The Apples and the Lily Pads are exploring a winter theme in science class. We were lucky to have some snow earlier in January, which allowed us to have hands-on fun with the real thing to kick off these explorations. After exploring ice in other forms, the teachers posed a challenge to the students: How could we put things inside ice cubes? The students took it from there. During our next class, we'll explore the frozen results.
This is an example of how our inquiry-based science curriculum is consistent with the HighScope active learning preschool curriculum. In both approaches, students are encouraged to ask questions and are given the support they need to find the answer for themselves.
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During our electricity units, we use a variety of electricity-themed toys (e.g., Snap Circuits), to introduce students to electrical circuits. These materials are easy for kids to handle from a motor perspective and make learning less frustrating. However, it's also very important that the students are able to apply what they learn with Snap Circuits to more realistic materials, like real copper wire or bulbs. That is, they need to generalize the skills they have learned.
To that end, the Otters and the Clouds recently experimented with some more realistic electrical materials from the hardware store. These materials don't just snap together -- they require some effort and thinking, and that's exactly what we want. As you can see below, the students figured it out. The Apples are learning about winter throughout their school day. We got off to a chilly start in science class by exploring ice. Ice is actually a spectacular elementary science material -- it's tactile, it changes, it provides a strong sensory experience, it moves around... and it's easy to clean up. We explored ice and hot water and noticed that the hot water makes the ice melt faster. These cause-and-effect relationships are the basis of our early childhood curriculum.
The Otters and the Clouds explored the electrical conductivity of a variety of materials. A similar activity is actually part of New York State's 4th Grade Science Test, but the kids took it a step further and experimented with a variety of found materials throughout the classroom. This is a good example of how we try to include relevant topics from the state standards but also customize activities to fit the learning styles, special needs and, ideally, the interests of our unique population of students.
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ProjectsBraque posts photos and resources here to accompany many science units and explorations. Archives
November 2017
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