1st Graders Investigate Animal Defenses

1st graders have been exploring the different structures animals and plants use to defend themselves.  In this investigation, students are using a model to see how different structures protect their animal (a clay ball) from the predator (a large comb). The structures are spikes (toothpicks), armor (erasers) or shells (disks). 

 

 

We discovered that all three structures can protect the clay critter, but that there were some areas that weren't protected (especially under the clay critter) and it would be easy for predators to attack there.

The World of Insects!

1st graders are learning about insects.  In particular...mealworms!  They don't look or feel like any worms we know!  They are small, brown, have 6 legs and shed their skin. They can move fast, but also like to play dead. They are pretty interesting little insects!

Time to set up the habitat! We know they need food, water, air and place to live.
It took a while to figure out how to give the mealworms water, but we figured that fruits and vegetables were juicy and that should work!

1st Grade Weather Report!

In our last unit, 1st graders are investigating the weather! They are learning how to read a thermometer in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.  We first investigated temperature in the classroom, then, during next science class, we go outside to take the temperature and write a weather report!

It's hard to see where the red line
stops sometimes.

You have to give the thermometer time
to measure the temperature.

You have to be sure to only hold the sides of
the thermometer.  If you don't, you will be
taking your temperature!

Looking closely at the temperature of cold water.

Now discovering the temperature of warm water.

Writing the weather report from the garden.

Going outside to see what the temperature is.

Reading the thermometer, checking the wind!

1st Grade Looks at Liquids!

1st grade has been exploring the world of liquids!  They have investigated the different properties (foamy, bubbly, transparent, translucent, viscous, has color)of 6 different liquids: hand soap, colored water, dish soap, corn syrup, liquid starch and cooking oil.  We even have played liquid card games - memory and Go Fish!

All the liquids have color.

Students chose two liquids to investigate. They
drew the liquid and described how it looked,
sounded and one more additional observation.

The corn syrup barely moved it was so thick!

The green liquids are a favorite of most students. The colored
water makes a tornado when it is shaken and the dish soap has
so many air bubbles that the color changes to a lighter green when
shaken!

Looking at the level of the liquid when a bottle
is slowly turned upside down.

It can be tricky to get the angle right.

Once the levels are drawn, we looked at the levels to see if
we noticed anything surprising.

A big liquids memory game.