Teacher Journals

Kindergarten through Second Grade




SECTION: To Seek or not to Seek...

Melanie Pallotta
Petersham Center School

I decided to take the class outside to be "scientists" and "good observers"; knowing that they would be drawing a picture of their observations for their journal. Once outside, the children looked around, but were not initially very verbal or focused. I had to prompt them, pointing out the garden, insects, clouds, moss, shadows, grass, etc. One of the children noticed a mysterious hole in the trunk of a tree. This excited the rest of the class. One of the children guessed that a snake lived in the hole. (Subsequently, a little girl drew a turtle on her paper because she was sure that a turtle lived in the hole). One child found a quarter in the school yard and made this the focus of her journal. Inside the classroom, the assignment was to draw a picture of what they had observed outside. I then had each child dictate what they had seen and drawn. I also dated the journal entries. In retrospect, I should have had the children do their drawing outside, as well as their observations. The children seemed to feel very important because they had journals. I did hear two little girls talking about their "journals" on the bus on the field trip to the Red Apple Farm.

Approximately one month after our initial observation, I told the class that we were going outside to answer the question, "How do we know it is autumn?" The observation appears to be new to the children. Each day at circle, we discuss the day's weather for our weather chart, and the children don't always know what kind of weather we are having. Anyway, we headed outside to note changes from our initial observations. I did have to prompt the class with questions such as "What's happened to the garden?" The major observation amongst the children was the change in color and falling down of the autumn leaves. In fact, more than one child stated for their journal that the leaves had "died".

Susan Andriski
Petersham  Center School

What is a scientist?

Children are asked the question. Each child is asked to draw a picture of a scientist. Some were able to dictate or write a sentence about what their scientist did. I was pleased to see that many of the children had women scientists. Many had scientists in a lab. Some worked in medicine.

The class met [a scientist] after they had drawn pictures. A few were surprised that she was a REAL scientist. Some children talked about scientists that mixed potions and did strange things. We all learned a little about what an astronomer does.

We began by sitting on the front steps and discussing how we learn. We talked about the use of our five senses. Children love to be out exploring but can't focus on any one area for long.

---Gardens: Kids noted that the plants are big and the sunflowers have some brown leaves. They could see that some flowers had seeds. Potatoes were spotted. The most unique finding was a tomato plant growing in a crack in the cement. When asked "How did this plant get here?", the children responded with : "No one put it there!" "It's not in the garden." "God put it there." and "Maybe an animal hid a seed."

---Back Field: This was a favorite area. Kids quickly found dry grasses, crunchy grass under foot and some wildflowers. They quickly made collections of seed pods, leaves with touches of yellow and brown, and a few insects and caterpillars.

SCIENCE:

Apples: The five senses allowed us to listen, see ,touch, smell, and taste fall. This extended into our unit on apples. After a visit to the orchard we tasted and compared five different types of apples. We noted sizes and colors as well.

Monarch Butterfly: We were able to note changes first hand by watching the caterpillar go from caterpillar into the chrysalis stage and then emerge as a butterfly. Children used a magnifying glass to observe the daily changes. They kept a class journal of their observations. When we released the butterfly we talked about its destination and tried to relate this to other animals that may be making changes.

Squirrels: We did a study of the gray squirrel that included making take home booklets, learning a poem and a song. The children gathered materials that a squirrel might use in a nest and used them to create a nest for a paper squirrel.

Seeds: What are plants doing at this time of year? Class went on a seed hunt and collected a variety of cones, pods, and seeds. They tried to compare sizes, colors and textures. We discussed how seeds travel and we examined the parts of a seed. The children liked being a scientist and disecting the lima bean. We also set up a simple seed race in a plastic bag containing a lima bean and a kernal of corn. Will they sprout? If they do, will the large seed be first.?

MATH:

We made size comparisons of seeds and apples. We worked with counting and comparing the number of seeds in various pods, etc. and also weighing apples to compare.

LITERATURE:

The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons (Kids make own book to show the changes in a tree through the four seasons)

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle This book takes the children through the seasons with the journey of one little seed.

Linda Kirousis
School: Petersham Center School

We began by talking about Inquiry. A large "?" and Curious George have become our symbols. We used clipboards and paper to write or draw changes we found on our first trip to the garden we planted in the Spring. "Oh, look at the sunflowers!" "They weren't here when school ended.": "They're called sunflowers cause they follow the sun." - all comments from children.

