Science in September

We learned about plants in Science in September.  The kiddos did such a great job learning the needs of plants along with all of the parts and the important jobs they do.  We did a science project with plants so we could watch them grow when they were given everything they need: sunlight, water, space, and air.  I used a kit to make these grasshead projects but they can easily be created by simply gathering a few materials on my own for next year.

The first step was getting the soil ready.  In this kit, there were disks of compacted soil that expanded once water was added.  They really enjoyed watching the transformation that happened!

After sitting in the water for a while, this container was full of fluffy soil.  Our next step was to sprinkle grass seeds into the toe of a stocking.  Then we filled the stocking with our soil and squished it into a ball shape.

Once a perfect head shape was created, a rubber band was added to keep the soil in and the excess stocking was cut off.  Then noses and ears were created by pinching a small bit of soil away from the head and rubber banding.  The first graders then created a face with googly eyes and felt shapes for the mouths.

The heads were then put on little pedestals, so we could see them easier, and placed in the window so they would receive great sunlight.  When it was time to water our grassheads, they took a bath!  I placed them in a bucket of water so they could soak up the water that was necessary to start growing hair.

By day 5 we had excellent hair growth on all of our grassheads and the kids loved looking at them every morning.

While these were in school, they were given 2 hair cuts by their creators.  Every student trimmed their heads with style.  We had some short buzz cuts, some flat tops, and some just got a tiny trim.

When we got to leaves in this chapter, I had everyone collect leaves from home and bring them in so we could see how leaves can be so different from each other.

Then the students did leaf rubbings using the leaves they brought and fall colors.  They had to fill up the entire paper with rubbings.

Next, they watercolor painted over the crayon leaf rubbings.  There again, they had to choose a color of paint that is seen in fall.

The final step was picking out a leaf shape, tracing it on their paper and cutting it out.  They made great hallway decorations!  I love how each one is different and unique to each student.

The firsties learned a lot about plants with this chapter and these were awesome projects to get their hands dirty- literally!

See you soon!
~Ms. Anglin

Science projects

Our last chapter in science was about space- my favorite chapter of all!!  The first graders learned about the sun, stars, moon, and the 8 planets.  They made their own constellations to hang in the hallway.  

Our January bulletin board featured shape penguins.  Each first grader picked a shape and created a penguin using it.  We had diamond, oval, circle, triangle, square, and rectangle shaped penguins.  They were very creative and had fun making these.

We had a presentation from our regional 4-H program iGrow Readers.  We had a very nice lady come read a story and do activities with the kindergarten and first grade classes.  The story was Llama Llama Mad at Mama.  After listening to the story they talked about grocery shopping, healthy food choices, and when to know you are full.  Then also did some relaxation stretches and yoga moves :)

For a couple days we had some bonus science time and learned about sink and float.  The first graders had to predict whether items were going to sink or float in my tub of water.  They got pretty good at this!  After we finished the items on our worksheets I let the students go around the room and find somethings to test.  Of course it had to be things that wouldn't get ruined in water.  

All of our items from day 1

All of our items from day 2

The last thing we tried was an orange.  It floated in the tub.  Then I peeled it and we made new predictions.  The orange sank without the peel.  The first graders decided the orange sank once it was peeled because the peel has a lot of air bubbles in it and that's what made it float in the first place.

After we finished all of our hands-on experimenting, the first graders started writing.  They wrote about what they observed.  Some told why things floated or sank.  Some listed the items that floated and sank.  Then they drew pictures to go along with the writing.  

Have a great day!

~Ms. Anglin