Yes indeed it is time for the next part in the zoedidthat series – Freebie Friday! You may have guessed the general theme to this series. I review a free resource from Teachers Pay Teachers and tell you about it on a Friday!

On the Seller’s Forum, Victoria Leon has coordinated a connection for TpT sellers, where we can give permission to other sellers to review our store and Freebies. Thus this series was born and I am excited to take part. Today we are heading over to New Jersey in the United States to look at Lefty Lessons’ store so let’s get to it!

All About Lefty Lessons

This store does not have any biography information, but from what I can gather on the store page she has a wide range of resources for Elementary grades, and a fair number of quality freebies. I chose to download the “ABCs of Science”, but more on that later.

Who are Lefty Lessons making resources for?

With 73 products (August 2020), across a Reading, Creative Writing, Maths and Science plus topical and seasonal resources Lefty Lessons is keeping study relevant for the kids. In the USA there is a Presidential Election in November, and there is a Social Studies unit for this already. From Hanukkah based Maths to social distancing ,there is a variety of stuff for you to get stuck into.

Lefty Lessons has interactive lessons that feature multicultural clip-art that also shows children wearing face masks and washing their hands – so you can’t really get much more current than that.

Interactivity is a hot topic at the moment in teaching circles. As many people are still working remotely with zoom lessons and emailed tasks to children, it has rightly been a focus for TpT-ers. Whilst you can engage a child who sits next to you with math manipulatives and real world objects, it can be quite tricky. Enter interactive / digital resources. Everyone is going wild for interactivity with Google slide worksheets, “boom” cards and a new digital overlay that you can activate on any Tpt downloaded resource and Lefty Lessons has embraced this new style of teaching.

Didn’t you mention a Freebie?

The featured freebie on Lefty Lessons’ store is the ABCs of Science Activity Pack. The blurb on the product highlights how it is perfect for distance learning science. I was intrigued because making remote Science easy sounds neat right now.

What’s great about this Freebie?

The premise of the activity pack is that Each letter of the alphabet has a different Science term associated with it and discusses the definition and interesting facts about that idea. As this is a part of a bigger collection, you get an entire unit of work for the letter A – which Lefty assigns to Astronaut.

She includes an investigative activity that promises kids will learn about how an astronaut would eat, live and breathe in space. This is achieved through the construction of a junk model space ship, and the exciting addition of vinegar and baking soda for the fuel.

I’ve used the combination of vinegar and bicarbonate of soda in my own practice to create volcanoes (just add a drop of food colouring and make it “rain” with the vinegar) and the chemical reaction makes science so exciting – and generally unexpected – for the kids.

Other elements span the curriculum and include a history of space travel for children to stick in their books. There is also a writing prompt for learners to imagine being an astronaut.

So what did I think?

I love the idea of the A-Z of anything. Sometimes when I can’t sleep I run through the alphabet trying to think of words on a particular subject… Back on topic, I think this is a great taster of the full resource – 26 sets of activities. It could be a great way to cover some of the required Science curriculum that sometimes seems disjointed. The only downside for me is that this product follows the pattern of many American resources. In my experience they are pretty items to stick into an exercise book but the learning is quite passive. If children merely stick a piece of paper in, how much do the learners absorb? Which is why in the classroom, I would use this as a way to compliment a topic.

Tell me more about how you would use it!

My favourite part of this freebie is the rocket building. I love the idea of using it as a cross-curricular prompt to support learning. There are so many different ways you could springboard from the astronaut and junk model space ship idea such as:

to explore aerodynamics, 3D and 2D shapes,
measure height
measure length
an investigation on the ingredients for rocket fuel. Learners could pick one liquid and one solid. Maybe water, coke, vinegar and mints, sodium bicarbonate, flour
look at testing techniques in Science and discuss the idea of a control test when experimenting
explore DT procedures such as joining materials, cutting techniques or the design and evaluation of a product.

There is such a variety on Lefty Lessons’ TpT store. You should check them out and explore the quality of the interactive resources too. Whilst you are there, why not also check out my TpT store too? Don’t forget to like, comment and sign-up for my zoedidthat site updates!

This reviews have been done with love and full permission from store holders. I receive no financial reward for these reviews. For full information about any monetisation on this blog please read the disclosures page.