Hands on Science

This week, I've been working on teaching the scientific method! :)  We are working on different experiments each day, and breaking down what it means to be reflective about inquiry.

Today, we threw caution to the wind and did our very first science experiment with 'lab partners' from a different class! :)  It was organized confusion to be sure, but...it was a blast! :)

I used one of the experiments in Marie's Super Science Centers pack!  Marie is the host of the blog, The Hands On Teacher in First.  Thank goodness that she put these experiments together!  They are so engaging and fun and saved me a ton of prep time! :)  

To pick up Marie's Experiments Pack, click HERE.

I'm all about integration, so, I started off with reading this book...

The students infered that people who work in the water use data...and scientists use data.

We talked about how we, too, can be scientists as well! :)

We went over our lesson's objective, which was to know how to use data.

We used the bar graph template that Marie provided in the pack to generate data for our hypothesis.

I scaffolded their written response for them so that we could focus on the process of inquiry rather than spelling.  I asked different questions about the data and then we jumped into the experiment!

Basically, each team of two had a dirty penny and four household items to dip it in to see which one would be the best cleaner. Marie suggested that we use vinegar, taco sauce, vinegar and salt, and plain water.

Each team of two students got a glove and their materials, along with the written response sheet that Marie provides in her pack.  I was co-teaching this lab with another teacher on my team, and so, my class used yellow paper, and hers used pink so we could keep things straight! :)

Everyone seemed to be taking turns and having fun while they were learning! :)

These two students are shaking their penny in water!  It looked like it was going well!

These two were working with straight vinegar at the time...peee-ewwww! :/

Look at how much better this penny looks! :)

I won't tell you what made the best cleaner! :)  Marie breaks down the science behind it in the pack and the kids thought it was really cool! :)

If you would like to pick this pack up for your own learners, click on the caption below the picture at the top of the post! :)

For more on what other fun and engaging things Marie does with her learners...please go visit her blog! :) Tell her I sentcha...and that I say she is JUST AMAZING! :)