Circuits Print-and-go Craftivity

Happy Sunday! I have seen a lot of people posting pictures of them working in their classroom and am feeling 1) behind 2) a little anxious 3) a little excited and 4) like summer is almost over, but didn’t it just begin!?

So instead of working in my classroom, I have been working on some ideas for next year! I just finished working on is my new science bundle: Circuits Print-and-go Craftivity!

Not only do I love teaching science BUT my students always love it! 4th grade covers so many fun science topics: ecosystems, earthquakes, rocks, minerals, weathering and electricity! Electricity is always shocking to students! We go over static electricity and take funny pictures with our hair standing straight up. Then, they learn about series and parallel circuits.

I have included some vocabulary posters:

along with a more detailed explanation of what each circuit is…

Then I created a little CLOSE reading activity that goes more in depth about series and parallel circuits:

The students get to organize their CLOSE reading passage with Thinking Maps. The first read I have them focus on the two types of circuits…

and for the second read they compare and contrast the two!

I added sentence stems to both of these activities to help the students structure their language when working in groups or pairs.

After the students have a good understanding of both circuits, then the fun begins with the circuits craftivity!

This is a print-and-go set, so the teacher prep for this is very minimal.

Each student will use their findings from the CLOSE read and their Thinking Maps and write a short summary of each circuit on this recording page. It is a great way to have them use the vocabulary and explain what they just learned.

Then each student gets labels for their paper…

4 lightbulbs….

2 batteries….

and 4 circles each….

From there they make their own series and parallel circuit. This craftivity

is perfect for a bulletin board and the students really get a good understanding of how each circuit works.

After I have them make their own visual representation of the circuits, I let them build a real circuit! They get all of the supplies and I let them work in their groups on their own. They have to build a series circuit first and then once they do that, they move on to the parallel circuit.

This is a great team building exercise! They love being in control of the learning and showcasing what they learned from paper to real life!

Your class will be shocked with the electrifyingly, fun activities in this Circuits Print-and-go set.
and…. for some Sunday pinning fun… The first 3 people who pin this creativity will get it for free!!! Just pin it and leave a comment below with the pinterest address (for example http://www.pinterest.com/pin/285978645062977875/

Happy Pinning!