Nov11

With water play students gain experience they can record in writing and drawing

Playing in water opens many avenues for science explorations—flow, wetness or phases of matter, volume, and buoyancy. Unexpected results make children think and explore further. For example, children know that fish are supposed to float, so playing with a toy fish that sinks will get children thinking about why. We can let children know that questions are to be shared by listening to theirs, asking open-ended questions, and then having the students record their answers, or dictate to us to record. Science activities are good platforms for using literacy skills because children often want to tell the story of what they did. Read the November 2009 Early Years column in Science and Children about creating a book about a classroom investigation. View sample book pages at www.nsta.org/SC0911.

 

Children observe objects in waterGiven an assortment of interesting objects and a tub of water, children will make discoveries while playing. Demonstrate the definitions for those unfamiliar with the words “float” and “sink” with two objects, perhaps a cork and a coin. With experience and enough interestingly shaped objects, students learn that whether an object floats or sinks is related to both the material it is made from, and its shape. To begin with, a sink-or-float exploration can focus on the property of materials. Materials which challenge assumptions include, sponges, pumice, fruit, small lidded containers (some completely, some partly, filled with water), soap, and dense plastic models of animals that swim (children often think these will float like their real-life counterparts). A variety of balls, jar and bottle lids, keys and coins, plasticine clay, and sea shells are attractive to children, and they may also want to choose items to test from the classroom.

 

After a period of minutes or days of exploration, students can do some predicting using this knowledge. Using exaggerated body gestures to represent our predictions is fun. “Do you think it will float?” Put your hands high above your head and gently wave them like they are floating above you. “Do you think it will sink?” Slide your hands down from your shoulders to your lap like they are sinking. With a bit of direction by the teacher towards documenting their thinking in drawings or writing, the children will have a record of their predictions to compare with what they find out when they put the object in water.

 

Students can explore buoyancy with a Discovery Bottle—for details read Sandy Watson’s article, Discovery Bottles, in the July 2008 issue of Science and Children. She explains how “Discovery bottles are inexpensive, quick to assemble, and an excellent way to provide students with practice in developing science-process skills, such as observing, measuring, predicting, and so on.”

 

The next time you can present some new objects and ask the children to separate the objects into groups, those that they think will float and those that they think will sink. The children may choose to create a third group of those objects they aren’t sure about, or objects that sometimes sink and sometimes float. Be sure to let children know that it is okay to have differing predictions. To keep the two concepts clear in their minds, use two clear cups on the table, one with a sinking object in it and one with a floating object in it, to represent the two groups, and the children can place objects around the cups. Tell the children that scientists ask questions and try to answer them and they can too.

 

I like to keep some towels handy to help with clean up, and to rinse all objects with a bleach solution and allow them to air dry before storing. Send home the children’s papers documenting their work  and it might inspire families to continue the exploration at home in the bathtub or at the sink.

Peggy

Scientists have fun testing for buoyancy.

 

Published: Nov-11-09 | 0 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Sep27

Thinking BIG, Learning BIG: Summer reading becomes September‘s lesson plans

July is a distant memory of 6am wake up calls for my high-schooler who took PE over the summer, balanced with my getting more than five minutes of peace and quiet—time to read about early childhood and science, to think my own thoughts and get hungry for conversation. Summer school is a wonderful thing and I thank all the teachers who work it.

Thinking BIG, Learning BIG: a great resource for integrated science activiesJuly’s reading, Thinking BIG, Learning BIG: Connecting Science, Math, Literacy, and Language in Early Childhood by Marie Faust Evitt, with Tim Dobbins, and Bobbi Weesen-Baer (Gryphon House 2009—also the publisher of my book), has become September‘s lesson plans. This book of activities reinvigorated my thinking which was in limbo because a building move had one of “my” schools on tenderhooks about our opening date and the use of space. Aligned with national standards in reading, literacy, math, and science, Thinking BIG helps me see where the science activities I know and love can incorporate more language and math goals. With intriguing, classroom-tested activities which are insightful about children’s desire to explore and imagine, Evitt also meets teachers' needs for activities which are possible, teach concepts, and come with detailed directions for how to implement. Her approach expanded my thinking—although I usually think of sprouting seeds as an early spring activity, Evitt explains that children are curious about the seeds they discover in fall from flowers and inside apples and pumpkins. The playful spirit throughout the book is so enjoyable—predicting how far popcorn will fly, playing air hockey, and making a giant rainbow! The authors understand that children are attracted to all things BIG and they will remember the concepts they learn through those activities!

