Friday, January 10, 2020

Making Snowflakes with our Second Grade Buddies

Today we came together with our second grade buddies to try to answer the question "What makes snow white?"
We watched this clip to help us!
https://mysteryscience.com/trending/mystery-3/light-materials-color/164?r=67311492

Watch us work...


















Well.... the video made it look much easier than it was...but I can't wait to see the results!

We will get back together on Monday for the big reveal!!

Living/Non-living Study

Today we dug deeper into developing an understanding as to what it means to be a living thing. We first sorted objects as to whether they were living and nonliving.

After we sorted we discussed that one attribute all living things had in common was that they grow and breath.
Our scientists then went into their science journals to record their learning...













We then took a sharing walk, observing each others recordings as we walked around the circle.

It was so wonderful to hear them discuss each others entries. They even offered suggestions as to how others could make their recordings easier to understand. Many went back to add labels and details to their recordings. Learning from their friends is the best way to go!


After this work we studied a poster of Michigan Wildlife. After taking a quiet minute to look, scientists recorded what they saw. They put their recordings onto the poster so we could do some deep thinking.




We noticed that the forest scene was filled with animals (birds, mammals, reptiles and insects), plants and water.
What does this tell us about what living things need???
Ask your scientist...


Wednesday, January 8, 2020

How Can We Help the Living Things At Spencer School Survive?

We have taken the jump into a new science unit!! We are on the journey to answer the question;
"How can we help the living things at Spencer School Survive?"
We started by watching a video of a beaver making it's home. We learned that Beavers need trees to survive because they provide food and shelter. Ask your learners what else they learned from the video!
We also started filling in our first K.L.E.W.S chart. We use these charts to record our science thinking and learning. There are 5 columns...
What we KNOW
What we LEARN
What       EVIDENCE we have
What we WONDER
 What       SCIENCE VOCABULARY we have learned....
Take a look...

I added our first piece of learning to the chart under "Science Vocabulary"
Each science unit has specific vocabulary that learners are expected to know.


Scientists were then asked to record what they already knew about living things after having watched the video. They were so excited to add to our chart!







Turns out we new that Plants and Animals are living things. We've also learned that they need food, shelter and water!!
Can't wait to see how much more we can learn about living things to help us answer our big question!