teacherscoutmom

CSI: The Experience at MGM Grand in Las Vegas

Posted on October 29, 2016September 7, 2017 by teacherscoutmom

Outside CSI: The Experience at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV

This past June, my husband and I spent our 20th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas. We had a great time and spent lots of hours touring attractions and visiting several shows. One of the attractions that we toured was the CSI Experience in the MGM Grand.

This attraction, located on the second floor by the monorail, was part of a deal that came from MGM Resorts international in which the buyer can get 3 attractions in Las Vegas for only $57. (3 for $57 Link) With normal prices being anywhere from $25-$40 a person, it was a great deal for us.

In the CSI Experience (unfortunately you can’t take pictures once inside), visitors are taken to a registration desk and allowed to don official CSI gear. My husband and I chose the jackets that the actors were always wearing in the movies. It made us feel like we were really going onto the set! Once attired in correct uniform, visitors are then assigned one of three cases and handed a clipboard with a worksheet and pen. After a small wait (about 5 min or so), we were escorted into the viewing room where we met Gil Grissom and received our assignment for the night.

A wall separates each of the crime scenes, and once we had our case and scene, we were escorted to our new location. Our scene had a car crash through the house and we had to write down everything we noticed liked blood drops, pictures on the wall, and any clues that we thought were suspicious. After about 5-10 min observing, we were then shown to the lab.

The lab was divided into stations like the show. Stations like the fingerprint lab, DNA, trace, and even autopsy with Doc Robbins were a few that we encountered. Each station was numbered to match our clipboard and we then began to get reports, run fingerprint analysis, study records, and draw conclusions to solve the case. It was pretty awesome for the science geeks like us! It took us about an hour or so to get through all the stations.

At the end, there are computers in which you can type up your findings. If your report to Grissom is correct, then you are emailed a graduation certificate and offered to take photos. (The certificate is free however the photos are not.) At the end, there is a gift shop that sells magnets, show memorabilia and other fun science stuff.

I would highly recommend this attraction and if you find yourself in Las Vegas, you should check it out. I know that we will definitely do it again with a different case the next time we are there. Their official site is located here. CSI: The Experience

Please check out a few of our other travel posts…

Christmas, Christmas Parade

Getting Ready for our Girl Scout Christmas Float

Posted on October 5, 2016August 26, 2017 by teacherscoutmom

Our Girl Scouts voted on a theme for last year’s Christmas Parade float and decided on Whoville!

One of the mom’s found a cool sign on Etsy, but we couldn’t order it in time, so the girls made one. The girls cut the signs out of cardboard, and painted them to look like the movie. They then used hot glue to glue them to a candy cane that we purchased from Wal-Mart. The final product is here! It turned out pretty well and looked really neat on their float. A super Thank You from our girls to the people who make these really neat on Etsy and sell them for profits!

Girl Scouts, Christmas Float, presents — Cardboard Presents wrapped to look like real presents

The girls needed presents for the Grinch to steal, so they wrapped Cardboard boxes in different types of wrapping paper (which was donated) to decorate the trailer.

Girl Scouts, Christmas Float, Whoville — Paper Plate Candy

The younger girls also made candy to decorate using paper plates and markers. We then used cellophane paper to wrap and twist the sides. A little ribbon on the sides and instant large candy. We used this to tie around the float.

Finally it was time to get dressed up. The girls pulled their hair up in weird ways including combing it over a water bottle. We even had a Grinch (can’t put a picture till I get permission) who was a dad who dressed up. One of our scout’s little sister who was a two year old was even dressed like Max. It turned out really, really well!

Girl Scouts, Whoville, Christmas Float — Whoville hair over a water bottle!

Please check our our Candy Land Float Pictures – Christmas Float Candy Lights and Gingerbread House

Star Wars

Star Wars Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle Lego Set & Time Lapse Video

Posted on October 3, 2016June 15, 2017 by teacherscoutmom

Directions For Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle

This Command Shuttle had 43 pieces and was fairly easy to build. My son built it in about 10-15 min but it is a perfect addition to his Star Wars Lego Sets.

His video is included below if you would like to see how it turned out. If you would like to see or purchase this set from Amazon- click here..

Math Anchor Charts

Place Value Patterns- Multiplying & Dividing by 10

Posted on October 2, 2016December 4, 2016 by teacherscoutmom

Place Value Patterns- Moving the Numbers!

place value, 5th grade — Place Value Patterns- Moving the decimal places

Part of our curriculum in 5th grade is to recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left. (Arkansas Mathematics Standards)

Students also need to understand why multiplying or dividing by a power of 10 shifts the value of the digits of a whole number or decimal and explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a whole number by powers of 10. This is not just for whole numbers but decimals place values up to the thousandths place.

This year we were working with a program called Eureka Math. They illustrated a great way of moving the numbers back or forth when multiplying and dividing instead of just moving the decimal, which is a quick short cut way that leads to misunderstanding.

So, until the students understood what was happening in actuality to the numbers in each place value, they had to draw the place value chart or lines to represent the different place holders in the chart. Once they could explain accurately what was happening to the numbers, most quickly figured out the short cut way of moving the decimal to the right or left.

I created an anchor chart (above) that helps the students to remember the patterns. This was easy for them to see and we also put a miniature version in our math notebooks.

Marvel Superheroes

Captain America Lego Time Lapse Video

Posted on October 2, 2016June 15, 2017 by teacherscoutmom

This awesome set came from Target and my son built it without many problems. Unfortunately Target doesn’t carry it anymore, but I was able to find it on Amazon – Lego 30447 Captain America sidecar with motor cycle. It was a neat set that actually shoots the missile! The instructions and a time lapse video my son made is included below.

