Plant Cells

 

We've learned a lot about animal cells, but today we kicked off our exploration of plant cells by making a model.  Students were able to choose items from candy, to yarn, to rice to represent different organelles within a plant cell.  It was great to see their creativity at work.  I especially loved that no two student's plant cells looked the same.  They diagramed them, and justified their choices.  Fun with science!

Bats and Soil Samples

With Halloween just around the corner we went a little batty today!  We talked about fact vs. opinion when it came to bats.  Did you know that bats are the only mammal that can fly?  Our class brainstormed facts that we knew, and watched a video to learn some more.  We also discussed if we thought bats were cute or creepy.  Overwhelming our class opinion was cute.  What??  Owen and I were not persuaded, and we said creepy!  Students then analyzed and graphed the data.  We also practiced some oral direction skills, tracing to make double, and cutting.  Little things that will help us with projects throughout the year. 

 

Since we are still in the midst of our Living and Non-Living Things unit, we also talked about non-living things that make up ecosystems.  Today we focused on soil.  My soil scientists collected six samples from around school.  We charted and labeled the samples so that we could talk about similarities and differences.  Students decided that the soil from the vegetable garden would be the best for growing plants, and that the soil from the baseball field would be the worst!

Our Terrariums

On this lovely fall morning we headed outside to make our very own terrariums.  I love teaching about living and non-living things through these pint sized ecosystems.  I also love my pint sized scientists! 

 

They carefully filled their terrariums with living and non-living things like soil, rocks, plants, and oxygen. 

 

Oh and of course a dinosaur or two!