Marie and I became penpals before her book was published, and we collaborated on a workshop for an NSTA area conference. She’s a fun presenter—look for Marie Faust Evitt and Mr. Tim at the NAEYC national conference in Washington, D.C. this November.

Here’s what I found especially useful in Thinking BIG, Learning BIG: Movement ideas, Insights into children’s thinking, Teacher-to-teacher tips, games, book lists, skills assessments, and Discussion Starter questions.         

  • Instructions that involve movement with language—clapping when first saying vocabulary words (SCAD system of “Say, Clap, Act out, Do again”), crouching down to “become” a seed and then sprouting a root (leg), and using American Sing Language to say the new word.
  • Insights about children’s thinking are on every page. For example, when children graph, they want to remember which object they put on the graph so teachers should make the graphs big, or should I say, BIG. For example, if graphing favorite flavor of apple (green, yellow, or red), give each child an apple shape big enough for them to write their name on before they add it to the graph. The graph is poster size, made from more than one sheet of paper. In the seeds chapter, a “How Our Seeds Germinate and Grow” number line chart with days 1-12 (more age appropriate than a calendar) is used for both predicting if anything will happen with the soaked bean seeds, and recording what is actually observed each day.
  • Teacher-to-Teacher Tips are full of details, specific information to implement the activities. In the Seeds chapter, Evitt recommends using pre-cut bean shapes for children who become frustrated if they have difficulty drawing their predictions and observations, and describes steps to teach children to draw the bean shape.
  • The games and stories (used in every chapter) creatively convey concepts. Children predict which square on a grid will catch the most popcorn kernels as they fly out of the popper, and act out The Little Red Hen while learning about seeds we eat, and play a “Traveling Seeds” game to learn how seeds travel.
  • An extensive book list for every chapter (sometimes 2+ pages!) with descriptions takes the guesswork out of which book to read.
  • The useful Skills Assessments are in the form of questions directing the teacher to reflect on the children’s abilities and understanding: What kind of pencil grip does the child use? Can the child use the vocabulary? Does the child see the connection between the wheat seeds and flour? Can the child count correctly the number of dots on the card?
  • Use the Discussion Starters (in the form of questions) to “spark children’s thinking during and after the activity”. Sometimes I write such questions on an index cue card so I remember to ask specific questions, such as “How many more days is it until we think we will see leaves?”

This book is going to help me make the transition to the new physical space and to incorporating more specific math and language focus during science activities. Hope you get a chance to view it online or at a conference.

Peggy

 

Published: Sep-27-09 | 1 Comment | 0 Links to this post

Sep22

Books about fall leaves, inspired by the autumn equinox

 

Red maple leaves in fall.Yellow maple leaves in fall.

 

 

 

Do deciduous tree leaves in your area change color before they fall? On the occasion of the autumn equinox, here are a few books about trees and fall leaf colors that I have enjoyed reading to my students when we discussed the season’s change from summer to fall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

& Fresh Fall Leaves by Betsy Franco, Shari Halpern (Illustrator) (Scholastic 1994). A pair of children plays in fallen leaves in this simple early reader. Children love to share their own stories of playing in fallen leaves.

& I Am a Leaf by Jean Marzollo, Judith Moffatt (Illustrator) (Scholastic 1998). An early reader introducing the function of tree leaves.

& Red Leaf Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1991). Colors! Maple tree lifecycle information! And an appendix with background knowledge for adults to read and share.

& A Tree Is Growing by Arthur Dorros, S. D. Schindler (Illustrator) (Scholastic 1997). Read in sections so young children are not overwhelmed with new information—perhaps a few pages each month as you follow the changes in a tree in your schoolyard. Many details of tree growth and life cycle are explained in sidebars, including photosynthesis.

 

And here is a new one, published this fall, which I look forward to sharing with my classes:

& Count Down to Fall by Fran Hawk, Sherry Neidigh (Illustrator) (Sylvan Dell Publishing 2009).

Tree leaf shape matching, counting from 10 to 1 (you will have to invent your own page for zero), and information about plant parts and animals that eat (parts of) trees—there’s a lot of natural science in this beautifully illustrated book. On the pages for numbers 3 and 2, the counting switches from the number of leaves to the number of points on the leaves, and to the number of leaves in the group that fall together—a fun change in pattern for fours and older who are listening closely but possibly confusing for others. The Sylvan Dell website has teaching activities to go with the book, including a list of the animals pictured in the book: bear, beaver, beetle, bird, butterfly, cat, chipmunks, deer, dog, elk, frog, grasshopper, lizard, moose, owl, possum, rabbit, raccoon, squirrel, and turtle. Perhaps the children can count how many animals they see in the illustrations as we read.

