Alive vs. Not

To prepare for our annual service project, I start by discussing what it means for something to be alive or not alive.  

As a group, I asked the children what it meant for something to be alive.  How did they know the difference between alive and not alive?

"You know a fish is alive because it is swimming."
"A penguin is alive because it lives somewhere cold."
"An elephant is alive and then it gets shot and dies.  It gets dead."
"A shoe

is not alive because human feet are moving it."

I then showed various pictures of animals, plants, toys, and everyday objects.  I told the children that right then they might have different ideas on whether the things are alive or not, and that was okay because they are going to learn more soon.

This got us thinking and gave us more ideas.  If something is alive, it needs water.  If something is alive it moves.  If something is alive it can die.  We made a list (which I added to) about the qualities something needs to have to make it alive.

If something is alive:

• It can grow and change
• It can reproduce (make more of itself)
• It needs food and water
• It needs air
• It moves by itself

The children have been showing their learning by doing a sorting on their own.

Our 5 Senses

Over the past few weeks we have been exploring and experimenting with our 5 senses.  Our 5 senses help us understand the world around us.  

For our sense of sight the children looked at small portions of a picture and tried to describe and guess what they were seeing.  For touch the children felt around in a mystery bag and practiced their descriptive words while pulling out familiar classroom objects.  To practice their hearing, the children shook eggs filed with familiar objects and made guesses for what they could be.  For their sense of smell, the children closed their eyes and made guesses as to what they were smelling as a teacher held something under their nose.  

Putting those 5 senses to work, everyone got to examine a simple glass of water.  What were some descriptive words?  

Working with magnets

One item the children have used often is a magnet.  They are used in the classroom to spell words, make pictures, and are even on some refrigerators at home.  What I heard a lot from gathering prior knowledge was that magnets "stick" and only to things made of metal.  We experimented with a magnet wand and tested out different objects to see if it was magnetic. 

From there I talked with the children about the terms attract and repel.  We found that magnets can go towards each other or away from each other.  We saw that magnets that were the same wanted to go together when they were on opposite sides.  

"repel" "attract"  make note of the magnets in the picture