Life Science Plant Specimen Photography by a 6th grader

Welcome to Science Grade 6 to 8 from USA Heartland! I'm Becca S! I live, teach, and do science in the Midwest. Crazy temperatures last week in the midst of a crazy world fighting to stay alive. The focus of this post is not the pandemic but some amazing closeup photographs snapped by one of my 6th graders. Student "C" has taken on the challenge of doing the extensions I've suggested, which means this is extra. It's not required as part of the pass/fail system that our district has during Remote Learning Days.

My extension suggestions for each JH grade have been a scientific lab-related skill that they can safely do at home with minimal fuss and supplies.

The 6th graders have just switched from plants to animals (invertebrates) in the past 3 school days, so collecting or photographing plant specimens got continued for a few more days.

Student "C" provided facts about each plant along with a full specimen photo and a closeup pic. The quality of the snapshots have been fantastic! I've really enjoyed receiving this student's yard tour!

Remember this is a sixth grader. 3rd quarter we've tried to work on lab drawing and realism art skills like accurate details, sizing, and scale. This student has remembered to tell me the plant name, where it is commonly found, and several characteristics of it. By taking the photograph, "C" is documenting and by relaying it to me, "C"'s sharing his work. And now with his and his parents' permissions, internet technology is giving us the opportunity to share with a larger audience. (THANK YOU.)

Enjoy Earth's variety on this Earth Day evening:

And the final one I've saved is a 'lone wolf'=

There have been a few others I've seen but I failed to save. However with these that are featured in this blog post, please take time to click on the closeup photos to zoom out in order to be amazed at the intricate details that can be observed.

Thanks for taking time to read and view how a few of us are DOING science in the USA heartland!

--Becca S
B.S. Secondary Education-Home Economics proficiency and M. Ed. Elementary Ed w/ ECE emphasis
Illinois State Board of Education = 
*approval for general science grades 5-8
*endorsement in ECE/Birth to Grade 3
*endorsement in FACS grades 6-12

Science Grade 7 Rock Layers with Geologic Time Scale Model

Making a model using simple kitchen sponges, paper, and 2 small toy dinosaurs

An important emphasis in science is giving the students opportunities to create models. During a chapter about formation of rock layers (after learning about the 3 types of rocks), I set some time in our schedule for groups of 3 to 4 students to create a rock layer model based on the type of tiny plastic toy dinosaurs (2) were randomly given to them. [This was with 7th graders and made about 2 months ago, maybe...I'm thinking end of January to first week or so in February...]

This [identifying dinosaurs] required a quick online search and then referral to the text copy of the GTS. Does the dinosaur belong to the Jurassic, Cretaceous, other period? If both are from the same millions of  years span or different ones, where were they to be placed? They were instructed to use the sponges as thick layers and have at least 2 thin layers [shown] using sections of yellow copy paper. Sponges were to be labeled on at least 1 side.

The models aren't very glamorous but they were effective in students working together to ask questions and solve the mysteries of which eons were going to be represented:

Students didn't really understand the connection between the fossil record and the geologic time scale until creating this model. 

What are your hands-on visualized ways to help students cognitively start comprehending in some small way the enormity of how the Earth was made?

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,

Becca S

aka Mrs. S. or Mrs. Sadler

Earth Science Grade 7 simulation for surface mining

Digging out chocolate chips with a toothpick

Yes, what a fun engaging way to have 100% participation! Students quickly picked up on the analogies and the application and analysis of this simulation proved to be easy and effective! Recall for the chapter test a week later proved again with effectiveness because no one missed the questions related to this!

Chocolate chips = rocks

Cookie part = soil/Earth's crust

toothpick = mining tool

Students are encouraged to not pick out chips with their fingernails. They are to use their provided tool for their digging. They were asked to draw a circle on their paper towel around each cookie so that at the end they were to reclaim the soil. They were given 2 different manufacturers' product in order to simulate the idea of variances in soil types.

Terms bandied about were surface mining, strip mining, reclamation, equipment, environment, etc. 

