C1 continues their trek through planet earth. Last week we did a project classifying rocks. Students brought in ten rocks from their daily environment. They were given a sheet of A3 paper that had twelve circles. Students took their rocks and classified them on six different dimensions (big/little, heavy/light, rough/smooth, shiny/dull, hard/soft, solid/multicolor). They then recorded how many rocks were in each category.

rock-sorting (pdf)

As a second activity, the students put the rocks in order from largest to smallest. They then used a string to measure the circumference of the rocks. They then order the rocks based on that measurement. Students then compare the order based on sight and on measurement.

C1 continues to study science with me two periods a week. In this unit in their science book, they are studying the planet earth. We started out by learning about the different layers of the earth. We are currently studying soil and rocks. In this activity, students brought a small bag of soil to class. First they separated the soil into its main parts, rocks, sand, plant matter, insects and dirt. Then they used a hand lens to take a closer look at what makes up soil. After they had classified and observed, they recorded their observations in the form of pictures.

The November Speaking and Writing class that Helen and I teach have been studying science for the last few weeks. Specifically we’ve been studying plants.  Here’s a quick activity that will show students how plants take water in through their roots and up through the stem.

You need to draw a flower, stem and leaves.  Have students color and cut the pieces out.  Laminate them for durability.  Tape the pieces to a drinking straw (the bendy kind works well).  Stick the straw in a cup of juice (grape juice works well for visibility) and have the students drink through the straw.  Explain that the roots are at the bottom of the straw and they take up water from the soil, just like they are drinking.

And here’s the students with the finished project.