#ObserveEverything October

OBSERVE.... EVERYTHING!

2nd graders complete an #ObserveEverything challenge.

This month's work was inspired by one of my favorite programs on National Public Radio-- Science Friday. Science Friday has a Science Club online. For one month, they asked people to OBSERVE EVERYTHING... and Maury students did!

Observing our newly emerged Monarch!

My goal was to provide a context for students to work together to observe phenomena and draw conclusions based on their observations. I also wanted to make the data derived from these observations as REAL as possible, to have students not only observe but live the thing they were observing. For example, who wants to use a print out of last year's weather data when you can live the data anyway? Who wants to watch a time-lapse of food decomposing when you can live it happening each week?

                                      Lucy explains her observations about decomposing foods.

At all levels, students have been honing their observation skills! More importantly, they have used their observational findings and applied them to finding patterns, analyzing data, asking questions and working together to find solutions to problems! Each grade level has been involved in different projects so here are a few highlights.

                                          Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd Grades:
With the Next Generation Science Standards,  K-2 are expected to understand are that scienti

sts use different ways to study the world, look for patterns when making observations, and use drawings, sketches and models to communicate their findings. In Think Tank, students have had the chance to practice these scientific skills in various ways.

KINDERGARTEN OBSERVERS:

Kindergarteners have set up an experiment to see if worms make a difference in how fast a banana peel decomposes and predicted which of three foods would decompose fastest. Each week they make observations and check back at their original predictions.

Students are able to rotate around to various Sci-Centers in my class. Each center allows students to explore some aspect of science and engineering and boy do they love it!

In addition to our weekly class, students are tracking daily weather conditions. They made predictions about what kind of month we would have and we are watching closely to see if our predictions were correct

1st GRADE OBSERVERS:
 1st grade students have continued observing changes in their Wisconsin Fast Plants over time but have also started a classic Habit of Mind Think Tank Challenge: Contribute Positively to the Group and Inspire Teamwork to create a single structure. This is harder than it seems, but our 1st graders are up to the challenge.

They are practicing using positive words and voice to communicate their ideas and resolve conflicts surround design through discussion. Each week they improve. While they work, I pull groups to meet and do close observation of our plants so it's the best of both worlds: practicing the PRACTICE of problem solving in a group and working on a scientific phenomena in a small group.

2nd GRADE OBSERVERS:
As noted in my last post, this group has spent a lot of time looking very closely at their work and the PROCESS of that work. Last week they completed an #ObserveEverything Scavenger hunt. We were supposed to go outside to explore our schoolyard ecosystem but it was raining...again! Not a problem though, students were asked to look past the obvious in the classroom and OBSERVE EVERYTHING!

Students explore the classroom documenting their findings.

 

 Students each had a role: Researcher, Recorder, Photographer. They rotated jobs every 3 observations.

 

Their observations were detailed and interesting. I always find it fascinating to look through the "eyes" of my students. This challenge allowed for that with this group. Just check out their eye for macro photography!

3rd GRADE OBSERVERS:

This group continues to work with the amazing Toni Burnham of DC Beekeepers on exploring the fascinating world of honeybees. During our last class students got to use ALL 5 senses to explore the hives! 

While Ms. Toni was away last week we finally had a chance to delve into our weather wall. We have been recording air temperature at the same time every week since the 1st week of school. Students looked for temperature trends and then used those observations to make predictions for what the temperature will be like in 5 weeks!

Our data since the first week of school. Two classes = two data points!

 

 

Student journal since week one.

 

                              Individual student predictions and the RANGE of our our predictions.

4th GRADE OBSERVERS:

This grade has spent the last month collaborating to explore levers and conducting experiments with them. 

They have conducted a fair test to determine if fulcrum placement in relation to the load and the effort makes a difference in the effectiveness of their catapult.

Students then used that knowledge to design a catapult from scratch that would send "Lego Ford" the farthest! 

 We will be finishing up this unit in the next week and after that.... ENERGY!

5th GRADE OBSERVERS:

 5th Grade continues to work hard to get themselves to SPACE CAMP! In fact, Astronaut Don Thomas visited us October 20th to share what it's like to live and work in space. His presentation was AMAZING and the students were enthralled! 4th and 5th got to participate:)

"We are never washing our hands again! They shook the hand of an astronaut!:

This visit really helped students add context to what we are studying in class too. They are finishing up an exciting Space Systems unit. In this unit they have explored the phenomena of day and night by traveling the globe using EarthCam.

