DIY Earth Shake Table

Many years ago, I worked at a small school with a limited budget. I tried to be creative in making my classes engaging and limiting my spending. In came the shake table. Sadly, I cannot find the original website that inspired it, but it served my students well.

Here's how it is made:

Materials

thin rubber bands (4)
flat piece of cardboard (stage)
larger cardboard lid/box
marbles/balls (~12)

Steps

Grab a cardboard box lid or cut a box so it is no taller than four inches. (In these pictures, I used a large cereal box.)
Cut a flat piece of cardboard to serve as the stage. It must be a couple of inches smaller in length and width than your box lid.
On the four corners of the stage, punch a hole.
Punch holes on four corners of the box toward the top lip.
Cut all four rubber bands open.
Tie a large knot at the end of one rubber band and feed the rubber band through a hole in the box so the knot is on the outside.
Pull the rubber band through the corresponding hole in the stage and place a knot on the other end so it does not slip back through.
Repeat steps 6 & 7 with the opposite corner of the box. Finish with the last two corners of the box.
Underneath the stage, place marbles to keep the stage from making contact with the bottom of the box.
To simulate the earthquake, pluck one of the rubber bands with your item on the stage. You can secure the small containers to the stage to prevent too much damage from being done by the shake table.

Nitrogen and Carbon Cycle Foldable

I was inspired to create foldables for my 6th graders on the carbon and nitrogen cycles after viewing one created by the blog " The Inspired Classroom ". She had created a much cuter one for the water cycle. Please forgive my pictures, descriptions, and handwriting. :) If you would like a free copy of the nitrogen foldable or carbon foldable , you can find it at My Teachers Pay Teachers.

Biomes Foldable

I had way too much fun making this. My students are going to be learning about these biomes next and I created this example of the finished product and one with the pictures/words without the cuts. I photocopied the sheet and shrunk it to 75%. The students will cut it out, fold down the extra space on the left side, and glue it in their notebooks. Underneath each tab, they will write characteristics of the biomes. I am clearly on a foldable kick! Thank you snow days. :) I did create a digital version of this for you to download on my Teacher Pay Teachers. It's free!

Rubric Maker

I am a huge fan of project-based learning! As a result, I create lots of rubrics. Sometimes I write them myself and other times, I like to find premade ones to help me clarify the assessment piece. A co-worker in Colorado introduced me to Rubistar years back. It's free and pretty user-friendly. They have several premade categories and criteria, but you can alter them to fit your needs. The website is old, but don't let that throw you off.

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