. *****************************************************************************
Telling time past the hour can be challenging for primary kids but it doesn’t have to be a struggle for you or your students. Learn simple ways and effective strategies to make telling time easier for primary kids.
We learned about the atmospheric layers by doing an interactive lab with kitchen materials and reviewing them on a layers atmosphere diagram.
Today was another zoo day. We love to use the zoo as a resource for learning and this year it actually fits nicely with the Science that we are already studying. On this trip, I decided to have the kids classify animals. I found this great site for classifying animals with kids. It gives a simple explanation of each group in kid friendly language. We read and discussed these groups and then played this online game to test our knowledge before the trip to the zoo. I created a page with the five categories for them to classify the animals. There was a column for mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish. Here is what it looked like. This time I created each child their own page! Haha. I also decided to have the kids start keeping these pages in their MFW folders as part of their learning portfolio. So, it makes more sense to have one for each child. As we walked through the zoo, the kids would write down the names of animals under the correct category. (I view this as a creative writing exercise so I don't worry about spelling...especially since I want to have light, fun, creative learning experiences...and none of us love spelling...haha!) Wesley really wanted to participate so I had him draw pictures of the animals under each category. How cute is that! This one is going in his art file to keep. We always practice some map skills while at the zoo. This is one of their favorite parts. Wesley was really serious about his "school" and wanted to take the time to draw his pictures well. On the way out, the boys found a turtle that they enjoyed touching and were amazed watching it swim around. Just had to include this sweet little face. Then at the end of the trip, when the desert heat had warmed us up, we stopped by a "splash pad" for the kids to cool off. The boys found more turtles to watch in this area too. They were all so amazed by these turtles. Maybe it's time to invest in a tank and turtles...maybe...haha. After we were back home, we tried this online game again to review what we had learned. It was fun to see how scores improved after the day at the zoo. So we had a great time laughing, researching, and learning together about classification of animals "hands-on" (which they are more likely to retain long-term), and never opened a book. We will open books next week:)
This is the culminating activity we did after a 4 (or 5) week hands-on unit on the Medieval Period. We held a festive feast complete with entertainment and much merriment. Also included are the field trips we took during our unit. My lessons are geared toward 4th-5th grade level children and their siblings. These are lessons we created to do with a weekly homeschool co-op. We meet each week for 2 1/2 hours and have 33 children between the ages of 1-13. Use these fun lessons with your class, fami
Alrighty... I am just home form an EDI training and soon to be off to a showing of Beauty and the Beast the musical... so this is a quick update on some the fun things we did this week...(p.s. sorry for the yucky pics forgot to charge the camera battery and had to use my phone)... We read about the butterfly life cycle in our anthologies this week so we spent a lot of time sequencing the cycle. We put together this project with a writing to match. You can get the writing page HERE (thank you KPM Digital and DJ inkers!). a corn kernel for the egg, a dyed noodle for the caterpillar, a cotton ball for the chrysalis and a colored coffee filter wrapped with a pipe cleaner as the butterfly. We are going to keep rolling with the butterfly theme a bit next week too, so stay tuned for those activities. We also got to complete our March quilt this week! I love this quilt... seriously too cute! We read the story The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day, talked about the "luck of the Irish" and then came up with ideas of how we are lucky. It took a little prodding and leading but I was finally able to get them to think about the non-material items we are lucky to have... ok.. so if you have seen my other quilts, you will notice that this is on a different board... yep, redoing the writing wall.. a post to come on that later They made the leprechaun kid with pattern pieces and strips of orange construction paper that they rolled with their pencils. Their writing is under the shamrock as a lift-and-read and we added some green glitter to the shamrocks to spice them up a bit. "I am lucky because my grandma makes me my favorite noodles." Okay.. that's all for now have a great Saturday night and don't forget to fix your clocks!
Videos, hands-on experiments, printables, and more.
This is the culminating activity we did after a 4 (or 5) week hands-on unit on the Medieval Period. We held a festive feast complete with entertainment and much merriment. Also included are the field trips we took during our unit. My lessons are geared toward 4th-5th grade level children and their siblings. These are lessons we created to do with a weekly homeschool co-op. We meet each week for 2 1/2 hours and have 33 children between the ages of 1-13. Use these fun lessons with your class, fami
Our jaws dropped when we saw the photograph of this mum carrying three kids and a plethora of school gear on her bike. This four-wheeled cargo-bike is the SUV of the bike world. Good on ya, mum! via Pays-Bas Cycle…
20 Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages. I have 20 ancient civilization history coloring pages that match up to my units here on my blog.
April Showers Bring May Flowers Springtime Activities Learn the Names of the Four Seasons Winter • Spring • Summer • Fall Listen to the story of the Season Sisters Buy Season Sisters …
Week 8: We made an Archimedes Screw. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Built during the second Babylonian Empire, the legend says that the gardens were a gift from Nebuchadnezzar II to his wife. There are several mysteries about this ancient wonder, but one has to do with water. One theory says that the gardens were watered using Archimedes Screws several hundred years before Archimedes, the Greek inventor of the Archimedes screw lived. There are three different types of simple machines. Lever Inclined Plane, Screw, Wedge Wheel and Axle, Pulley An Archimedes screw is a simple machine used to lift material from a low point to a high point by increasing the distance thereby lessening the steepness. This Archimedes screw is located at the Playmobil Fun Park in Germany. Kids can spend hours moving material around in this play pit. Our Archimedes screw was much smaller. We followed the instructions in the Walk Beside Me blog to create our Archimedes screws. We began by cutting a hole and the end off an empty water bottle. Then we cut six circles out of stiff paper to fit inside the water bottle. A slot was cut in the circles and they we put onto a skewer. Next they were taped together to form a spiral. The spiral was stretched out and taped to the skewer to be held in place. The screw was tested with cereal. It had to be modified several times before it worked. There were many issues. The cereal got caught in the tape joints of the disks. The disks were not spread out far enough. Many disks were too small so the cereal fell back to the bottom before it could be raised to the top. All the issues were fixed with tape and each screw successfully lifted at least one piece of cereal. We used 1 liter bottles. I think it would have worked better with bigger bottles. This was a more challenging project than I anticipated, but very rewarding. About two and a half hours were spent reworking the screws to get them to work. This proved to be a true lesson in engineering, science, history, and patience. To see our other history activities please visit our history page.
