Counting Book

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Gngerbread For Descriptive Writing

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Making Silly Christmas Sentences

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Christmas Mystery Prepositions

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Teaching Dialogue In Writing

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I Have Who Has Christmas Puns

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Static Electricity Lab

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Holiday Dichotomous Key

Name ___________________________________

The Dichotomous Key to Holiday Giving 

and Community Service

Directions:  Key to the Family Faveo

1. Obtain the following items from your teacher:  

• 1 stocking
• 1 Hershey bar
• 1 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
• 1 packet M & M’s
• 2 pieces of each of the following: Peppermint Patties, candy canes, round peppermints
• 1 Quart sized Ziploc storage bag
• 1 Shampoo
• 1 Deodorant
• 1 Toothpaste
• 1 Toothbrush
• 1 bottle liquid body soap
• 1 bottle lotion

2. Use the dichotomous key “Key to the Family Faveo” found below to determine the scientific name of each of your “organisms.”  As you work through the key, use the data table below to record the common name, the path, and the scientific name (Genus and species) of each “organism.”  

Dichotomous Key to the Family Faveo

1 a.  Can be used as a source of nutrition ----------------------------------------- Go to 2

b.  Cannot be used as a source of nutrition  ------------------------------------ Go to 7

2 a.  Made from the seeds of the cocoa tree  ------------------------------------- Go to 3

b.  Not made from the seeds of the cocoa tree -------------------------------- Go to 6

3 a.  A colonial candy (A group of candies that co-exist but have 

no dependence upon one another)  -------------------------------- Chocolatus nomelticus

b.  A unicellular candy ------------------------------------------------------------- Go to 4

4 a.  A homogeneous candy --------------------------------------------------------- Chocolatus hersheyminicus

b.  A heterogeneous candy -------------------------------------------------------- Go to 5

5 a.  Outer membrane of chocolate; cytoplasm of peanut butter ----------- Chocolatus nuttyicious

b.  Outer membrane of chocolate; cytoplasm of minty deliciousness --- Chocolatus myfavoritus

6 a.  Has bilateral symmetry ------------------------------------------------------- Mentha elongus

b.  Has radial symmetry ---------------------------------------------------------- Mentha roundus

7 a.  Used in the extreme anterior (head) region of the body --------------- Go to 8

b.  Used in other regions of the body  ------------------------------------------ Go to 10

8 a.  Used to cleanse the protein fibers found on the scalp   ----------------- Cephalo scrubicus

b.  Used as protection against bacteria in the oral cavity ------------------ Go to 9

9 a.  Exists in nature as a semi-liquid  -------------------------------------------- Dental hygienicus

b.  Exists in nature as a solid ----------------------------------------------------- Cavitus preventicus

10 a. Used to remove unwanted bacteria from the body ---------------------- Go to 11

b.  Used to soothe the irritations of the epidermis -------------------------- Skin sosoftae

11 a.  Can be applied to the epidermis of the entire body ---------------------- Pheromonus eliminatus

b.  Applied to a particularly odiferous region of the body  ----------------- Pheromonus armpiticus

Data Table:

Common Name	Path	Scientific Name

NOTE: Once you have completed the scientific classification of these “organisms”, place the edible ones in the stocking, and place the non-edible ones (toiletries) in the Ziplock bag.  Place the stocking and the Ziplock bag in the collection area specified by the instructor.

Copyright © November 2012 Amy Brown (aka Science Stuff)

Tips for the Teacher:

1. Very rarely in my high school biology classes do we have the time to devote to a holiday activity.  I make an exception each year for this fun, but very important activity.  I do this activity each year to remind my students of the importance of  community service and “giving back” to our community.  

The purpose of the activity is very simple:  To put together stockings of candy and Ziplock bags of toiletries that can be donated to a local charity.

2. We donate the stockings and the Ziplock bags of toiletries to our local food bank.   You might also consider donating the items to a nursing home, an orphanage, a homeless shelter or the Salvation Army.

3. Check before your donate!!  You may need to use only candies that are available in a sealed wrapper.  For example, a Hershey kiss is not in a sealed wrapper.  The candies listed above can all be purchased in sealed wrappings.

