Science+&+Social+Studies

May 30, 2008

We have dozens of fish, frogs and tadpoles. We have ants, worms and caterpillars….though we think they have all escaped! We have marigold and peonies and barley and peas. Basically, our room has turned into a big lab for science projects! Each child has now gotten a fair start on their experiment and they have drafted their purpose, hypothesis, materials and procedure. They are recording results daily and collating information in tables and graphs. I am very impressed with the level of independence and organization most of them have shown and look forward to seeing the final projects at our science mini-fair. Please mark you calendars to join us for that from 2:00-3:20 pm on Thursday, June 13 in our classroom.

May 23, 2008 After adjusting the salinity in our brine shrimp hatcheries this week, we learned that brine shrimp eggs can remain viable in environments that are not “friendly” and will hatch and thrive when conditions are right! After successfully concluding this investigation, we fed the brine shrimp to the carp in our greenhouse garden! This week we also continued to observe the range of tolerance of plants for salt in the soil. While this experiment has not yet been completed, the children have already concluded that most plants will not thrive in an environment that has a lot of salt in the soil. The greatest excitement of the week was generated by the launch of our science “mini-fair”. After discussing how to generate idea and viewing some samples of project displays, the children listed the project display requirements in their environments booklets. The children have each come up with a question related to environmental sciences that they wish to investigate and they worked this week to complete a list of the materials and a task analysis so that they can begin to work on their project on Monday. While the students will be given a good deal of time in class over the next few weeks, they will likely need to spend a little time working on this project at home as well. Ask your child to tell you all about it! We will be inviting parents to come see these projects on Thursday, June 5th in the afternoon, so be sure to mark your calendars.

May 16, 2008

This week in science we repeated an experiment that failed last week. We had set up brine shrimp hatchery in my class and in Ms. Onken’s class last week and the eggs failed to hatch. Because we were unsure whether the cause was eggs that were no longer viable or the quality of the salt we used, we devised a test to check both variables. In my class, we started from scratch, setting up new hatcheries with new eggs and organic lake salt. In Mrs. Onken’s room, they simply added new eggs to the old hatcheries. We had hatching in both rooms with 36 hours, proving that the problem had been with old eggs. Although we set up hatcheries with four different concentrations of salt, we had healthy hatching in only one environment; as a result, the children now know that brine shrimp prefer a salt concentration of about 10 ml per liter and won’t hatch if there is too much or too little salt. Next week, we will adjust the salinity in the other three hatcheries to see if the eggs are still viable or if being in an environment that is outside of their range of tolerance kills them. This week we also launched a new experiment to test the range of tolerance of plants for salt in the soil. The children once again planted seeds in four tubs and we have been watering the seeds with water that has four different concentrations of salt to see what happens! All of this experimenting is giving the children repeated experiences with devising questions, then setting up ways to test them scientifically by identifying the variable to be tested and those that need to be controlled. Next week, the children will be asked to come up with an experimental design of their own for a mini-science project unit. Guidelines for this project will be discussed in class next Tuesday.

April 25, 2008 This week saw the end of our water tolerance experiments. Students uprooted their plants and mounted them on a chart that allowed them to see clearly the range of water tolerance for that type of plant. We also had a wonderful time on Friday putting what we’ve learned about planting to work with our kinder buddies. Each child in our kinder class brought in a shoe and our class helped the children to plant pansies in their shoes. The children then wrote notes to their mothers on a poem we had printed about little feet growing up fast! The kinder children will present these to their mothers for May Day!



April 4, 2008

After two quarters of Social Studies, the class was very excited to get back to science this week. We spent most of the week on our puberty unit and the children impressed me with their openess and maturity. They asked many questions and I feel they would be happy to continue talking about this topic for weeks to come if I let them! I hope that parents will now take the opportunity to talk to their children at home about how they are changing and growing! We also spent a little time this week launching our next big science unit: Environments. In this unit, students will learn what an environment is and how we learn about the factors that affect it and what its limits are. In the first investigation, student plant a terrarium and record and observe differences in the growth of five types of seeds when the amount of water available varies. On Friday, we trooped down to the UES greenhouse and groups worked to plant clover, wheat, corn, peas, and radishes in their terrariums! We hope to have a few sprouts up by the time parents come for conferences!

March 21, 2008 Wow! The Explorer's Web Quest culminated this week in the student-created displays of their work and they are fantastic! Groups did a terrific job of putting together the many pieces of their work into attractive bulletin board displays. They also did a great job of sharing their groups' work with eachother after the displays were up. Each child got a completed set of evaluations today and I hope they share these with you so you can see how well they did.



March 7, 2008

Groups continued to research their top five explorers this week and more attention and energy went into analyzing the various trips that many of them took so that they can decide which trips and which routes to include on their maps. Some groups were able to begin work on their annotated maps and on writing about their top ten. It won’t be too much longer before we have group displays out in the hallway; parents will have a chance to enjoy them during student-led conferences in April!



February 29, 2008 Web Quest groups concluded their initial research on twelve explorers this week and selected the five explorers they felt deserved further research. The children are now continuing their research with a focus on their top five. Although we are spending about 45 minutes a day in class on this project, students should also be working at home for homework to ensure they meet their deadlines. You can view the Web Quest calendar here to get a better of what your child should be doing!

February 1, 2008

This week in Social Studies we continued to read and learn about the travels of Marco Polo and about how to take notes from non-fiction texts. The children practiced using text annotation with post-its in a text. They learned how to set up and use two different charts to help them identify distinguish facts from opinions and important ideas from interesting details. Students had a chance to practice these note-taking skills with small groups, partners and on their own as the week progressed. These non-fiction comprehension strategies are quite complex and we will continue to practice using them in science and social studies for the remainder of the year!



January 25, 2008 The biggest event of the week was, of course, our living leaders’ museum performance on Friday. But this was not the only work we did in Social Studies this week! On Monday, we kicked ff our study of Explorers with a simulation of the Silk Route. Students acted out the roles of merchants, Chinese officials, monks, princes, silkworm growers, etc. as they moved along a “Silk Route” marked out in our classroom, trading such goods as silk bolt, horses, glass, porcelain and dried fruit. Along with the simulation, we read a book entitled __The Silk Route: A Journey of 7,000 Miles__. Next, we will look at how the Silk Route brought Marco Polo to China and how such things as language, religion, and inventions were traded along the route along with physical goods.

On Wednesday and Thursday the children had time to rehearse and on Friday we had an incredible turn-out for our Leaders’ Museum. Thanks to all of the parents who were able to come; many of you took time off work and your children were so appreciative! I thought the kids did an impressive job all around, and everyone enjoyed the event, as the photographs show! I am happy to say that this event marked the official end of our study of leaders through biographies!

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