No "BONES" About It...We Love Science!

Pumpkins and lattes and leaves, oh my...fall is finally here! In just a few short weeks, we'll turn our calendars to glorious October, cozy up in sweaters, and dream up Halloween costumes. While I love all things pumpkin flavored (who doesn't?), I'm most excited to dive into my fall mini unit series! These four mini units cover all things fall, from spiders to skeletons and leaves to owls. Each uses a hands-on, cross-curricular approach to teach your kiddos more about these exciting themes, and is aligned to CCSS. Today, I'm sharing my best selling mini unit of all time, "All About Bones!"

Hilarious comic from BuzzFeed

I use this 77 page set over a one to two week span, picking and choosing my favorite activities; however, it can easily be used for a longer period of time! We start off the week with my favorite skeleton read aloud by Steve Jenkins, Bones: Skeletons and How They Work. You can find it on Amazon here. This book is chalk full of stunning illustrations and amazing facts about the human skeleton, as well as various animals' skeletal system. The kids LOVE it, and are suddenly full of great questions about bones. We record these on an anchor chart, checking off each question as we discover its answer throughout our study.

I then split my readers by level and we explore our own bone mini books. These mini books all cover the same content, but are coded by reading level to fit the needs of all students. We meet again at the carpet to discuss what we've learned, highlighting important vocabulary words. We then split back into our partner teams to complete a comprehension guide. I always love to see my students' drawing of a skeleton!

For the rest of the week, we continue to learn about bones using amazing books from our library, as well as some free books from GetEpic! (If you haven't heard of GetEpic, sign up now! With your free account, you'll have a free digital library at your fingertips.) Each day, we complete a page or two from my mini unit set, expanding on our science knowledge using reading, writing, and math resources.

By the end of the week, my kiddos are bone experts! Many of them tell me they're now interested in become orthopedic surgeons themselves...I love expanding their horizons to new careers using science! 

On our last day of the mini unit, we create our own model skeleton to hang in our hallway. It is one of my favorite activities of the fall season! Check out their amazing work!

Each student chooses their bone to create using white paper and pencil. They use rulers to "measure" the bone on me first...which means our model turns out to be over five feet tall! Once our bones are completed, we glue together our skeleton on black butcher paper and label him. We then hang Mr. Bones up in the hallway, along with some fun facts so that other kids can check out our interactive display. 

This last project can be a bit time consuming, but is well worth the effort. My kiddos are incredibly proud of their end result...so proud in fact that last year we kept him up until December! 

Although I have included a few copies of prints outs with terms like "hand bones" or "head bones" for younger learners, I use the correct scientific terms with my firsties. I treat my students as scientists and encourage them to use the proper scientific terms for the bones in their bodies. I absolutely love to hear words like femur, phalanges, and humerus out of the mouth of babes. More than that, I've found that my firsties take incredible pride in using these "grown up" terms. I'm stunned each year with their retention from this mini unit! Well into the spring, my students will tell me they hurt their patella riding their bike, showing me a scrape on their knee and giving me a wide smile that tells me they loved being able to use such a big word.

Inside this set, you'll find leveled readers and a matching comprehension guide, a KWL chart, a can/have/are chart, "Name That Bone" cut and paste, skeleton labeling activity, a fact sheet, animal x-rays, report pages, an addition/subtraction activity, and bone tally math. I've update this set to include many more print-and-go resources, as well as two projectable books! You'll also find directions for two fun craftivities and the titles and authors of my favorite skeleton read alouds! 

Looking to save even more? Check out my Fall Mini Unit bundle, covering bones, leaves, owls, and spiders HERE! You'll score all four of my October mini units for the price of just three! These no prep, print and go sets make hectic October planning a breeze! 

What are you teaching in science this fall? Drop your favorite activities in the comments below!