4. Materials needed per student:

• Small stocking
• Quart-sized Ziploc bag
• 1 Hershey bar (I buy a bag that has the smaller bars, but not the miniatures)
• 1 Reese’s peanut butter cup (I buy the regular size, individual cup.)
• 1 packet of M & M’s (I buy a bag of the small packets.)
• 2 Peppermint patties
• 2 small candy canes
• 2 round peppermints
• travel size shampoo
• travel size deodorant
• travel size liquid soap
• travel size toothpaste
• travel size lotion
• toothbrush

These travel-sized toiletries can be found at your local Wal-Mart.

5. The keys above are easily editable.  You might choose to include different items.  If so, you can easily adjust the dichotomous key for your preferences.

6. Just before Thanksgiving, I place a donation box in my room.  I explain to my students that I am collecting their spare change for a service project that we will do just before school is let out for the holidays.  I talk briefly about being thankful for what we have, and that we have an obligation to help others who are less fortunate than us.  I ask them to place their donations in the collection box whenever they have a bit of change in their pockets to spare.  I encourage them to give what they can, and that all donations are a personal and private matter.   I accept the donations for about 3 weeks prior to the activity.  The students are not allowed to ask each other how much they donated, etc.  I use this change to purchase the items needed for the activity.   

7. This activity can be used before any holiday by simply changing the clip art at the top of the handout.

8. The dichotomous key assumes that the student will have knowledge of each of the items being classified/identified.  I made up these keys as just a fun activity and a way to have my students participate in a community service activity.  There is nothing scientific about the activity!  Feel free to change the key to meet your needs.

9. “Faveo” is the Latin word for Help.   Faveo is defined as: be favorable to, aid, support, help.

10. Terms that you might need to review with your students:  homogeneous, heterogeneous, bilateral symmetry, radial symmetry, colonial organism, unicellular organism, anterior, posterior,  and epidermis.  

Answer Key:

Common Name	Path	Scientific Name
Hershey bar	1a, 2a, 3b, 4a	Chocolatus hersheyminicus
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup	1a, 2a, 3b, 4b, 5a	Chocolatus nuttyicious
M & M’s	1a, 2a, 3a	Chocolatus nomelticus
Peppermint Patty	1a, 2a, 3b, 4b, 5b	Chocolatus myfavoritus
Candy Cane	1a, 2b, 6a	Mentha elongus
Round peppermints	1a, 2b, 6b	Mentha roundus
Shampoo	1b, 7a, 8a	Cephalo scrubicus
Deodorant	1b, 7b, 10a, 11b	Pheromonas armpiticus
Toothpaste	1b, 7a, 8b, 9a	Dental hygienicus
Toothbrush	1b, 7a, 8b, 9b	Cavitus preventicus
Body soap	1b, 7b, 10a, 11a	Pheromonas eliminatus
Lotion	1b, 7b, 10b	Skin sosoftae

Created by Amy Brown – Science Stuff

Copyright © November 2012 Amy Brown (aka Science Stuff)

All rights reserved by author.

This document is for your classroom use only.

This document may not be electronically distributed or posted to a web site.

Ideas From Mailbox

Free literature ideas to use today!

If you cannot view this email, please click here.

