Learning to Look |
I hope you enjoy using this inquiry with your students. It has been used in Ohio classrooms and it aligns with the Ohio Academic Content Standards for kindergarten and first grade. Mag N. Fie This inquiry was selected because it covered many objectives in the Mason Kindergarten Curriculum. The students were able to examine sunflowers, grass and trees and make comparisons. (How are they alike, how are they different) It also helped them to observe like "scientists" using their senses to make observations. We had good discussions about drawing only what we see, as it wasn't a time to use our imaginations. They were actually reminding their peers not to add extra details to their drawings if the observations weren't actually made. I did add in some books not listed in the original inquiry I read parts of "What is a Scientist?" by Barbara Lehn to help support our roles as "scientists". I also read "Is It Alive" by Marcia S Freeman a big book on living and non-living. ( Portions of this unit were added in, as it is in our curriculum) It was a great book written at a level Kindergartners could understand. The children were fascinated by the pictures in this book. I could not locate "Look at a Tree" so I substituted "A Tree is Nice" by Janice Udry. Due to space considerations, I chose to send the children's plants home for observation. They each planted a cup with "mystery seeds" to be observed at home. It was actually grass seed, which will grow quickly. We talked about why it wouldn't be a good idea to plant a flower seed outside at this time of year. I did package up some sunflower seeds to go home, with a note about planting them in the spring or summer. The children have absolutely loved being "scientists" and going outside to make observations. Adding this much science to our curriculum at this time of the year has been a challenge time-wise, but everyone ( including the teacher!) has been very engaged in the lessons. Debbie Egner I finished an abbreviated version of Learning to Look with a sunflower head. The students were excited about the seeds. I didn't have the sunflower book that was recommended, but found two more in our library that worked well. After our observations we harvested the seeds and used them in an estimation activity in math class the next day. With 1732 seeds we decided to save half for our spring planting activities and to feed half to the birds outside our window this winter. Sue Cunningham We chose this inquiry because our science curriculum includes scientific I liked the active nature of the inquiry. The children were able to We made a few modifications to the inquiry: In addition to one large We connected these lessons to math (positional words and spatial sense; This inquiry became part of the "Plants and Animals" theme for the I have heard comments from the children as they work on other activities Karen Pawlak |