We have just started a new unit in science, and boy is it a good one! We will be spending the next few weeks studying the Earth, sun, moon, and stars. Astronomy is one of those subjects that I find to be the most fascinating, and I love getting to see the kids develop their own excitement about our universe!
To start our unit, we discuss the basic components that make up our earth: soil, rocks, and water. This is one of those exploratory lessons that I find somewhat hilarious to watch! The kids were split into 3 centers where they explored each of these natural elements, and recorded their observations in their science notebooks. The funny part? Well, scientists use their senses to explore...so the kiddos used (almost) all of their senses to make their observations. Check it out!
To start our unit, we discuss the basic components that make up our earth: soil, rocks, and water. This is one of those exploratory lessons that I find somewhat hilarious to watch! The kids were split into 3 centers where they explored each of these natural elements, and recorded their observations in their science notebooks. The funny part? Well, scientists use their senses to explore...so the kiddos used (almost) all of their senses to make their observations. Check it out!
After making their observations, the kiddos took to their notebooks to sketch and color. Then, after we came up with some adjectives for each center as a class, the kids got to write their thoughts down.
Next up, it was time to discuss the daytime sky. There is a lot going on in the daytime sky...between the clouds and the sun and the sometimes-moon! There's a lot to discuss. So after we chatted about it, we recorded our observations in our science notebooks. Some kiddos went with dark rain clouds, some had bright blue skies. But everyone included the sun, because even when it's covered in clouds, the sun is always above us somewhere in those daytime hours!
You can't learn about the sky without learning about clouds. We focused our attention on the beautiful wispy cirrus clouds, ominous cumulonimbus clouds, and fluffy cumulus clouds! Not only did we discuss the similarities between these clouds (being made of water droplets and ice particles) as well as their differences (size and impacts on the weather), we also made representations with cotton balls based on our new knowledge!
Over the course of the next few weeks we'll be learning about the rotation and orbit of the earth, surface of the moon, phases of the moon, constellations, and even more! So stay tuned because we have so much to share with you, and we can't wait!