They were jumping from one "new" finding to another -flowers, insects, seeds, grass. We looked at the sky and questionned why the color was deeper in one area? We listened to the sounds and talked about the different insect sounds. We questionned the smells in different parts of the playground. We looked at the textures of the plants and grasses. Another day we explored a different area. one student became very aware of the changing color of the weeds. This led to a discussion - about color. One felt the weather changed the color. He said the rain washed the green out. Another felt the cold changed the color. We wondered how we could check their ideas.

We found milkweed and caterpillars - Were they in the yard in June? We saw tent caterpillars. Berries were on the ground and some said, "Blueberries" They looked at where the berries came from and changed their minds . We wondered about the trees the tent caterpillars were in - were they in leaves with needles? Why didn't we see them in the Spring?

Different students brought in caterpillars. Three were similar. Each group had magnifying glasses and one caterpillar to examine. The children were asked to describe their caterpillar. We made a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences in the caterpillars.

We have an area with magnifying glasses, observation sheets and "things" the children have found interesting and want to share or investigate - caterpillars, dead bat, spiders, seeds, rocks. Everyone in the room has had questions about these findings

We have watched our caterillars change to a chrysalis and seen them slip out and be beautiful monarch butterflies. Many watched the beautiful chrysalis for signs of the butterfly and became so excited when it turned "black" and they could see the colors of the wing. Questions were everywhere--What is the liquid below the butterfly? Where will it go?

We had lots of questions as we watched squirrels in the yard - why does he need such a big tail - does he sleep all winter - where does he live - do they talk to other squirrels - can he find the nuts he buries?


SECTION: Hello Sun

Melanie Pallotta
Petersham Center School

I began the lesson outside by asking the children in which direction the sun rose. Adam knew that it rose in the East. We chose a spot on the school yard which had obvious landmarks to sketch on a large pad. The kindergarten day is short (8:25 until 12:45) so I scheduled the observations for 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Despite the short time span, we were able to document an obvious arch shape. The following day, I had the children draw a "Hello Sun" picture for their journals. I gave each child three orange sticky dots to illustrate the sun's movement on paper. Five out of fifteen children placed the dots perfectly in the arc shape which we had observed. The other children had varying responses. I also followed up this lesson by reading a simple science book about the sun. I did not get into the more theoretical abstract portion of this lesson, because it appeared to be over their heads.

Susan Andriski
Petersham  Center School

We worked through this with a combined first and second grade. Began with the song "HELLO SUNSHINE"

Asked class why would we greet the sun? Why is the sun important to us?

"It makes us feel good."

"It keeps us warm."

"It gives us light so that we can go out to play."

SCIENCE:

Something is moving. Is it the sun or the earth?

Record observations of changes other than the sun (puddles that shrink, dew that is there in the morning and gone by noon, Did we hear any birds?, clouds?) Placed lines of masking tape on grass at the front edge of the schoolyard. Classes lined up facing the school with toes on the tape(EAST was to their left)

Some children stated that the sun comes up in the East. Used a class chart on an easel outside to mark the sun locaction and their predictions(sketch of the trees and school for a reference point)

Most of the predictions were in the correct direction but not high enough in the sky) Children needed help in determining their right hand for the HELLO

Inside: Each child kept their own copy of our chart and recorded the sun location at each HELLO. They added details to their charts such as the colored leaves, flag colors,etc. Some lost interest as we repeated the activity. Their predictions became quite accurate. Children were excited about takng their charts home to share.

MATH:

Introduce the word arc (A word that scientists and mathematicians use). What does an arc remind you of?( rainbow,half circle,etc.). Form a whole school arc on front driveway(Do the WAVE)

LITERATURE:

Adapt HELLO MOON to HELLO SUN

Sun Up, Sun Down by Gail Gibbons

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Make big book with student illustrations of sun locations (Do this for each season as you make observations). Add seasonal details to each book. Use the program THE WORLD RIGHT NOW to have students visit a new city each day (Young students can mark locattions visited on a map and chart those places that are dark and in daylight at a given time each day)

Linda Kirousis
School: Petersham Center School

SCIENCE:

The first few times we do this we'll try using tape to establish individual standing positions. Sun stickers may be used to help with orientation. A sticker would be put on the left shoulder, chest, and right shoulder as we do our viewing. (Tina's suggestion)

Observation! Observation! Observation! This will be our prime work. First observing the sun, later using our senses to talk about the sounds and smells and feel of the area . We'll compare the sounds heard at different times of the day and also different seasons of the year. How does the grass feel at 8:30? 12:00? 2:00? What words would describe the smells at 8:30? 12:00? 2:00?

