After our exciting oobleck launch 2 weeks ago, 1st grade scientists were so excited to begin our exploration of matter! Through our research, we learned that matter is anything that takes up space...and that it is everywhere! We started by looking for matter in our classroom...and we found it everywhere we looked! We decided to take our search out onto the playground for a matter scavenger hunt!
As we continued our study of matter, we learned that we would be looking closer at 3 particular types of matter....solids, liquids, and gases! 1st grade scientists researched the similarities and differences between these forms of matter and helped to create a class sort (see below!).
1st grade scientists spent the majority of last week taking a closer look at solids. We learned that solids keep their own shape and that they can look very different. We explored different properties that we can use to describe solids: color, size, shape, and texture. Scientists brought in their own solids from home to observe and helped me to describe 3 of my own solids. Looking ahead, we will be exploring liquids and the ways that we can make matter change!
As usual, 1st graders were involved in a lot of learning outside of the project as well! As writers, we came to understand that we each have different experiences and stories that we can tell through our writing. We thought about memories from our own lives that were happy, scary, sad, frustrating, etc. and each writer created a brainstorm of story ideas. This is to help 1st grade writers strengthen their personal narrative writing!
In anticipation of beginning our exploration of place value throughout the month of February, 1st grade mathematicians have spent time exploring numbers from 0-120. We have been looking for patterns in our hundred chart, thinking about more and less, and looking for efficient ways to collect and count large quantities (making groups of ten and skip counting by tens was a big discovery last week...see below!).
In anticipation of beginning our exploration of place value throughout the month of February, 1st grade mathematicians have spent time exploring numbers from 0-120. We have been looking for patterns in our hundred chart, thinking about more and less, and looking for efficient ways to collect and count large quantities (making groups of ten and skip counting by tens was a big discovery last week...see below!).