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!

Scientists

This week I introduced the children to their science notebooks.  The science notebooks are going to help them become scientists this school year.  They are a great place to organize thoughts, make observations, and plan experiments.  One of the first things we did in them was share ideas of what scientists are.

Someone who studies things so we can learn.

A guy that does cool stuff and makes money doing science stuff.  Science is stuff that's blobby, cool, and gooey.

Wonderful and I like it!  Make potions!

They work together on experiments.

They work on experiment potions.

The astronauts went to outer space because they wanted to see God.  But they didn't see him because he's invisible.  So they touched a rock.  They saw the sun moon, and stars.

I don't know what a scientist is.

They make potions.  They're cool.

They can go to outer space and get cool stuff.  They don't have hair.

What my scientist can do is learn about how volcanos grow.

Soon we will talk about the tools that help scientists do their job.  Look for that next!

Welcome! Virtual Classroom Tour

Welcome Junior Explorers and families to the 2016-2017 school year!

This is my classroom blog where I like to post details about project work, but we can start off by giving you a classroom tour.  

This is how the classroom will look for the first day of school.  Things always change as we change, but this is how I thought everyone would like it!

This is the sensory table.  Here is where you will get a chance to feel, pour, measure, predict, relax, and chat with friends.  I have a variety of scoops, cups, and brushes to experiment with.

This is the table where I do my small group instruction.  I meet with each student twice a day in their small groups to work on math and reading/writing skills.  This is also a great place to eat snack and work in big groups.

This is the reading area.  I tried to make it as comfortable as possible to cuddle up with a good book.  There are other things like maze balls, magazines, and puzzles that help reinforce those pre-reading skills.

This is where the action happens!  The shelves have legos, trains, blocks, cars, and animals right now.  I like to rotate the materials in this space so we can try out new things.  The block area is also were we have our whole class meetings.  

This is an extension of the block area.  Here you can use a table to build on, cook on, serve friends dinner, or play games.  The white shelves are full of games and activities for me to use when I meet with small groups.  

This is the writing/drawing area.  We have crayons, markers, paper, stickers, and colored pencils.  Here we practice writing, sounding out words, use our imagination, tell stories, practice fine motor skills, and talk to peers.  

Thank you for visiting the classroom!  You may notice some of the walls and shelves are empty.  This is because I like to add more to it as the year happens.  When I know what is needed I will bring it in.  I also leave a lot of areas and furniture to be open-ended.  Seating is flexible and alternative.  You won't find desks here!  

I am excited to start another year with everyone and can't wait to see what it brings!

Animal Research 2

Check out part 1 here!

After spending time writing down information, gathering facts (not opinions), and figuring out what they wanted to share, everyone was on to their next step!

The children sat down with me and saw various ways to display information.  They saw charts, bullets, graphs and webs.  From there each child decided on a layout for a poster.  The thinking then changed: what was the best information to share?  There were a lot of facts gathered, but what would fit on the poster?  And what information was too much?

Inspired by what they were shown, what their neighbors were doing, and what was in their own heads, the children began to write their ideas down.  I was there to guide thinking about layout and general organization.  There children referred to their fact sheets and informational books they made earlier to decide what to write down.

Animal Research

Our class found out a few weeks ago that they will be taking a field trip to the Detroit Zoo.  In preparation, we are taking time to learn about what we may see on our trip. 




We started by studying the map.  The children are already quite familiar with maps because of our unit previously.  This knowledge helped us understand the layout, animals, and what to expect.  We looked at the list of animals, the general layout, and figured out what to expect.




We wanted to learn everything we could!  But we didn't have the time (or the patience), so I had an idea.  What if we each took an animal, researched it, and then shared what we learned with the class?  I shared my thought with the children and they agreed it was a great idea.  From there we went to the Detroit Zoo website to see their official list of animals.  Which one did we want?

Then we used multiple resources to do research.  We looked at the zoo website, teacher tube, classroom bookshelves, Epic, and RAZ kids.  This helped us read all about the animal of our choice.  While reading we picked out information we thought was interesting.  We wrote it down.

It will take us at least another week to finish researching and recording before we start figuring out a way to present what we learned to the class.  Stay tuned!

Force and Motion Reflection

After exploring the ideas of friction, gravity, motion, and force, our whole group investigation came to an end.  We had a poster board full of sentences written on sticky notes.  It was time to look at what we had done, remember how we learned those things, and make sure our poster was full of true information.

We looked at each idea on the top of the board and thought about each one.  These ideas were written down when we started this investigation.  These are the children's raw thoughts on force and motion (explained further here).  For each note, we discussed, voted on whether we thought it was true or false, and came up with examples of what we had learned or what we did to prove otherwise.  If the statement was true, we checked it off.  If it was false, we moved it down below.  

Thanks to a certain franchise the children had heard about forces, but weren't thinking of them as scientists.  After spending weeks investigating, we revisited this original idea.  Yes, "force" was mentioned in Star Wars and yes, it was kind of a big deal.  However, our job as scientists is to think of things scientifically.  We all agreed that the force scientists talk about does not mean you hold your hand out and "magic" things happen.  Debunked!

This idea was most likely inspired by the one above.  Some children came into this investigation thinking that a force was something almost magical.  As a class we talked about the value of learning and how great it is to now know something different.  Our proof was in the sticky notes!  Force is a push or a pull.  Nothing mysterious, magical, or surprising.  Debunked!

This sticky note originally was missing the word "can".  We took the first thought and modified it.  Ideas like this one were common when we started.  These ideas showed an initial understanding.  What the class had a problem with was the statement, "force means you're strong."  We changed it to make it a possibility- can mean.  Sometimes forces aren't strong.  Sometimes people can't pull something heavy from the ground.  But they can try, and that is an example of a force.  This sticky note shows an example of what force can mean.

When I let the class know we were coming to an end, they wanted to share their knowledge.  We decided to put the poster in the hallway to showcase our work.  I suggested writing a narrative to explain what people were seeing so they could understand the hard work behind it.  This is what they dictated as I typed.

One day we were learning about force and motion.  We had ideas about it.  We wrote them down on sticky notes.  Some ideas were wrong, but it was okay because we hadn’t learned about it yet.  We read books.  We used ramps.  We dropped things.  We watched videos.  We tested out ideas.  Then we looked at our sticky notes and decided which ideas were true or false.  Now we want your class to learn about it.  It is all true.