Experiencing with children - The tape did help - we didn't use stickers. The first prediction made was in the right direction, but low. The children's predictions followed an East-West pattern. Some had the sun lower in the sky---a few were strong in feeling it would be high (straight arm pointing up) at the time of our second viewing. When asked why they felt this was they responded that's where it was when they looked. When we talked about the shape we were forming the first response was a rainbow then a part of a circle. One child felt it was a rooftop. She was connecting the sun's in the picture and was making straight lines. When questioned about what was happening the response was mixed. Some felt the sun was moving, some said, " The Earth is moving toward the sun. It's going at 1000 miles a minute."

Where will the sun go when we go home? Responses included - to China, Hong Kong, Japan, to the other side. This all sounded pretty reasonable...then one student suggested there were two suns. When questioned about our planet he wasn't so sure. Some real confusion here!

A worksheet with three views of the room will be developed to help our scientists illustrate the light source used in the classroom.

Tania worked with the group on the inside portion of this experience. She became the Earth and a child, then a picture became the light source. This seemed to work well. We have done this same activity again and have tried to keep our arms straight helping to form the movement. I think we'll do this periodically - till the children seem in tune.

MATH:

Geometry - start work on shapes - Use big clock to model the times we go out to view the sun Some may be ready to count the hours between viewings .

LITERATURE:

Writing - We'll make a Big Book of our observations. An individual page will be used for each viewing. Each season we'll add three more pages. The children will add seasonal animals, flowers, plants and people dressed for the season. We'll develop rhymes for some of the pages :

Hello, Sun
 It is _____________
 Let's have fun!

These pages will be laminated.

A Hello, Sun Journal will consist of paper cut in a circle shape and stapled. Some suggestions for journal entries may be - Where does the sun go when we go home? I heard___, I smelled___. I felt_____. What's moving? Earth/Sun? Why is the sun not in our night sky?

Songs to Use: May There Always Be Sunshine - Sarah Pirtle, Two Hands Hold the Earth, One Light, One Sun - Raffi , Rise and Shine - Raffi, Big Beautiful Planet - Raffi You Are My Sunshine

Poems: The Sun by John Drinkwater, The Sun's Travels by R.L. Stevenson

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Seasons

Beginning map skills


SECTION: Me and my Shadow

Susan Andriski
Petersham  Center School

SCIENCE:

Connect with weather (What do we need to have a shadow outside?)

MATH:

Trace shadows and order by size ( May do actual measurements on some)

LITERATURE:

Poem: MY SHADOW By Stevenson Frank Ashe books

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Connect tales of Groundhog Day. Shadow plays using own body shadow to demonstrate social skills at start of the school year.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Linda Kirousis
School: Petersham Center School
SCIENCE:

The clouds were thick the day we planned to begin this work, so we used flashlights in the classroom.Each child was asked to bring a light to school and many did! Sue and I used different objects to form shadows and to form different shadows from the same object by either moving the object or light source. We questionned "What happens if.." "Guess my shadow?" We used the overhead and flashlights. The children had all been assigned Science Buddies to work with and they then were given different objects to explore with during this session. It got pretty chaotic. We regrouped to close the class and asked about findings. "No light, no shadow" "You can make the shadow big or small. If the light is right over the domino almost disappears." What would happen to your shadow if you were outside and the light was over you? J. said "Oh, the shadow would be hiding under your foot. See (she picked up her foot) the shadow would be right there." What is a shadow? "It's when the light can't get by." "The light is blocked."

The next day, it rained and forced us inside again. We really wanted to get some shadow work done before the eclipse. We had one group work on shadow plays and another group used the tensor light and a block or an oval to trace the shadow and a ruler to mark the lines where light was passing. The shadow play was fun. We hope it furthered the understanding of shadows. The group tracing shadows seemed uncertain of the purpose.

