Animal Research Projects

After spending a week at Zoo School, it was clear how much we all love animals! 

The children were challenged to learn more about an an animal of their choosing. We explored the San Diego Zoo Kids website to find an animal that piqued our interests. Then we worked with our Grade 4 buddies to read challenging text, gather information, and complete our animal research.

After completing the research part of the project, we wrote complete sentences about our animals and illustrated with detail. Wowzers!

We can't wait to share our reports with our Grade 4 buddies!

This writing and research project dovetails nicely with our forthcoming Science Unit, Living Systems of Plants and Animals. Watch for your child's animal report in our next package of Evidence of learning.

Comparing Living & Non-Living

We have begun our Needs of Plants and Animals Unit! This week we are focusing on what it means for something to be living. 

We brainstormed ideas about what makes something living. Then we thought about something we knew for sure was living, such as a dog, and crossed off ideas on our list that didn't fit with what we knew about dogs. We also did this for other things we knew for sure were living, including a plant! 

To reinforce what makes something living, we enjoyed a clip from our pal on Sesame Street:

Then we studied a few examples using our criteria for what makes something alive:

To conclude our exploration of living and non-living, students tackled an an up-close, hands-on observation! Our extremely excited scientists compared gummy worms and earthworms! We were able to see many examples that demonstrated that the earthworms are indeed living and gummy worms are non-living:

Now let's hunt for examples of living and non-living things with a photo hunt at home!

First, give your child a camera (your phone would be perfect!). Have them take some pictures of things that are living and non-living.

Then, to share your photo(s) and/or comment on our "wall":

(a) Double click on our Living and Non-Living wall below

(b) A box will appear. Type in a comment. Upload a picture. Ta da! 

(c) Marvel at our learning!

(or just email me your photos/captions and I'll make it happen)

We will check this wall often next week to see the pictures that we all post!

Living and Non-Living!

We are beginning our Needs of Plants and Animals Unit! This week we are focusing on what it means for something to be living. 

We brainstormed ideas about what makes something living. Then we thought about something we knew for sure was living, such as a dog, and crossed off ideas on our list that didn't fit with what we knew about dogs. We also did this for other things we knew for sure were living, including a plant! 

To reinforce what makes something living, we enjoyed a clip from our pal on Sesame Street:

Then we studied a few examples using our criteria for what makes something alive:

To conclude our exploration of living and non-living, students tackled an an up-close, hands-on observation! Thrilled beyond measure, our scientists compared gummy worms and earthworms. We were able to see many examples that demonstrated that the earthworms are indeed living and gummy worms are non-living:

Now let's hunt for examples of living and non-living things with a photo hunt at home!

First, give your child a camera (your phone would be perfect!). Have him or her take some pictures of things that are living and non-living.

Then, to share your photo(s) and/or comment on our "wall":

(a) Double click on our Living and Non-Living wall below

(b) A box will appear. Type in a comment. Upload a picture. Ta da! 

(c) Marvel at our learning!

(or just email me your photos/captions and I'll make it happen)

We will check this wall often next week to see the pictures that we all post!

Green Thumbs in Grade One

We wanted to determine what a plant needs to grow, so we carried out several experiments! When conducting an experiment, we learned to keep everything the same, and just change ONE thing. Here are our results!

One plant was placed in light, and one stayed in a dark cupboard. Plants sure need sunshine!

Before

After

Do plants really need water? We had two identical plants and put them both in the light. One was watered and the other one was wasn't. Seems to us that water is very important!

Before

After

We all thought the plants that didn't get water or light ended up looking like purple Minions ... right?

Do plants need dirt to grow? We planted grass seed in various things, including sand, dirt, gravel, and rice. We found that although the grass grew in the soil and sand both very well, the grass in the sandy cup eventually died. Surprisingly, we noticed a few hardy sprouts in the rice, but we tossed it once it got too stinky. Verdict? Soil is best!

We explored how plants transport water, and did an experiment with water. Celery was placed in coloured water and the leaves quickly turned red or blue (within a few hours!).

We also enjoyed growing bean seeds. We planted seeds in plastic cups by tucking the seed against the side of the cup using wet paper towels. This allowed us to watch the plant as it grew, kind of like a little window. Daily watering was key!

We have learned oodles about plants and what they need to grow! Unfortunately, Mrs. Beliveau still seems to be more of a hospice for plants until they go home to meet Jesus.