Dear Teacher, In many areas, the air is crisp and leaves cover the ground in brilliant colors. Take your students outside to enjoy this week's pick—Leaves, by David Ezra Stein—a story in which Bear finds out why he can't put the leaves back on the trees. There are more great ideas for you—just scroll down the page! See you next week! Sammie Gann Newsletter Editor PS: Don't miss out on next week's Wednesday e-newsletter. Get FREE Common Core ideas! Click here to see a sample and sign up for Common Core Connections. It is a dark and stormy night when Meg, Charles Wallace, and their mother are surprised by a mysterious visitor. Things become even more astonishing when the caller leads the children on a travel through time to rescue Meg's missing father. Mrs. Whatsit gives the children special "gifts" based on their own unique selves. The importance of appreciating one's uniqueness versus the desire for conformity is one of the major themes of A Wrinkle in Time. To investigate this theme, give each child an 8" x 10" piece of wrapping paper and a same-sized piece of poster board, glue, and a gift bow. Direct the student to glue the wrapping paper onto the poster board. After the glue dries, have the student fold the paper as shown. On the inside of the folded project, have the student list five traits or abilities he possesses. Below the list, have him write a paragraph telling how he might use these gifts now and in the future. Finally, have the student attach the bow to the package as shown. After students share their paragraphs, discuss what life would be like if everyone were the same (like in Camazotz) rather than unique. Sponsored by THE MAILBOX® Marketplace TODAY ONLY, November 26! Take an additional 50% off all clearance items at THE MAILBOX® Marketplace! Shop Now! Bear's first fall is a time of discovery. He finds out leaves fall from trees. He finds out he can't put the leaves back on the trees. Then he falls asleep for the winter. In spring, he wakes up and happily greets the buds of the leaves to come. After reading, set out the book; yellow, red, brown, and green construction paper; yarn; a hole puncher; scissors; and black markers. Guide each pair of students to reread the story, identify seven important events, and then cut out seven leaf shapes. Next, the duo writes on each shape an important story event. Then the pair punches holes in each leaf, arranges the leaves in order, and ties the leaves together with yarn. The partners drape their work on a board titled "A Leafy Retelling" for a colorful display.

Math For All Grades

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Turkey Math Game

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Halloween Math Activities

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Math Activities

Great Math Ideas from Alison Hislop
In this magazine we welcome guest author Alison Hislop. Alison is a teacher from Australia. Check out these great math ideas that she has on her blog - http://MathsWithMeaning.blogspot.com
Measuring with a Scarf!
A fabulous winter activity as it starts to get cold.... burrr!
From my "Great Ideas" page at
http://mathswithmeaning.blogspot.com/p/great-ideas.html
One of my favourite activities to do heading into winter is
to get children to bring in a scarf from home. We talk about expansion (when we stretch our scarfs), line them up next to each other from biggest to smallest, join them together to measure huge distances, measure and compare using measuring tapes, work out the area and perimeter, guess and check how many times we can wrap it around a tree etc. etc.. Who knew you could do so much measuring with a scarf?
Asking the Children....
Today we were consolidating our understanding of place value. We were doing an activity where we needed a 4 digit number and then figured out which number was 10 more, 100 more and 1000 more using MAB.
I had planned for children to turn over 4 playing cards (or 3 or 5 as I differentiated the activity for specific needs) but then I thought,
"Why not ask the children how they could come up with a 4 digit number to use?". So I asked.....
This was their response:
- choosing 4 of our favourite numbers
- picking 4 random numbers
- rolling 4 10-sided dice
- turning over 4 playing cards
- using a calculator, closing your eyes, pushing 4 numbers and then seeing what you pushed (this was by far my favourite, such great thinking!)
Children amaze me with their thinking on a daily basis!

Addition Top-It
Do you know the game Addition Top-It? I have a few different versions but recently discovered another one!
With younger children I play in partners. Each child turns over a card (so there are two showing at once), then have a race to add the cards together and say the answer. The first to say the answer wins the card (if it's a draw, each player gets a card).
As children progress with their understanding of addition and subtraction you can play in groups of three. One person is the dealer and two are the players. The dealer gives each player a card. Players don't look at their card and put it on their forehead so the other player can see their card. Then the dealer adds the two cards together and tells the players the answer. The fastest player to work out what card they have on their head wins. (So many great number strategies are used in this game - best thing is all children playing have to do some Maths!).
Recently, I tried playing this game as purely subtraction practice. Children were in their groups of three and instead the dealer would say "When I subtract this card (pointing to one) from this card (pointing to the other) I get an answer of..." and the players had to guess what card they had. It worked great! Children definitely had to think and remember to always subtract from the big number!! I was so glad I altered this game - it worked so well! I was so proud of the kiddos!
I love Alison’s ideas. She is obviously passionate about making math fun for kids! Shehasloadsmoregreatideasonherblog.Teaching Maths With Meaning
She also has lots of great math products at her TPT store.
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Alimath 