 

Tell us about a book on fall leaves that you use in your program by clicking on the word “Comments” below. The anti-spammer “capcha” box may not register your comment the first time you click “Submit Comment”—please type in the new capcha code that appears and submit again.

 

Happy Fall!

Peggy

Published: Sep-22-09 | 2 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Sep01

Book lovers and science

Just in case you have not yet read the column, “Teaching Through Tradebooks”, in Science and Children,  the National Science Teachers Association’s elementary school journal, I’ll share why I like it with you. The column writes up two activities, one for K-3 and one for 4-6. The book choices are always excellent, the kind of books that you hold onto for 20 years because they are scientifically accurate and resonate so well with children. The content of featured books is appropriate for elementary school grade levels and aligns with the National Science Education Standards. The books are a pleasure to read with illustrations that add to our understanding of the text.

 

This month the titles are I See a Kookaburra! Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2005) and The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer and Steve Johnson (Random House Children’s Books, 1994).

 

“Picture” books make great teaching tools for older elementary students too! Reading aloud develops students’ vocabulary and is a jumping off point for large group discussion.

 

Reading aloud to children

Do you have a favorite book that ties into your science lessons? Bet you can't choose just one!

Peggy

Published: Sep-01-09 | 3 Comments | 0 Links to this post

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

Mar30

Science activities in early childhood prepare for a lifetime of learning

Like learning to count or to read, learning how to do science is a process. Children of all ages benefit from exposure to “science” situations where they are encouraged to fully experience our world, describe what they see, count and record data, ask questions about the experience, repeat the experience, and think and talk about the why of it. If we want children to become life-long questioners and perform well on standardized tests when they are in high school, we need to include science in their early childhood curriculum where direct experience with different materials and an encouraging environment develop their beginning ideas about the natural world and their exploration confidence.

Science activities can be designed to encourage children to make predictions about what they think might happen. Questions such as “What do seeds need to sprout?” “What will happen to this object in water?” and “What is attracted to a magnet?” are common topics in preschool. After seeing what does happen, children can share their thoughts, informally or formally, and record them by drawing, writing, recording on a chart, and dictating. Once is usually not enough for engaging experiences, and repeating the process is part of scientific inquiry. Later that day, the next week or even months later, children will recall what they did and talk about why they think they saw the results that they did.

Today I saw a K-1 class mixing pinches of turmeric, paprika, and dirt into small dabs of egg yolk, oil, and water. (Safety note: Remind the children to keep hands and brushes out of their mouths and be sure to wash hands afterward.) They talked as they worked, noticing differences in all six materials and how the dry powders mixed into the liquids. The objective was to determine which mixture would be most suitable as paint.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

(Click on the photos to enlarge.)

This structured investigation inspired a lot of discussion and wondering. I wonder at what levels the children will use this background to support future learning about differences between oil and water, the composition of foods, and how to preserve works of art.

Peggy

Published: Mar-30-09 | 1 Comment | 0 Links to this post

Mar29

Mixing colors combines art and science in one activity

Colored acetate sheets make new colors as they overlap. Give children just the primary colors--a dark pink, a blue, and a yellow-- and they can create orange, green, purple, and deep grays and browns without any instruction. Like scientists they can share their results with others and repeat the process to see if the results are the same.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
(The acetate is often sold at this time of year in craft and party stores as wrapping paper.)

 

Young children will spend more time than one would expect mixing colored water in a clear container using droppers (pipettes). Highly diluted liquid watercolors create jewel-like colors. The children focus their attention and carefully move small amounts of colored water from one compartment in a clear egg carton to another, creating new colors.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
They get just as excited about the grey as they do the greens and purples. They did it and they are so proud! For those schools where snow falls, applying small amounts of colored water to snowballs is another way to mix colors.
From NSTA The Early Years Blog
Colors can be recorded by dropping onto a paper towel, although they will be much lighter when dry.
From NSTA The Early Years Blog
Color mixing results can be part of an on-going science notebook kept all year.
From NSTA The Early Years Blog

 

Young scientist-artists enjoy learning that artists used to mix their own pigments and that some recipes do not last well with time (read about Leonardo da Vinci's paint medium choices for “The Last Supper”). Ask the children to share their “recipe” and explain how you can get that color too.

Peggy

Published: Mar-29-09 | 1 Comment | 44 Links to this post

Mar17

How can we make time to teach science in preK-2 classrooms?