Sunshine returned and we did a model of drawing lines to show where light traveled . Sue and I each worked with a group of mixed first and second graders. One of us worked with a rectangle and the other had a cylinder (large wooden blocks ) we traced the shadow and base of the object-we shaded in the shadow. Then we used a ruler to draw lines from the light source. Why weren't any lines drawn throught the shadow? The outside experience with one leader modelling seemed to work better.

MATH:

Geometry-shapes

LITERATURE:

The Bear's Shadow by Frank Asch A joy! Leads to writing a new ending for the story or thinking of another way for Bear to hold on to his shadow.

SOCIAL STUDIES:


SECTION: Guess My Shape

Melanie Pallotta
Petersham Center School

This lesson focused on shadows. For this lesson, I had available a variety of unusually-shaped blocks (cylinders, cones, spheres,etc.) as well as a flashlight. The children really responded to this lesson. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day and we were not able to observe any shadows outside. Also, the lesson was limited due to the availability of only one flashlight.

Susan Andriski
Petersham  Center School

SCIENCE:

MATH:

Chapter in math book on geometry. Solids( sort shapes and arrange in patterns). Have a shape hunt both inside and out. Introduce 1/2 as we look for a shape with equal day/night

LITERATURE:

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Connect with work on Columbus

Linda Kirousis
School: Petersham Center School

SCIENCE: What shape allows everyone on the planet to be able to see the Sun sometime? A Venn diagram would help group the solids into straight edges/ no straight edges. Then we could explore with light to verify what shapes allow everyplace to have light each day. This could be set up as a center for further exploration by pairs of students. More exploration may be very helpful to children who are unsure of the findings.

We used this activity after Me and My Shadow and This is a Stick Up. We used four solids - pyramid, oval, cylinder and square and the tensor light source. We were looking for the shapes that would allow everyplace on the solid to have light each day. The children responded well remembering the experiences using flashlights and the shadow stick outside. They thought it silly to think some of the shapes would work. A. has made some concrete understandings about light and shadow. He keeps repeating that the location of his light made the shadow long or short. It was good to hear them making connections.

The next day we talked about the eclipse. Asking what it was and if they could explain it or model it for us. They were uncertain. We used balls and the overhead as one model, we used bodies and finally on this beautiful sunny day we went outside and used a globe, a ball (moon) and the real sun to model the eclipse. Once again, the children were remembering other shadow work.

Model putting a ball of blue clay on a ball and on a book- ask the children to predict if they will be able to see the clay as the ball turns, as the book turns - they must remain at eye level with the ball and the book. Is the Earth shaped like either of the objects used?

MATH:

Geormetry-matching flat tracings with solids, similar patterns, visual discrimination

LITERATURE:

Day-Night A Creek Tale

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Day/Night , Columbus, Maps


SECTION: This is a Stick-Up!

Linda Kirousis
School: Petersham Center School
SCIENCE:

We put a new pencil in clay and placed it in the middle of a large paper. The second graders set up on the Little League field and the first graders set up near the flag pole. We wondered if we'd get the same lines on our papers. We went out every hour. The children made predictions about where the line would be in one hour. The first child put the stone on the opposite side - after that every prediction followed the movement. The third child smiled looked at the lines and said " I can make a very good prediction." He took his hand and measured the distance between the last markings and made a very accurate prediction. The children also traced a body every hour - it was interesting to see the predictions here follow the same pattern as the line paper. At the end of the day the two groups looked at their data - the lines looked about the same, but the angle was different. How could that have happened? One child said she knew where to find the same lines on the playground - it was the painted lines from last year. We asked if the lines made them think of anything we'd done recently. "Hello, Sun"

We (first and second graders) have continued monthly ( as close as the sun allows) shadow measurements. It is becoming very interesting to view the data!

MATH: lines, length, distance

LITERATURE:

SOCIAL STUDIES:


SECTION: Time Warp!

Linda Kirousis
School: Petersham Center School
SCIENCE:Our children are not yet ready for time zones, but they are very aware of day in one area and night in another. We have used the live cameras on the internet to view diffferent parts of the world. Alaska and Sweden have been most interesting as they connect with our December discussions of the celebration of light. This has helped with the awareness of different ti mes in different parts of our country and world. Most of our children are still uncertain about Massacusetts - is it a town, country, state? How can Santa be everywhere at once? How can he make all his deliveries?