Directions for Lego Set- Captain America’s Motorcycle

Lego, Mario

Mario built from Lego Bricks with Time Lapse Video

Posted on September 29, 2016June 26, 2017 by teacherscoutmom

My son is counting pixels once again! This time he made a Lego Mario using only regular bricks from the Creator box set. Using blue, yellow, red, and white bricks his goal was to make 8 bit Mario from the classic Nintendo game. You can buy these bricks anywhere but Amazon also has multiple sets of bricks if you need some more for your collection.

He also shot a short time lapse video showing what bricks he used and how he put it together!

Lego

Pokeball- Made from Lego Bricks with Time Lapse Video

Posted on September 28, 2016June 29, 2017 by teacherscoutmom

My son added a new Lego creation to his collection. This time he used Lego bricks to create a Pokeball. He used red, black and white bricks. Just the ordinary bricks that come in any creation box set. If you need more bricks, Amazon has a Classic Brick Box Set with 484 bricks here.

He also created a time lapse video as he built it. He even added music to the 10 second clip. He said it was super easy and anyone at any skill level should be able to make it with little to no problems. Hope you have fun building!

Undertale Birthday Party, Undertale Patterns

Undertale Inspired Keychains & Magnets – Mini Perler/Artkal Beads

Posted on July 25, 2016September 9, 2020 by teacherscoutmom

Here are a few fun mini bead patterns representing Undertale characters. My son was a huge fan of the game and we had lots of fun making these and turning them into keychains and magnets.

A few Undertale Characters made with Mini Perler and Artkal Beads

Sans, mini beads, perler, artkal, pattern — Sans Perler/Artkal beads

Mini Perler can be found at perler.com or on Amazon. Artkal beads can be found at a artkalfusebeads.com or also on Amazon. Perler is generally my favorite bead but when it comes to the mini bead size, Artkal wins out in my opinion. There are a ton more colors and you don’t have to buy the entire tray to just get one or two colors.

Please use the patterns above to make your own or you can purchase some cute ones made from Mini Perler & Artkal beads already made (magnets or keychains) at my Etsy store here for only $5.00+.

Please check out some of my other Perler projects….

If you would like to check out additional Perler Bead Patterns, click on the Menu at the top of the page or click some of the links below.

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Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Classroom Library Checkout Sheet For Middle/High School

Posted on June 19, 2016 by teacherscoutmom

During the normal school day, I teach 5 classes of middle school math. (This is the part where everyone gets excited and says WHOO HOO!! GO MATH!)

But I love to read and have a pretty awesome classroom reading library. I collect from everywhere, garage sales, flea markets, book stores, Scholastic, you get the idea. However, I don’t have time to manage the books throughout the school year. So…

In my homeroom class, I have a couple of librarians, these rotate out regularly, and they are the ones who manage the library. I keep a clipboard in the reading area with several pages of a checkout sheet and also a book return tub next to it. The checkout sheet contains places for my students to write their name, date, title and class period. There is also a return date column on the end. This sheet helps streamline my librarians work. They usually highlight the books returned and they know exactly who hasn’t returned a book.

Since doing this, I have reduced my amount of workload as well as keeping my books (they were walking off because I couldn’t take care of it.) The kids love the responsibility and look forward to their rotation of being the librarian.

A copy of the sheet & label for my tub that I use can be found here…

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Library-Checkout-Sheet-For-Middle-High-School-2601060

Minecraft

Storage Boxes – Minecraft TNT & Creeper

Posted on June 18, 2016 by teacherscoutmom

As we were cleaning my son’s room, we noticed that he definitely needed some new storage boxes for his bedroom. Most of them were very plain, so I started looking around the Internet for some ideas. I found some Minecraft storage cubes that were from an IKEA hack according to Pinterest but had no directions or source of information. So I decided to create some of my own and use Google images to help me out with some of the drawing.

First, to create the storage boxes, I bought 2 fabric drawers from Wal-Mart, for $4.44 for each. They weren’t anything fancy but they definitely did the trick.

storage box, fabric drawer — The Fabric Drawers from Wal-Mart. Less than $5.00 each!

I then added a pack of felt to my purchases that was also under $5.00. It contained both the white and the black sheet that I needed and was Peel N’Stick. This made drawing, cutting, and decorating a breeze!

craft felt — Package of Craft Felt! – Peel N’ Stick made decorating easy!

To make the TNT box… (feel free to make any modifications that you like. I’m just going to list what I did.)

Cut a 4 inch wide piece of white felt.
Using my ruler, I drew on the back of the black felt since it was easy to see and cut out 2 letter T’s, about 3 3/4 inch long & 2 1/2 inches wide.
I made one N using two long rectangles- about 1 inch wide and 3 1/2 inches long and 2 1 inch x 1 inch square.
I stuck the white piece on the red fabric drawer and stuck the black letters on top. The result is below.

To make the Creeper, I used the rest of my black felt sheet to make 2 (2 in x 2 in) blocks for the eyes, 1 (2 in x 3 in) block for the middle piece and 2 (1 in x 3 in) pieces for the side of the mouth. Started the eyes about an inch from each side of the box. Result below.

Now, his room has a couple extra storage containers, not girly, and perfect for a 10 year old boy who loves Minecraft.

This past June, my husband and I spent our 20th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas. We had a great time and spent lots of hours touring attractions and visiting several shows. One of the attractions that we toured was the CSI Experience in the MGM Grand.

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Please check out some of my other Perler projects….

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