Eyedroppers

"Doctors use them to put drops in your eyes to make you see better."
"Scientists use them to make potions."
"Scientists use them to mix chemicals and to do experiments."

These tools take more concentration than what we have used in the past.  They are harder to manipulate and control.  Trying their fine motor skills with water, the children were asked a question.  How many drops of water fit on a penny?

First the children made predictions.  We talked about the importance of making a best guess and not coming up with a random number.  Below are the results of our first official experiment!

Magnifying glasses and tweezers

The first two tools we used these few weeks were magnifying glasses and tweezers.  How could scientists use these?

"To work on brains"
"To see very tiny bugs"
"To fix babies"
"To hold something very carefully"

We used them in different ways.  We talked about them, went over expectations for use, and used them to do a task.  Follow our picture story below!

Science Safety

To become great scientists, one of the first things to learn is how to use tools the right way.  I posed a question to the students.  How do scientists use tools? We will be investigating this question over the next few weeks.  The first thing we had to do was go over what it means to be safe.

We discussed safety and then talked about a safety contract.  By signing the contract, everyone must agree to the terms.  In order to participate in the science investigations, each student had to understand what was expected of them.  

From there we browsed through pictures of tools used by scientists and some tools that would be brought into the classroom later on.  The children talked about some as they cut pictures out and organized them in their science notebooks.

Next week I will bring in the first of the tools and we will get to work!