Let’s Do Science!
Posted by Diane Badden on 02 Jul 2010 | Posted in: Planning and Curriculum
Happy Friday to ya! I just had the best time reading the comments for “Squeezing In Science.” Have you read them? I can’t wait to get home to microwave a flower. Actually, there’s a microwave in our kitchen; so if I can find a flower around here, I won’t even have to wait until I get home!
Be sure to check out the post and comments. In addition to some great ideas for squeezing in science, you’ll find the details to our latest book giveaway. In fact, let’s add this post to the giveaway too; leave a comment here, and we’ll enter your name for an additional chance to win! (See, this is what happens when you fire up my curiosity!)
Let’s chat about favorite science topics and themes, great children’s books for integrating science, and simple science experiments that amaze your students. How fun is that?
Bring on the comments! And if you’re traveling this holiday weekend, please buckle up and be safe!
Diane
Congrats to our contest winners: Deanna, Tina, and Debbie!
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34 Responses to “Let’s Do Science!”
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More Comments Pages: [1] 2 3 » Show All Comments
When I taught kindergarten, I taught thematically. A lot of my units focused on science topics, such as plants, insects, dinosaurs, seasons, and human body. During these units, it was easy to come up with activities for the science center, but I also tried to incorporate science into my reading/listening center with non-fiction books on the subject. Books like “The Pumpkin Circle” really engaged my students’ interests. They would refer back to the books at other times during the week, saying, “We read about that in that book in the reading center!” I loved watching their minds work as they made connections to literature through science!
I teach Kdg.in a PK3-8th grade school. Quite a few of my students have siblings in middle school believe it or not. Doing science projects in middle school is a big deal at our school. I have always thought it would be beneficial for the lower grade teachers to go through the process with their classes all the way to making the board and displaying it so that when they have to do it in middle school they are already familiar with it. I am going to make that my goal this year! Dare I suggest it to the other teachers???
Nature Science is my favorite time of the day. I love using the author Eric Carle’s books for the classroom. The scholastic website has many teaching suggestions for using Eric Carle’s books. I have used these ideas and expanded them for school agers. They love learning science in a fun, relaxed atmosphere without being graded. The website is www2.scholastic.com.
I teach elementary Life Skills. My kids LOVE science! I am always on the lookout for new ideas to keep them interested and learning. Some of the things we did this year included growing sunflowers, butterflies, making colored ice paintings to watch the ice melt and blend colors. We also made koolaid paintings during our 5 senses unit. The Mailbox always has such FABULOUS ideas! I can’t wait to see what comes out next
My favorite resource is Picture Perfect Science. It has lessons in the 5E format and it has picture books. My 5th graders still love hearing a picture book. I just created stations for Chemical Cafe from the book.
We’d do a daily weather report at circle time. We made a weather predictor out of a paper plate and divided the plate into “pie” sections and drew a simple line drawing of various types of weather. Then the children, after deciding what kind of weather we were currently having, they predict the next days weather. Then I would go around the circle, they show me what they choose, and I would graph on a white board with tally marks. Then it became a math lesson as we first estimated then counted what kind of weather was the winner! We also kept track of the entire month’s weather winner so we could graph that too. The kids loved it!
Science for a PK-1 kinesthetic learner means lots of hands-on lessons and a theme that can be varied, so I chose Old MacDonald: He starts off with a farm, expands his enterprise to a zoo, and even diversifies into transportation (simple machines as well as things that go). Of course, it’s natural to transition from airplanes to the space shuttle, so Old MacDonald might just find himself starting his own space agency as the student learns about the moon, the stars, planets, and other components of outerspace. Discussion of comets and meteors usually leads into a unit on dinosaurs, which I use as a jumping off point for lessons on volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and hurricanes. We can then go more in-depth into weather (wind, clouds, sun, rain, snow) and seasons. Right now, we’re working on day/night, which will naturally progress to lessons on sleep, nutrition, and health/hygiene in preparation for back-to-school.
I teach to young students, 1st and 2nd graders. We were doing a unit on our 5 senses in October, near Halloween. What I did was have tupperware containers of different food items that represented different parts of a witch. There was balled melon for her eyeballs, string pasta for her hair, almond slivers for her toenails, carrots for her nose and salami for her tongue. I blindfolded the kids and placed a paper plate in front of them. Then I handed them one item at a time to smell, touch and taste and then guess what the food item was. When we were done, then they could see what it was. It was so much fun and some of the food items they had never tried before and actually like them. They were so excited and I had more food that they invited some of the kids from the other class to come in and they performed the demonstration for the other kids. Of course, we all used our best scary halloween voices when we gave out each item.
I moved to kindergarten after teaching 4th grade, I think my little ones enjoy science alot. We always seem to get dirty. Cutting up pumpkins, building terrariums, getting out the sand/water table for sink or float experiments. Of course I read a lot of books to the students to go along with all this activity and the books are put in the class library for them to read over and over.
During February (dental month) I have always done the “Sweet Tooth Test” with my prek students. Three “cleaned” eggshells (teeth) are placed in containers labeled “water,” “vinegar,” (acid) and “cola” (sugar). Students observe changes in the eggshells over the week encouraging not only healthy brushing habits, but also choices in food/drink. Clear plastic containers with kid-proof lids make this test observable and hands on.
I love doing the properties of water with my Pre-Kers. We make ice from water (solid and liquid) then when the ice melts I put it in a hot pot to heat up and become vapor (gas). This I do when it starts getting cold out, then when the Spring comes I am ready to teach the Water Cycle in time for Earth Day. I am always amazed at how much they retain over the months. I pull out the hot pot again and we make our own rain as part of the water cycle.
It is so much fun to do science with younger students, they get so excited about learning. One of my favorite science topics to do is the “What Floats” lesson. First of all I have a list of items from which I have the students choose individually which items will float and which ones will sink. I have individual charts for each students to record their predictions. Once everyone has made their predicitions, then I will have the students help me place the items in the water to test their predictions. After everything has been tested, we record the results from the experiment on their record sheet. Then I will talk with the students about why particular items floated or why they sank. Then I have the students compare what really happened to the predictions. This is alot of fun to do with the students and they like it because it is interactive.