They have started tracking monthly daylight changes over time and have started graphing their findings in their notebooks. Stay tuned for their observations and conclusions about the cause of these changes!

 

 They also took on a fun inquiry where they had to work together to graph stars based on their brightness and temperature. This week we will be analyzing our chart! ( They will soon figure out it is a

 Hertzprung-Russell Diagram)

Now if it would only be sunning on a Wednesday we could conduct a fun shadow experiment. It hasn't been sunny on a Wednesday in 5 weeks!

  

SCHOOLWIDE MONARCHS:Lest we forget the many flying friends who emerged over the last month. In total, Maury sent off 25 Monarchs this year! Students watched each step eagerly and with anticipation and we had many beautiful send offs.
                                

                                                     Monarch emerging. AMAZING!

 WHAT ABOUT PRESCHOOL AND PRE-K???

 

Our youngest students are just finishing up exploring all of the exciting sci-centers Think Tank has to offer. We studied Monarch's in-depth and last week all students told me what they wanted to learn about next. From dinosaurs to space, oceans to plants and princesses to buildings, our 3 and 4 year olds are eager to learn. Our next study begins this week! We are studying HOW THINGS MOVE! This was the best way I could integrate their varied interests. Stay tuned to see us learn about how animals move, how the ocean moves, how people move and more!

FINALLY.....

Thanks to the amazing work of all your students, Science Friday asked me to come on their show on October 24th and discuss how we use observation in the classroom and why it's so important!  You can listen to the interview HERE! It's a great segment, but if you want to here me talk about your children, I start around the 11min20second mark:)

In the quietest place I could find for the interview... my car! Waiting for the call!

Until then,

Mrs. Ford

A STEM-TASTIC START!

1st graders ready to start planting seeds!

The Think Tank has had a STEM-TASTIC start to the 2014-2015 school year. With so many exciting projects and partnerships are underway I knew I better start sharing our thinking and learning!

Below you'll find pictures and videos from what is happening school-wide and at each grade level in Think Tank. It's a lot.... but it's exciting!!!

MAURY MONARCH MADNESS!

Now in our 4th year, Maury Monarch Madness is in full effect. All classes preschool through 5th are engaging in a variety of lessons surrounding their observation of the Monarch butterfly's amazing life cycle. While our preschool students make observations, our older students graph growth or eating patterns over-time and compare life cycles to other studies. Each year this project unifies our school with a common project and common scientific study. It's a favorite and grows in depth each year! Take a look at our past years' Monarch Madness posts to see what has happened before!

        

             

                                   A PEEK AT SOME GRADE LEVEL WORK

PreSchool and PreK

For our youngest Maury students, Think Tank is a time to explore the world around them. They learn about science through play and working together and are able to choose Sci-Centers each time they visit. While we always start in a circle with a song ( it is currently a Monarch life cycle song), they soon bring their picture to various centers to explore various concepts.

 In the coming weeks they will vote on what they want to learn about next! I will use their votes to create new centers that allow them to explore the concept through play. (For an example, see last year's blog post from when we studied Space.) Stay tuned!


Kindergarten

"Contribute Positively to the Group" and " Look Carefully" are at the center of our current center-based Think Tank class. Students have choice of centers where they must work together to build, observe, create or problem solve and then reflect on what they are doing. Kinder Sci-Centers allow students to practice specific scientific skills and notice the may ways science is in our every day lives. In this clip, you will see kids using gears, creating structures, playing with balance, coloring butterflies, using magnifying glasses and more. The goal is to let them see that science and engineering is everywhere!!

As I introduce new concepts or materials, we often sing about them ( ask your Kinder about our weather song!) and place them at centers. Last week we had Monarch larvae for students to observe closely. Not surprisingly, they were very excited by the amount of frass (poop) that caterpillars create!

1st Grade
With the Next Generation Science Standards guiding our work both in content and practice, our 1st graders are growing Wisconsin Fast Plants to answer the question, " How are young plants alike and different from adult plants?" They examined seeds, planted them and are recording with measurements and observations over the course of 6 weeks the growth of the plants. We are heading into week 2 so stay tuned to Twitter (@maurythinktank) for snapshots of our work moving forward.

