Happy Wednesday Everyone!
We have had a busy week! In math we have made the switch from measurement to geometry. There is something about shapes that seems to really invite all students to get excited about math. We have begun to learn all of the different shape names, created puzzles using pattern blocks, and gone on an exciting hunt around campus for objects that are symmetrical. I would recommend studying geometry at home as well in order to help students build the skills and vocabulary needed in this area. Fun ideas for incorporating geometry into home learning: Finding shapes in nature, going on hunts to find objects that show symmetry, making a word wall of all of the different shapes and their names, pattern block activities, talking about professions that use geometry, dividing shapes in half or quarters. I will be sure to post more about activities that have been engaging in class so that you can try them at home. It seems the vocabulary used in geometry (shape names, angle, line of symmetry) can be a bit overwhelming for students, so be sure to reinforce these words at home. The students have finished their experiment posters, and are in the process of sharing them with the class. We have also begun to study insect adaptations. We did an activity on Mon/Tues where each student had to use a single adaptation tool (fork, sponge, spoon, bag) to do different tasks. Afterwards, we discussed which adaptation tool worked well for which task, and how this applies to insects and their adaptations. I was really impressed by the level of discussion and all of the connections that I saw them making with other areas of knowledge. In the next few weeks we will be looking into both the physical and behavioral adaptations that insects have to help them survive in their environments. Announcements: Work Journal #5 due by this Friday @ 4:00pm!!! New digital copy of Work Journal #6 is up under “Learning Goals” Thursday/ Friday (Feb 27, 28) Pizza and Spirit Day Please be sure to participate in our DVIA Curriculum Survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RGYBQ85. This is your opportunity to have a voice in the curriculum we offer next year for use at home. If your child would like to be a part of the DVIA Talent Show, please sign up by March 1st! Students can sign up at www.DavinciK8.org I hope everyone had a lovely long weekend! I am excited to get back to work on our insect storybooks and insect experiments!
I wanted to share with you how we are approaching the scientific method, from where we left off last week. Once the student has designed the experiment steps, the next phase is actually creating and running the experiment. I was really impressed with the huge strides the students are making in collaborating within a group setting. They worked hard to figure out what materials were needed for their experiments, and how to put them together. Insects are not the easiest subjects to work with, but working together we got them to cooperate J If you try running experiments at home, this is a wonderful writing opportunity. The student should be adjusting his/her written experiment steps to reflect what he/she actually did to create the experiment. They should also be collecting data as they go. I would encourage them to record the data in any way that they think will work for them. Some students chose to make tally charts, while others wrote numbers or drew pictures. I would just remind them that it needs to be clear enough that they can use it to create a chart or visual of their data later. After the experiment has been run, and data has been collected, it is time to create a graph/ visual of the data. I have been encouraging the students to use their new found knowledge of bar graphs and picture graphs to represent their data. They should also be writing an analysis of their data. A helpful sentence frame to use during data analysis is “I found___________________.” The students then draw conclusions based on their data analysis and its validation or invalidation of their hypothesis. This is another writing opportunity. I would emphasize with your child that one of the most important things that scientists do, is to communicate their results. The final product that they choose to make with regards to their experiment can vary. For some small experiments you may want to have them write a short lab report, whereas others can involve narratives, posters, or videos. You may want to vary the product, while keeping the scientific method itself fairly consistent so that they learn to use these steps naturally. I hope it was helpful to hear how we used the scientific method in class. I will be sure to share the posters when we are done so that you can see our final products :) Announcements: Work Journals Due next week! Please have them in by Friday @ 4:00 Spirit Day is next Thursday and Friday (Feb 27 and 28). Pizza is being sold at lunch time and your child can dress up to celebrate our HOHM of the month EMPATHY. This can be a tricky habit to figure out a costume for, so we have broadened it out a bit to be “twin” day (dress the same as a classmate), or dress like a character/ family member that you think displays empathy. This week has been an exciting one! We created and ran our insect experiments on Monday and Tuesday. It was really great to see all of the students' hard work and planning come to fruition. I wanted to share with you the steps that we went through in order to create an interesting/ successful experiment. The goal is to encourage the student to start asking questions about the world around them, form hypothesis from these questions, and then create an experiment that tests their hypothesis. This can take a little bit of guidance, as it is sometimes very difficult for the student to come up with a question that is in fact "testable." Step one: Student creates a list of questions about an insect or other topic. This list should include all the questions that they have, even if you know as a teacher that the question would not lead to a feasible experiment. Step two: Discuss the different questions, and have the student pick 2-3 that they are most interested in. Step three: Introduce these experiment sentence frames. This is the key to having the question be one that is "testable." Not all questions lead to a feasible experiment, but if it can be reformed to fit into one of these sentence frames, it usually leads to some pretty great experiments. Sentence Frames: 1.) Will more ________ (type of insect) go to the ________ or the _______? 2.) Do __________ (type of insect) prefer________ or_______? 3.) Are __________ (type of insect) attracted to _________? These sentence frames force the question to become one that is in fact testable. For instance, one child might ask "what does a cricket like to eat?" That is a very difficult question to form an experiment with. Whereas, if he/she re-frames that question to be "Will more crickets go to the fruit or the bread?" there is an entry point to a hypothesis and creation of an experiment. Step three: Form a hypothesis. Have the student think about the question and come up with a prediction.. The hypothesis should be an answer to the question that was asked. For example: More crickets will go to the fruit than the bread. Step four: Create experiment steps. I had them do a few drafts, because the steps tend to change a bit as the student starts to create the experiment. Have them do a rough draft so that they can think through what needs to happen. Then they will edit as they actually do the experiment and find that they need to change certain aspects of the set up. And finally, a final draft. We have been talking a lot about how a big part of being a scientist is that other people need to be able to recreate your experiment. It is a great chance to have students work on writing precisely what they mean. Here is the template that they used to create their rough draft: I hope you find this helpful in creating your own experiments with your student at home! I will be covering data collection, analysis, and drawing conclusions next week!
Announcements: We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Thursday( February 13th) and Tuesday (February 18th). If your child brings cards, make sure there is one for every class member (I emailed you a class list). Also, no food/ candy etc. Website worth checking out: http://www.newsela.com/ This website has tons of articles that can be adapted to fit your student's reading level. Click on an article, and along the right hand side is a blue bar that has the lexile level. When you click on the different levels, the article changes to reflect that lexile level. The lowest that it goes is a 3rd grade level, but this is a lot closer than most current event articles. Pretty cool! Hope you are staying healthy and happy! Let me know if you have any questions about anything! Robin |
AuthorWelcome to Robin's Core 2 Blog! Archives
February 2017
Categories |