The Snowy Day and Snowmen

First grade students are studying weather, the interaction between weather and the environment and how weather data is used to predict changes with people and places. To support this IB/PYP unit of inquiry I’ve been reading stories about weather in the library.  After reading the Ezra Jack Keats’ classic book, The Snowy Day,  I asked the students  to design a snowman.

They really enjoyed this activity even though I would guess 95% of them have never made a snowman in real life.  It snows occasionally here in south Georgia (we are only 90 miles from the Florida border) but never enough to make a snowman!

The showed a lot of creativity; some were snowgirls (long hair), lots of variety in the number of body parts.  I have displayed the drawings out in the hallway for all students to see.

 

Great Georgia Pollinator Census

I love when a plan comes together.  Last year I heard about the Great Georgia Pollinator Census: Citizen Science at Work and I thought it would be a great opportunity for some real hands on science experience for the children.  This year is the first ever census in Georgia, which is sponsored by the University of Georgia Extension.  I signed our school up!  In late March last spring I had first grade students start zinnia seeds (in cups), as they were the grade studying plants.  We then transplanted them in two of our school’s raised garden beds.  I brought some perrenials from my garden to add to the plant variety.  The hardest part of this was keeping the plants watered over the VERY HOT and unusually DRY summer.  It meant multiple trips to school over the summer.

Observation and Recording: Hands on Science

I chose second grade to be the participants in the actual census as these students planted the garden and they also study pollination as one of their standards.  Since the garden beds are pretty small, I had each second grade teacher choose four students to participate.  They will share their experience with their classmates (I emailed photos of each class to the teacher).  I adapted the observation sheet provided by the Extension Department to make it more child friendly.

 To be honest, I had the students record EVERY animal they observed (including a “spiter”-a.k.a. spider)!  I will turn in only the pollinators to the official census.

We saw a lot of very small bees, such as the tiny one on the second leaf from the top.

 The students had a great time (even the ones who had to do their count at 1:00 with full sun and 91 degrees temp), with several commenting on how much fun they had.