Roll the Dice for Place Value Fun
Let’s look at how dice can be used for teaching and reviewing place value.
There are lots and lots of different ways to use dice to help reinforce place value concepts.
Make the Largest Number
A really simple game for 2 or more players is to have players create
numbers by rolling dice. To create a 2 digit number, they roll 2 dice,
to make a 3 digit number they roll 3 dice. Start the game by seeing
who can make the largest number. The numbers for each round can be recorded on the board or on a piece of paper.
If one player rolls 5 and 3, they would make 53. The other player might roll 1 and 6 and they could make 61. Record both and then award one point to the player with the largest number. After a few rounds of ‘Make the largest number’ with the winner being the one who creates the largest number, try a few different variations.
-Make the smallest number
-Make the number closest to ... (this could be 50 if using 2 digits numbers or 200 if using 2 digit numbers.
-Make an odd number (anyone who can do this scores a point)
-Make a multiple of ... (This might be 5 or 2 for an easy game or 7 or 9 for more advanced students. (anyone who can do this scores a point)
Roll and Write
Another way to use dice to help with place value concepts is the have the dice tell the student what action they are to perform on a number.
You will need dice, Roll and Write Chart, Roll and Write Number Chart and Roll and Write Record Sheet. You will find all of these on the following pages.
There are 3 sets of the charts provided! 2 digit numbers – purple set
3 digit numbers – blue set
4 digit numbers – yellow set
The same Roll and Write Record Sheet is used for all of the above. Hope the kids enjoy
having the dice tell them what to do!

Roll and Write Chart Numbers with 2 Digits

Roll
Write the number as a word.
e.g. forty-nine
Roll
What number is 10 less?
e.g. 49 – 10 = 39
Roll
Expand the number. e.g. 49 = 40 + 9

Roll
What number is 1 more?

e.g. 49 + 1 = 50

Roll
What number is 10 more?
e.g. 49 + 10 = 59
Roll
What number is 1 less?

e.g. 49 – 1 = 48

www.makingmathmorefun.com

www.math-board-games.com 7

Roll and Write Number Chart Numbers with 2 Digits Roll the dice onto the number chart. Write the number you land on. Write the number on the dice. Do the activity for this number.
23	71	59	65	36
41	64	13	80	48
87	21	96	63	27
53	72	51	30	82
94	18	91	49	79
60	77	39	42	17

www.makingmathmorefun.com www.math-board-games.com 8

Roll and Write Chart Numbers with 3 Digits

 

Write the number as a word.
e.g. two hundred thirty-seven

Roll
What number is 1 more?
e.g. 237 + 1 = 238
Roll
What number is 10 more?
e.g. 237 + 10 = 247
Roll
Expand the number. e.g. 237 = 200 + 30 + 7

Roll
What number is 10 less?
e.g. 237 - 10 = 227
Roll
What number is 100 less?
e.g. 237 – 100 = 137

www.makingmathmorefun.com

www.math-board-games.com 9

Roll and Write Number Chart Numbers with 3 Digits Roll the dice onto the number chart. Write the number you land on. Write the number on the dice. Do the activity for this number.
213	471	359	665	506
141	564	134	480	648
870	721	396	663	277
153	802	951	230	782
294	318	991	849	797
560	417	939	402	817

www.makingmathmorefun.com www.math-board-games.com 10

Roll
Write the number as a word.
e.g. five thousand three hundred twenty-seven
Roll
What number is 10 less?
e.g. 5327 - 10 = 5317
Roll
What number is 1000 more?
e.g. 5327 + 1000 = 6327

Roll
What number is 1 more?
e.g. 5327 + 1 = 5328
Roll
What number is 100 less?
e.g. 5327 – 100 = 5227
Roll
Expand the number. e.g. 5327 = 5000+300+20+7

Roll and Write Number Chart Numbers with 4 Digits Roll the dice onto the number chart. Write the number you land on. Write the number on the dice. Do the activity for this number.
2133	4071	4359	3665	536
3141	5614	1134	4080	4648
6887	7201	5396	6613	2077
1053	8772	9051	6230	7820
2294	8318	9901	8849	7917
5360	1477	9939	4702	4817

www.makingmathmorefun.com www.math-board-games.com 12

Roll and Write Record Sheet Roll the dice onto the Number Sheet. Write the number it lands on. Write the number on the dice. Do the activity for this number.
My Number	Number I rolled	My activity for this number.

www.makingmathmorefun.com www.math-board-games.com 13