Monday, April 23, 2012

Oobleck


Guest post from Mrs. Davis - our University pre-service teacher - delivering a science lesson. 
 
Greetings!

It’s hard to pick one agenda item to share with you all because we had so much fun discovery and learning in the classroom this past week!  We read a book together called Messenger, Messenger and learned about escalators and delivering messages through a bike messenger.  The kindergarteners even received a special visit from a bike messenger. 

April is poetry month and Mr. Fines has been reading us some fabulous poems and teaching the kindergarteners how to write their own poems.  We break open words together and the whole class collaborates in sharing their favorite descriptive words.  We have had some marvelous poems about spring; Mr. Fines and myself have learned a lot about what each kiddo loves about spring and how they are experiencing the world around them.  Poems are challenging and our kindergarteners are rising to meet this new method of written expression.  They are learning to use all their senses to help them elaborate on their experiences; which brings me to the main topic of our blog this week, science!
 
We have just begun a new science unit; the kindergarteners are learning about properties.  Science can be such a fun learning experience at this age; Mr. Fines and I have embraced science to create a positive hands-on exploration of properties, as well as the states of matter.  Mr. Fines had previously read the students Bartholomew and the Oobleck, a Dr. Seuss book, which was a wonderful lead in to my introductory lesson on solids and liquids.  We listened to Solid, Liquid, Gas by Brad & Diana and learned some simple dance moves to help our kinesthetic learners associate each phase with a physical representation.  After listening to the song, the students learned about the differences between solids and liquids, and we shared some great scientific discussion.

The students then were able to delve into some fabulous, messy exploration of Oobleck.  I encouraged their scientific questioning by asking them if they could figure out if it was a solid or a liquid.  They were given “I wonder thoughts” by Mr. Fines and I to engage their minds to think about the Oobleck in multiple ways.  I was so excited by all of the incredible scientific exploration, and the discussions about the material with their friends, Mr. Fines, and myself!  Mr. Fines continued our science unit with a lesson on properties.  The students were comparing and contrasting random items and using their words to describe each object in multiple ways.  They even discovered that a sponge is hard and small when it is completely dry but when it is wet, it expands and softens so that it can easily be squished; a perfect example of how scientific learning can be done at home too!
Enjoy the pictures and video from our Oobleck solid or liquid science discovery!




Mrs. Davis


For more interactive activities with states of matter visit:  

2 comments:

  1. It was lots of fun to watch this activity! How did the next day go?

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  2. Very cool! So fun to listen to the kids thoughts in "science" terms.

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