Rolled newspaper and lots of tape = lots of busy fun!
Inspired by the building that they saw the First Graders doing, the Kindergarteners did their own building – with newspaper. Either working by themselves, or as part of a group, Kindergarteners crafted geometric designs, rafts, Knuffle Bunny style windows, houses and boats – anything their imaginations could come up with! Give it a try yourself the next time everyone is stuck indoors on a rainy day.
Posted in General ,Kindergarten Science December 14, 2011
For a short unit on Design Technology, First Grade students were given the task of building a truck out of everyday building materials. There were two requirements: the truck had to be able to transport an apple and it had to be able to roll. Students were given a tour of the available materials and then told that they could go to work.
For the first 15 minutes of that work period, a total hush came over the class. I have never heard the students be so quiet! I could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was so busy thinking, concentrating and planning that no one spoke for a long time. Once students had a picture in their heads of what they wanted their cars to look like, the room got louder again as people gathered supplies and brainstormed together. I loved watching students help each other problem solve and volunteer ideas back and forth. The room had a really nice community feel to it.
Posted in First Grade Science ,General December 14, 2011
Last week one of the first grade students asked me, “When are we going to do real science? You know, where we mix stuff together and there’s an explosion?” I was intrigued and decided that I wanted to find out more about what students were thinking in regards to science. The next time the students came to class I gave them pieces of paper with the words, “A scientist is…..” and asked them to finish the sentence and do a drawing to go along with their words. A few students wrote that scientists made potions. Several wrote that scientists made explosions. One or two wrote that scientists discover things. One student wanted to write about what mad scientists do, but I clarified that we were talking about regular scientists.
For our next lesson I took the same group of students out to the garden, where we turned our compost pile with a pitchfork to aerate it and observed the decomposition that had already taken place. We also placed a carved pumpkin in one corner of the garden and I explained that we were going to spend the next couple of weeks and months observing the pumpkin decompose. When we got back to the classroom, I asked the students to turn to the person next to them and talk for two minutes about the following question, “Is what we just did – turning the compost and placing the pumpkin in the garden – science?” I got a range of answers. One pair of students felt that what we had just done wasn’t science because it was something that they could do at home with their families. Another pair felt like it was science because what we had done reminded them of a lifecycle. The pumpkin would rot, provide nutrients for the soil, which would allow other plants to grow and produce; those plants would die and the cycle would continue. Needless to say, it was an interesting conversation.
For the next lesson, I read two books to the children. One book, What Are Scientists?, talked about how scientists study everything and highlights all the different “ologists” that there are in the field of science. The second book, What is a Scientist?, talked about general things that all scientists do. “A scientist asks questions and tries different ways to answer them. A scientist notices details. A scientist draws what she sees” etc.
Hopefully these experiences have helped the first graders to at least start to think more broadly about what science is and what scientists do, and maybe, just maybe, to move past explosions!
Posted in First Grade Science ,General November 7, 2011
As part of our unit on Sunshine and Shadows, Kindergarteners were introduced to the idea of shadow puppets. Students created their own puppets and then acted out the poem, “There Was a Little Turtle”. Click on the link below to watch a sample.
There Was a Little Turtle
Posted in General November 4, 2011
We’re coming to the end of our Pond Unit in Second Grade. Students have had a lot of fun investigating the three ponds around BCD: the big BCD pond, Janet’s Pond – the small pond and wetlands area behind Peterson, and the Stockbridge Bowl across the street. We’ve taken water samples from each and looked at algae under a microscope. The students just finished making a wonderful Pond Life mural that you can see for yourself here in SESL – stop on by! Also keep a lookout for Science Journals coming home soon.
turtle
a big fish and ducks
water striders and crayfish
duck
mosquitos
cattails and snails
garter snake and frog
turtle
minnows
Posted in General ,Second Grade Science November 4, 2011
First Grade students have been spending time in the garden recently, weeding and planting garlic and winter rye seed. Students have collected soil samples from different areas on campus and compared them. They have also been diligently filling up their class compost bin. Our compost pile is growing rapidly!
Posted in First Grade Science ,General October 12, 2011
The Kindergarteners have been busy since my last post! They have been helping out in the school garden, going on nature walks and exploring Sunshine and Shadows. Students are learning how shadows form, both inside and outside. On a rainy day students used blocks and flashlights to create “Shadow Cities”:
Students have also recently made sun art prints and traced their shadows to see how their shadows changed throughout the day.
Posted in General ,Kindergarten Science October 12, 2011
The third graders have been busy learning about flight. They recently made two different types of paper airplanes, the “Dragon” and the “Cobra”. Students sent the airplanes on flights and measured how far each had flown. The data will soon be graphed on the computer.
Posted in Third Grade Science October 11, 2011
I’ve been trying to dodge the rain with the Kindergarteners as much as possible and get outside whenever we can. Recently we traveled into the big woods (i.e. Mike’s Trail) and placed a table cloth down on the forest floor. The children made predictions about what they thought would either fall or crawl onto the sheet. We left the sheet overnight and came back the next day to find lots of leaves, tree seeds, pine needles and a big, fat slug!
The Blue Stars
The White Stars
On the inevitable rainy days, the K students have engaged in art projects that have a science bent. For example, last week they made marble roll painting – tilting a box top to move marbles over and around paint. It was all about gravity, tilt and angle and the pictures came out beautifully.
Today the students helped do some weeding in the school garden. It was a lot of fun!
These gloves can be so hard to get on!
Posted in General ,Kindergarten Science September 21, 2011
It’s been a slimy week in Lower School Science!
As part of a broader unit on ponds, second graders spent some time investing the snails they had discovered near the BCD pond. For this exploration the key questions were: “What are the body parts of the snail? How does a snail move?”
Gathering the snails:
Observing the snails:
Posted in General ,Second Grade Science September 16, 2011
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