Today I'm sharing my top tips and resources for getting started with virtual field trips and showing how I use passports, boarding passes, and travel journals to make the experience come to life. I've also included a great freebie down below (#welovefreebies), so keep reading to download yours. This is the first part of my Virtual Field Trip Blog Series, so be sure to subscribe to get more tips, resources and freebies sent to your inbox! Why virtual field trips? I think it's pretty amazing that my 2nd graders and I manage to fly all over the world without ever leaving the walls of our classroom. Of course, none of this is possible without a little a lot of help from Google Earth, Skype in the Classroom, and other awesome tech tools. With little prep, students are able to experience other cultures, learn important geography skills, and build their natural love for learning and inquiry. I love that there are so many incredible free resources and tools to make traveling across the globe super easy and most importantly, super engaging. Where should we visit? The possibilities are endless! Especially with Google Earth. All you have to do is download it on any device and start traveling for free. We take virtual field trips on a regular basis--some are formally planned along with an itinerary, boarding passes, and passports, and some are on-the-"fly" (see what I did there) where we quickly hop on Google Earth to make visual connections to what we're learning in literacy, math, social studies or science. For example, during our Cinderella Around the World unit, we take mini field trips to each of the countries we read Cinderella stories from. If you get creative, you can connect a virtual field trip to any content area or learning objective. If you haven't already played around with Google Earth, check it out. You can explore pictures, street views (kids think you're actually there), the weather radar, and so much more. A planned field trip may be scheduled through Skype in the Classroom (FREE! More on this awesome resource in an upcoming vlog) or Discovery Education (subscription required). These awesome sites do all the planning for you. It's just as much fun for teachers to participate as it is for students. What should we bring? You can really get creative here! Sometimes I bring in food or souvenirs from the country we're visiting. I prepare ahead of time with an itinerary (including our time for departure/arrival, where we're going, and our schedule for the day) and fill out boarding passes for each student to make the experience more realistic. They each have a passport and travel journal to bring along for the trip. It's literally so adorable to see their excitement. All of these resources are available at my TpT store, individually or in my Ultimate Travel Bundle. Keep reading to see my Virtual Field Trip Itinerary freebie! How else can the Travel Bundle be used in the classroom? Holidays around the world Research projects Mystery Skype Actual "real world" field trips Want to bring the world into YOUR classroom in 3 easy steps? Decide where you want to go and what tool you want to use. Google Earth is a great place to start! Play around with it and get a feel for the awesome features. Later on in this blog series, I'll go more in depth about Skype, Discovery Ed, and NearPod. Subscribe to The Teacher's Passport so you don't miss any updates in my Virtual Field Trip Blog Series. Download my Virtual Field Trip Itinerary Freebie! You may also be interested in the Travel Bundle to make the whole experience much more fun (includes easy-to-assemble print-and-fold passports, boarding passes, and travel journals). FREEBIE ON SALE NOW AT MY TPT STORE Comment below to let me know... Are you excited to try virtual field trips in your classroom? Or do you already do them with your students? Let me know what questions you still have and what you'd like to learn more about! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Teaching ancient history can be engaging, interactive, and full of critical thinking without a lot of fuss. I just wrapped up 3 complete virtual field trips to ancient India that I'm sure your students will love, and you'll love too, because they are totally low prep and great for blended or remote learning!
We've spent the last few weeks studying plants and how they become food - I'm trying not to post too much about our school stuff, so I'm just going to hit the highlights. We started by sprouting lentil seeds, planted and watered them - and of course, we made a little chart to learn about the process. Then we went to the West Tennessee Research and Agriculture Center to hear a presentation about pumpkins and other plants. I worried at first that it would be a bit over their heads, and it was - L was rolling on the ground completely oblivious to the presentation. UNTIL - we began to walk around and collect flowers and acorns and climb in trees. My kids love to gather acorns and stuff. And we got lots of stuff. It was pretty much the best nature walk ever. top left clockwise: buckeyes, hardy oranges, a variety of small pumpkins, wheat celosia, acorns Hardy Oranges were used for citric acid on old farmsteads. beautiful wheat celosia plant full of tiny black seeds I learned (while the kids were rolling on the ground) that butternut squash can be cooked in pies and breads similarly to pumpkin bread. I'm a new fan of butternut squash, and an old lover of pumpkin bread, so I decided to bring it together. L and I cut up a butternut squash together, baked it, and then used it in our regular pumpkin bread recipe (from Betty Crocker - I omit the cloves, and used 2 cups of squash in place of the can of pumpkin). L adores baking with me, and I love starting a study with seeds and ending with bread - kind of a full circle.
Salmon Printout. and Quiz. The Salmon is a marine fish that spawns in fresh water.
