STUDENT ACTIVITY: FIRST GRADE
PLANT JOURNALS
-First grade students will be able to observe a plant and identify different parts of the plant by labeling them in their journals.
Materials
~Journals
~Different plants
Procedure
1. Pass out a plant to each table team and discuss and model as a class.
2. Introduce journals
3. Ask students to create a KWL sheet in their journal. (What they know, want to know. Fill out what they learned after activity.)
4. Give each table team a different plant to explore and have them draw and label in their journals.
DISCUSSION WITH COLLEAGUES
Why is it important for kids to investigate, observe and discuss authentic, interesting experiments?
I really like this activity! I think it's a great idea to do journals, I wish i would've thought of that. Also i think it's a great idea to do KWL charts for just about anything you do in a classroom. This activity is great and very approprate for the age group as well.. great job!!
ReplyDeleteDISCUSSION WITH COLLEAGUES:
ReplyDeleteWhy is it important for kids to investigate, observe and discuss authentic, interesting experiments?
I think it's very important for students to investigate, observe and discuss authentic experiments just for the pure fact of keeping them engaged and interested. I think that science is always looked at as a BLAGH subject but by keeping your experimenst "authentic" and interesting i think will be very crucial to your students and the feelings towards science!
Great activity for young active minds to begin their process of learning about the world of plants. It will be great for them to be able to reflect on this in their journals later on as well.
ReplyDeleteI think that science is a lot more interesting when you are doing. You cannot learn science, you have to do science. Experiments are a great way to help your kids learn and retain what ever it is you are teaching them.
ReplyDeleteSTUDENT ACTIVITY:
ReplyDeleteThe journals and the plant observation look like nice activities for the classroom. One nice technology-related thing you could do at this age is to publish students' work online (even if it is just limited to the classroom and parent logins). Students really enjoy seeing their own work online -- it can be highly motivating for them! Digital pictures of their journals can easily be posted, for example. Or, you could use a tool like Photostory to help them communicate their findings.
DISCUSSION WITH COLLEAGUES:
ReplyDeleteA natural extension to this question would be "What are the instructional prompts necessary to help students engage and think deeply about science experiences in the classroom." I think we can all agree that hands-on, authentic science is better for science learning. However, it is important to remember that hands-on does not necessarily mean minds-on. So, how can you ensure that students are thinking deeply as they do authentic science activities?