Observing the life cycle of an insect can include measuring growth and weight, counting calendar days and reading fiction, non-fiction, and writing poetry and descriptions—all ways to integrate science with other subjects in elementary school. Many skills and much information, such as, learning about the continents and names of land forms, how to read or make a map, learning what are natural resources, understanding weather vocabulary, how to describe parts of a whole, using pictures to check for meaning, using graphic organizers, re-telling a story or event using the beginning-middle-ending format, recognizing that letters are symbols for sounds, comparing story traditions of own and other cultures, asking and answering questions, using graphs, charts, and signs to acquire information, and using prior knowledge to predict meaning and make sense of texts are all skills that can be taught during science activities as well as during the reading, math, and social studies time periods.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
From NSTA The Early Years Blog
Whew! Children learn so much in the early childhood school years and it all seems to connect.

What kinds of lesson plans do you teach which integrate science with social studies, math, and language arts?

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

Published: Mar-17-09 | 2 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Mar09

Classification

Snack sorting! It’s an interesting way to involve students in classifying and, while sitting together to eat, there is time to talk about why certain groupings were chosen. Children might sort by shape, create an ABAB pattern, and count the number of each snack shape.

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

 

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
Classification is the theme for the March 2008 issue of Science and Children. 
From NSTA The Early Years Blog
I was especially interested in the performance standard scale for the process of classification developed by a group of first-grade teachers in the Coast Metro school districts of British Columbia, Canada (see “Classifying Classification”, pgs. 25-29). The scale details the skills and behavior that may be seen in first graders as they classify and answer these questions:

How are these the same? How are they different? Is there another way you can sort theses into groups? Where would you place this new item in your system? Explain.

 

The teachers put classification skills on a continuum from Matching, to Sorting, to Categorizing, to Interpreting, “to help them describe how students move through different levels of classification tasks.”

I’m eager to apply this model to the next classification task I introduce in my teaching, and improve the sequence of classifying tasks we work on next year.

Peggy

Published: Mar-09-09 | 3 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Feb04

Count the birds you see on February 13th -16th for just 15 minutes!

I’ve never taken part in the Great Backyard Bird Count but it sounds like an interesting way to learn about collecting data and become part of a greater group contributing to knowledge about bird population trends. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has partnered with the National Audubon Society on a project that includes the contributions of novice bird watchers to experts—me and you, and our students! See the Great Backyard Bird Count website for the simple instructions on how you and your class can participate. There is a “Learn about Birds” section with tips on identifying birds.

 

The ten most commonly reported bird species last year were:

1 Northern Cardinal

2 Mourning Dove

3 Dark-eyed Junco

4 Downy Woodpecker

5 American Goldfinch

6 Blue Jay

7 House Finch

8 Tufted Titmouse

9 Black-capped Chickadee

10 American Crow

 

Have you seen any of those bird species lately? A flock of Mourning Doves have been resting on the ground among the rhododendrons in front of my house (my neighbor fills her feeders daily), startling me by suddenly flying up all together when I open the front door. So I know where I’ll find my first five birds on February 13th!

From NSTA The Early Years Blog
Bird-shape rubbings are an easy way for young children to make accurate body shape drawings. They can fill in the details after completing the rubbing.
From NSTA The Early Years Blog

 

Once they start looking at birds, children will soon be pointing out the small brown ones and the large black ones, the red birds and the big white ones, otherwise known as sparrows, crows, cardinals, and gulls.

 

Cut out this mourning dove shape (30 centimeters/12 inches long) from old cereal boxes or poster board and help your students choose appropriate colors to make a rubbing that reflects what they see in nature. (Click on the photo to see larger version.)

From NSTA The Early Years Blog

The shapes of additional birds can be made by enlarging photos of birds to their actual size (see lengths listed in identification books) and cut from cardboard. Later children can make a fanciful bird, perhaps a pink crow with blue wings!

 

Be aware that book illustrations showing groupings of birds in perspective—those farther away pictured smaller—may confuse children about the actual or relative size of different species. I like the way  Counting is for the Birds by Frank Mazzola Jr. (1997, Charlesbridge Publishing) combines counting and identifying east coast bird species that often visit a feeder. Feathers for Lunch by Lois Elhert (1990, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich) illustrates the dangers of allowing cats to have access to a bird feeder while introducing 12 species.

 

Some birding groups offer online identification guides, such as that of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Education Program about the refuge in Ridgefield, Washington on the Columbia River floodplain. It’s exciting to see the details of the birds revealed by the photographs.

 

Whatever the weather on February 13, I think I can count birds for 15 minutes. The online bird photos are already identified but birds outdoors present a challenge.

Peggy

Published: Feb-04-09 | 1 Comment | 61 Links to this post

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