Photos are with the 7th grade. To be honest, I used this earlier in the quarter with 6th grade when their environmental science module text (by Holt) discussed fossil fuels of coal's negative impact on the environment. The term reclamation was a key word for their application process, too. 8th grade later on, had a similar section in their Forces-Motion-Energy module text (again by Holt) about fossil fuels, pollution, and impacts on environment.

Here are some photos of several students' hands-on work:

 

This activity is modified from an original I read about 30 years ago from the U. S. Mining office in Colorado (long before internet usage they had an advertisement in a teacher magazine encouraging teachers to write for a resource packet to be sent to them.) The full 'game' they prepared involved economics, business, finance aspects with Monopoly-like money for students to use to buy their 'land' and their 'equipment'. Metal paperclips were $10 each and round or flat toothpicks were $5 each. I forget what the cookie prices were but they encouraged teachers to have 3 different types available: soft, chewy, and a hard. If you have block scheduling this method would be better for the longer time needed. If you have 40-45 minute class periods, the money and purchases would need to be distributed for a day 1 activity period and the actual digging and any subsequent purchasing to occur on day 2. Another aspect for this economic version is for the teacher to act as a coal buyer and to determine pricing for buying back their tiny chips or whole 'nuggets'. This gives them the opportunity to add income. Having a spread sheet or some type of financial worksheet for debits and credits would be helpful for students to easily track their money. 

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,

Becca S (Mrs. S.) :)

Science Grades 6 to 8 from USA Heartland blog

Science Concept Two Parts of Earth Surface Activity for Younger Students

Earth's Surface Has Two Main Parts of Land and Water

With Earth Day approaching in about a month, I prepared a matching activity to be part of a series of indoor and outdoor activities divided between what's on land and what's in water for kindergarteners.

Explaining concepts to youngsters need to be kept simple. For Earth Day I like to concentrate for the ECE level on the 2 colors green and blue--green for land and blue for water. By 1st or 2nd grade, using the word continents and islands instead of land might make a bit more sense than those in kindergarten. Same for differentiating between ocean water or river or pond...for little ones, water is water.

So an easy way to transition youngsters on this new way to distinguish blue from green to designate water from land, prepare a simple page and matching cut-outs like the ones shown in the photo:

The number four was picked as enough spots to place on a single sheet of blue cardstock. A heart was stenciled on and outlined in marker with 'LOVE' written in it and then 'We' written to the left side with 'Earth' on the right. Four different patterned papers were used to trace and cut out 2 circles from each design. One set were glued on the traced spots and the other set were mounted to white cardstock circles for extra durability.

The sheet was placed in a plastic sheet protector. As you work with a small group of children at a table or give a mini lesson before placing this in a science center, share with the students that the blue represents large ocean water and the green paper spots are representing islands/land (small amounts of land). They need to find each islands matching island.

Visually and representationally the very basic earth science concept about parts of the Earth's surface can be learned.

Being able to match 1-to-1 is a basic math counting/number skill.

Other idea to expand on the Earth's 2 surface parts of water and land:
a. sensory bin or bowl containing blue and green shredded paper or colored rice can be the massive amount with small items like blue and green marbles can be what children need to find; add math skill of sorting/categorizing by having blue and green small bowls or cups for the kids to place the miniature lakes (blue) and islands (green) into.

Extend to creatures that live in water and those that live on land:
b. outdoors/gross motor: have a blue tarp laid on the ground for the water and a green military tarp or shower curtain laid out for land. Take items from the classroom or maybe some prepared magazine pics or internet printed images glued to cardstock/file folder cut-outs. Students stand around the outside edges and take turns coming to get a picture/item to toss onto the correct colored tarp. Two shared early science and math skills are making observations and sorting/classifying. And science concepts are now extending past the Earth's two surface areas to include recognizing animals that live predominantly in each area.
Example: a stuffed animal dolphin gets tossed onto the blue tarp
Example: a stuffed animal bunny gets tossed onto the green tarp

If your facility has an indoor gym or large open classroom floor space, this could be done inside.

Enjoy helping children of all ages learn more about our Earth.