                  

 2nd Grade
 Second grade began the year learning about what a scientist is and what they do. We focused on seeing ourselves as scientists and then practiced making observations, and separating those from inferences.

Future STEM leaders see themselves as scientists!

Students learn to ask each other "Sci-Chat" questions to help them discuss observations they make about new objects.

2nd grade also began our partnership with The Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS), exploring seeds and grasslands and their role in our local environment. Experts from AWS visited with our
students and lead students through an in-depth lesson on seeds and seed dispersal. It was a hit!

                 

                  

                  Exploring Swamp Milkweed and Indian Grass seeds with Chris Lemieux from AWS

3rd Grade
This year the 3rd grade teachers and I have thoroughly planned to create a very in-depth study comparing various patterns in nature-- from weather to life cycles. Based on the 3rd Grade NGSS standards this 3 month unit combines observation, recording data, partnerships and engineering design into one mega-awesome learning experience!

Wild and Wonderful Weather Wall is used for students to graph temperature data over the course of the next three months to determine patterns in temperatures over a season. January through April, they will add precipitation data collection too!

Following scientific procedures, 3rd grade also planted Wisconsin Fast Plants in order to analyze plant life cycles and take on the following challenge: "How many seeds can you get from one single seed"?  Over the next 45 days students will thin plants, record observations, make measurements, pollinate plants and collect seeds. 
                              

                             

       Seeds labeled and ready: DAY 1                                  Fast Plants Growing Station

Not only are students looking at weather patterns, life-cycles Monarch butterflies and plants, they are also lucky to have started two 6-week units with Toni Burnham, leader of DC Beekeepers! 

                                    

From plant anatomy to the role of bees in our lives, students are exploring these awesome pollinators and applying their learning directly to the plants growing in our classroom! (Can you tell I'm excited about this unit??)             


                                                  


               Learning about plant anatomy and the "how" behind pollination and fruit production as it relates to bees !
                                                           
 

                 

Pulling apart Lilies and exploring the texture, smell and look of the insides!

                     

 4th Grade
One of the things that make Think Tank truly unique is the flexibility I have to allow students of all ages an opportunity to truly be creative, use all of their "smarts" and strengthen their Habits of Mind and build community around problem solving. Starting in October, 4th grade will begin a 3 month unit surrounding Energy ( thank you donors from Donor's Choose!!) but in order to prepare to use the extensive materials and to work together in teams on engineering projects in this unit, I wanted students to have 4 sessions to practice important non-cognitive skills.

                                       

Students have been using Legos  create story boards to animate with Stop Motion on iPad, making extensive ramps and structures with Keva blocks or using 100 gears that move with one single turning point.

Most importantly, they've had to do this working in groups with a singular goal... not always an easy task.
                                        

As you see, the outcome is not always the goal! In fact, final product was never the focus for these weeks, it was alllll about the process! Perseverance, communication and contributing positively to a group and inspiring teamwork have been central this past month. Take a look at some of their work and stay tuned through December to see their Energy unit in action!

5th Grade

Thank you "We the Pizza" for donating dinner for our 1st Space Camp meeting!

                                         
As you may have read in my last post , 5th grade is working to attend SPACE CAMP!!!

Families learning about our goal to go to Space Camp! Want to support us? Please go HERE!

On top of our fundraising goals and planning, students must begin the most enriching work....learning! This week I will attend a training for the SeaPerch Robotics program and our students will begin construction of their vehicles in October.

SeaPerch in action!

I will be partnering with three other schools ( Mann Elementary, Hyde-Addison Elementary and West Education Campus) to complete this engineering unit. Our focus will not be on competition but on collaboration and process. We are thrilled to join this program and know it will inspire and challenge our eldest students!


STAY TUNED....

As you can see the 1st month of school has been filled with thinking and doing, exploring and creating... and lots of love for STEM! Please follow us on Twitter for more frequent updates
(Twitter handle @maurythinktank) and never hesitate to email me at vanessa.ford@dc.gov .

Until next time.... happy thinking and learning!
-Vanessa Ford