Week 5 - Active Learning

 We switched gears in first grade this week from mainly focusing on social studies to mainly focusing on science. There are a few notable Americans we'll finish learning about in weeks to come, but the bulk of the learning has been done for this standard. We also did a lot around valentines which impacted some of our science and social studies learning, which happens! It's good to be flexible! 

In our study of organisms, the first-grade team has been focusing on vertebrate animals. this week we learned about insects, which are invertebrates, to emphasize the difference between animals with a backbone and those without. This lesson was very interesting for the students, they had so much background knowledge to share and enjoyed learning some cool new facts. I actually learned some things too- I love when teaching also teaches me! My only disappointment with this lesson is that it's the wrong time of year to have some hands-on learning with insects. If we were further into spring it would be so fun to go outside and explore insects up close. According to Kopp, "science learning should not be limited to four classroom walls, one teacher, and a specified number of students" (Kopp, 2015, p.115). Any opportunity to move beyond the classroom and explore in a different environment will add to the lesson and deepen the learning.

  

Something fun that the first-grade teachers have been weaving into the classroom have been "trips" to see animals on live webcams from https://explore.org/livecams. "Virtual field trips extend students' experiences and provide a unique look at the world from a different perspective" (Kopp, 2015, p. 120).

These animal webcams are SO engaging for the kids- and calming too. The kids watched a bald eagle camera during an inside recess, getting so excited each time the eagle parents adjusted the eggs they were sitting on. They also regularly watch an aquarium camera during silent reading time. 

The students had an opportunity to explore some of their favorite animals through art. Tuesday they drew and water colored one of their favorite animals. The students were asked to fill in all the white space with details about the animal or about where it lives. This was a fun, hands-on way for the kids to share some of their background knowledge. They did such a good job! Here are some pictures of the artists in action! 

 

 

We had time to do a fun, Valentine's Day themed science project on Wednesday. The objective was to learn about why some objects float in some liquid and why some objects sink in some liquid. For the experiment we used conversation hearts and water, vinegar, and soda. We unfortunately didn't have enough supplies for the students to do their own experiment at their desk, but we tried to make it as interactive as possible, letting different classmates pour, add the hearts, and do the predictions and observations. Each student was given a worksheet to make their own predictions and record their own observations. 

 

 

We watched a Scishow video about why things sink or float and talked about how different materials and liquids have different density. 

I was excited to learn about the concept of "productive talk" in The Inquiry Project videos we watched this week. They defined productive talk as talk that promotes learning, and looks like students listening closely to peers, possibly sitting in a circle, students taking risks and deep diving into their ideas, students connecting with peer's ideas and students respectfully agreeing and disagreeing (Talking Points 1, n.d.) I was able to share the concept of productive talk with students as we discussed our experiment and these kids did an amazing job of making connections, speaking and listening respectfully, and taking risks in sharing their thinking- I was really proud of them! 

The kids enjoyed this experiment and were especially excited to see how even though nothing floated in water at first, over time, as the candy dissolved they began to float- showing that the water was more dense than the soda, but less dense than the vinegar. We also talked about how vinegar is acidic and will make the candy break down more quickly. 

Modeling science experiments like this, and having students actively participate, can inspire students to re-create the experiment at home or might give them ideas for future science competitions. 

Resources

Kopp, K. (2015). Teaching Science Today (2nd ed.). Shell Education.

Talking Points 1 | Video Case | The Inquiry Project. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://inquiryproject.terc.edu/prof_dev/resources/video_cases/video_case.cfm%3F&case_type=tp&case_grade=4&case_num=1&case_return=library&case_step=step2.html