I wanted to credit the text book
A Head Start On Science before I begin the description of the lessons. All the lessons that I am going to describe are from this book. It is a wonderful text book that basically lists lesson after lesson. Each science lesson in the book comes with a proper description of how a step by step process of the lesson, materials needed to complete the lesson, and helpful cross curricular connections that can be tied into the lesson. This is a wonderful science lesson book that has some really great ideas. The following are the 10 that I liked the best.
1. Smelly cans
Smelly cans is a simple and interesting senses game. Basically, you take five sets of metal cans and place certain scents inside the cans using cotton balls. For example, take a cotton ball and and douse it in cinnamon for a sweet cinnamon smell. Children will then attempt to guess what each smelly can smells like. The purpose is to build the understanding that smells can be used to identify objects. When conducting this activity be sure to include a variety of smells (lemon, mint, relish, etc. etc) so that children really have to designate between objects.
2. Sound: Shake, Rattle, and Roll
In this activity you will need two types of film canisters, six clear and six black. Fill the clear canister with a variety of different objects (rice, paper, pennies, paper clips, etc. etc.). Children will then be give the black canister to shake around, observe, and explore and record any information that they believe to be important. After exploring the sounds of each canister students will be given the clear canisters and be asked to match the clear canister object to its matching black canister counterpart. The purpose of this lesson is to use sound to identify objects and match different objects with different sounds.
3. Matching by Touch
This next activity children will designate objects by touch. In one box place different objects that have a variety of texture. Be sure to choose objects that are different in size and in complexity. Make sure that once you have placed the objects in the box you cover the entrance so that students cannot see the objects that they are touching in the box. Once the box is created give children a matching set of objects. Have children pick one object at a time and see if they can find the corresponding object in the box based only on the texture or feeling of that object. The purpose of the activity is to develop a texture awareness of objects and identify objects based on texture.
4. Snow Tracks and Traces
This activity requires the right location and a little bit of luck. To start off you need for there to be snow on the ground. So if you live in a place where it doesn't ever snow then this activity is not for you! The idea of the lesson is to build and understanding of how to interpret tracks. Children will find a smooth area of snow (one that has not already been walked on) and jump in the snow three of four times. The same child will then find another smooth area of snow and walk normally. The instructor will then have a discussion (think aloud) about why one set of tracks are side by side and another set of tracks are offset. Once these main tracks have been discussed you can allow children to make all different kinds of tracks and discuss how their different actions made different tracks.
5. Bubbles Raising Raisins
This activity is one that I think will astonish students. All you need is raisins and some clear bubbly soda. Have students drop the raisins in the clear bubbly soda and observe what happens. The raisins should sink to the bottom at first but raise to the top as the carbonation lifts them up. The purpose of this activity to have children understand carbonation pressure and discuss what makes things sink and float.
6. Snails
It is important to note that before conducting this next activity make sure anyone handling snails washes their hands after the activity is over. If anyone has any kind of immune deficiency disorder they should not participate in this activity. What children are going to do is first observe the actions and behavior of their snails. Next students will place their snails on sandpaper and regular paper. Have students observe which texture the snail prefers to crawl on and record their findings. The purpose of this activity is to observe and record the typical behavior of snails.
7. Looking Through Water
In this activity student will simply observe objects around the room through two glasses. One glass will be filled with water while the other glass will be empty. Allow students to observe objects in both glasses and conclude their own observations and understandings before prompting questions that will direct them into a deeper direction of knowledge. The purpose of this activity is to develop observation differentiation of surrounding features.
8. Seeds In Our Food
What kid doesn't like food? In this next activity students will be working with different foods that contain seeds. Set out different types of fruit, some that contain seeds and some that don't. Allow children to freely explore the fruit and see if they know the name of each fruit. As they are exploring begin asking questions about seeds and where seeds come from. Children will automatically start exploring and asking questions about where the seeds in given fruit are and which fruit has seeds and which don't. The science of where seeds come from and what fruit contains seed is the desired content that is being taught in this lesson.
9. Nature Bracelets
Children need to spend more time in nature. With the advancement of computers, video game technology, and the increasing integrative nature of movies time spent in nature has been dramatically decreasing. In this activity students will be given time to go out into nature and simply explore. Anything they find that they think is interesting they can stick to their bracelets (tape on their wrists with the sticky side facing out). Later after their time in nature children will have time to analyze and explore the items that they collect during their investigation outside.
10. Leaves: Falling for You!
This activity also takes place outside. In this activity students will be required to find two leaves that are the same in some way and two leaves that are different in some way. Leaves that are the same could be the same color, the same size, or come from the same tree. Leaves that are different could be different shapes or show evidence that critters have been eating them. Again, this activity is meant to expand and develop students sense of observation, exploration, and analyzation.
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