Happy Earth Day!

Source: littlemisskindergarten.blogspot.com via Val on Pinterest

Hope you have a great Earth Day Science friends!

For more ideas and inspiration for Earth Day click on the image above for my Pinterest Earth Day board.

Connections

I think I have carried Science books all over the planet this week. My bag has been full of books that have finally come in from previous orders. And I have spent a lot of time talking and thinking about Science in Kindergarten this week so this post has been on my mind. One part of some of the Science discussions this week has been about making connections. Not only about making connections to previous Science experiences but making connections across the curriculum. As teachers of young children, we know how important making those connections are to enduring understandings. Teaching a stand alone Science unit is one thing but connecting it to previous meaningful experiences and connecting it to other areas of the curriculum is another. We also know that just one learning experience, investigation or discovery is not enough. We know that children need a multiple exposure approach before they make connections that lead to enduring understandings. 

 

When I discovered the book, When Rain Falls by Melissa Stewart, it made me instantly think about...connections. As I read the book page by page I could see this book had some pretty powerful real world connections and some powerful connections to our learning experiences in my classroom. Not only did I think about our investigations this year but I also thought our our discussions or after session share. Our after session share time has been so valuable in my classroom. Not only have we learned about how other children "see" a problem and learn how they solve it but this time allows us the opportunity to use vocabulary and hear it spoken and it gives us an opportunity to understand what connection the child has made with the learning experience. For so many reasons these after session share times are valuable and we become connected as a community of learners because we begin to understand another person better and their way of thinking.

As teachers of young children and especially Kindergarten teachers, we often times get criticized for not teaching the Science content when people evaluate our work. When people see the "cutesy" stuff we create we often get that type of response. I can see how this misconception happens when they see rooms and displays with penguins and ladybugs made by Kindergarten children. Those ladybugs and penguins are just our vehicle to drive our Science content. It is not that we are teaching all about a ladybug but it is the vehicle to teaching about a life cycle. Those "cutesy" ladybug and penguin Thinking Maps and Anchor Charts are our way of helping our children make...connections to the Science content. And sometimes it does look "cutesy" because we understand the mind of young children. We are so lucky as Kindergarten teachers to work with children who view the world through innocent eyes and an innate natural curiosity about the world around them. It is that innocence and curiosity that is almost magical when we explore Science with young children. For many of us, it is that connection that draws us to our profession.

As teachers of young children we often get criticized for not teaching Science to the depth that is required or without enough rigor. If we read a book about a Science related topic and make some cute and crafty product and leave it at that, then I would have to agree that the depth and rigor has not been met and our goals and objectives have not been met either. Science should be so much more than just a book and discussion. Children have to experience it, discover it and question it several times before they begin to make connections. Multiple experiences lead to a deeper understanding and often leads to more questioning as children begin to understand the content. A skillful Science teacher can increase the rigor by conferencing with children, guiding and supporting independent problem solving and setting the stage for more investigating, discovering and exploring. And just like a real Scientist, children may have to retest their discoveries before they actually believe and understand them.

The reason why When Rain Falls made the connection within my classroom because it connected so many things we have studied in Science this year from how animals and plants use and depend on natural resources, animals in their natural habitats, landforms within our Social Studies unit and weather. The book provided us a visual that connected our classroom experiences to the world around us and helped us see the connection between different organisms and their environments. And our discussion was rich with those connections.

Investigative Reporting

Well it has been busy to say the least. We have had fun with rocks, soil and earthworms! As we were rapping up our study with rocks, the children keep coming in with unique and interesting rocks to investigate. In fact, today we got a rock in the shape of a perfect triangle. We put that special rock in a safe place for further investigation. As part of our Science time we have included a "share" time after our investigations. We use some super special Scientist glasses and aprons when we are reporting to the class. As we are moving on to the study of other things we have found a way to keep rock investigations going at the same time. We now have Rock Reports. If you find an interesting rock and you want to share what you have found you have to fill out the Rock Report and you have to report that data to the class. We wanted to share that with you so you could keep your investigations going too!

Click on the image above to get your copy!



 

Take A Break!

Well it seems that there is a big sale going on around the blogs and I wanted to join in the fun. Instead of 15% I am reducing prices 20%! You can shop at my TeacherspayTeachers store or Teachers Notebook. This sale is a great way for us all to grab those items that are on our wish list!

Thank you to What The Teacher Wants for the sale image!

Ladybug's Teacher Files!

Hey Little Miss Hypothesis fans! It's Kristen from Ladybug's Teacher Files and I am delighted to be visiting my sweet friend's blog today!!

I wanted to share a note-taking form our class has been using during Science lately--it's been very helpful for my newcomer English Language Learners.

We've just started our unit on ecosystems and have been taking notes on food chains, omnivores, carnivores, herbivores, food webs, producers, consumers, and decomposers. We've used some interactive websites as well as our textbooks to help us write the notes.

And...

These graphic organizers for each vocabulary word:

Students sketch out diagrams and illustrations for each term, then write the definition below. It's pretty basic, but it has been a wonderful visual for my students and has really helped them learn new vocabulary.

If you would like to grab these file, you can download it directly here. I hope it will be of use to others on this lovely blog!

Thanks Mrs. Coe for inviting me to stop by--I had a wonderful time!!