Jul28

When does science become significant?

Math and Science in Preschool: Policies and Practice, a National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) Preschool Policy Brief, says that teachers usually do not plan and support science and math learning in pre-K. How does that happen when young children are so curious about the world and so interested in who has more, is taller, or older?

Viewing sunflowers up closeSome preschool teachers bring their own curiosity into play, in school and out, such as early childhood teacher Sue Hewitt who went out of her way to see a novel (for her—and me!) sight—a big field of sunflowers. Because science activities are full of possibilities for math and language development, they can be the basis for across-the-curriculum learning. Sue talked about how investigating a milkweed seed pod with her class of two-year-olds included sharing a history of children collecting the pods during World War II to use in making life vests for service personnel, and, upon opening the pod, the discovery of how the successfully the seed is dispersed—in the classroom! I’m sure that gave the children a lot to talk about!

 

 

Big field of sunflowers

Does anyone have a story to share about a science activity that became the vehicle for language development or math operations?

Or about a moment when you realized that teaching science in your classroom is essential?

Peggy

 

Published: Jul-28-09 | 0 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Jul22

Summer science fun

The summer science activities for my children that I remember as working best (that is, holding their interest and not requiring an enormous amount of time to set-up or clean up) include mixing baking soda and vinegar and watching the resulting bubbles foam (get the big box and at least a gallon), playing “Pooh Sticks” (watching bits of sticks float under a creek bridge and out the other side), digging a (relatively) deep hole over a period of days, and making a rainbow with the sprinkler. Being able to work outside opens up many possibilities. On hot afternoons, the public library was the perfect place to regain our energy for dinner by reading and resting.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

How about activities such as mixing colors, floating eggs, testing magnetic strength, making bubbles, or generating static electricity? Science NetLinks offers detailed directions for those hands-on activities for summer fun.   Join other teachers in sharing your ideas for summer break science activities by clicking on the word “Comments” below. Don’t be discouraged if the CAPTCHA device takes two tries before accepting your comment. It is really good at stopping automatic spam so it’s worth the difficulty it causes.

Peggy

Published: Jul-22-09 | 3 Comments | 20 Links to this post

Jul17

“I had a carrot for breakfast.”

“I had a carrot for breakfast.” No, not me, this was a young child, a participant in the Early Sprouts program. Young children’s connection between growing food and appreciating it at the table is explored in the article “’Early Sprouts’: Establishing Healthy Food Choices for Young Children” by Karrie A. Kalich, Dottie Bauer, and Deirdre McPartlin in the July 2009 issue of NAEYC’s Young Children. This article serves as an introduction for early childhood teachers who want to do a similar “from garden-to-table” project and link it to nutrition education. I’m going to get the book, Early Sprouts: Cultivating Healthy Food Choices in Young Children from Red Leaf Press where the ideas are further developed and try the recipes! Sample recipes are available at the Early Sprouts website, http://www.earlysprouts.org/

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
The author says that they teach children that taste preferences can change. They say “I like it a lot!” “I like it a little bit,” and “I don’t like it yet” to indicate strong positive, neutral, and negative or unfamiliar reactions to foods. And their students pick up and use these expressions.

Here’s my taste preference change story:

Once upon a time a friend brought me some spring rolls she made in the Vietnamese tradition, heavy on cilantro (an herb I had not yet eaten). My first bite I spit out, thinking that some non-food item had gotten mixed up in the spring rolls because I was tasting some kind of petroleum flavor. I soon had many more tastes of the cilantro leaf in Indian, Latin American, and more Vietnamese cooking--although I pushed it aside, I got small tastes. At some unnoted point I began thinking of it as a food flavor and now I love it and use it often. What exactly happened in my brain?

The Early Sprouts program is on-going, collecting scientific data on how growing food can enhance young children’s health through changing food preferences.

For more help in gardening with young children, the online newsletter, Kids Gardening News from the National Gardening Association has tips for gardening, grant searches, and workshops. Find out what is happening in your area!

I’m going to try again to garden with the children and teachers in the programs where I’m a science teacher. This time I'll try using a container with a water reservoir and plant peas and greens in September.

Peggy

Published: Jul-17-09 | 3 Comments | 139 Links to this post