noticing and comparing plants at Blair

Posted on: May 11th, 2014 by jnovakowski

IMG_1038I visited Blair at the end of April and worked with the grades 2 & 3 students in Daisy Khare’s class. The students were beginning to learn about plants and we decided it was an ideal time to go outside and look closely at the school’s new garden beds. Some of the other classes’ plantings were growing so well already.

IMG_1037

This gave us a great opportunity to discuss looking closely at plants – noticing the colours, the textures, the lines, the shapes, the markings, the size, etc. The students were asked to choose two different plants to observe and notice what was the same and what was different about them. The students enjoyed using magnifying glasses and loupes to really zoom in on the details.

IMG_1024 IMG_1025 IMG_1023IMG_1020

IMG_1027 IMG_1019 IMG_1018 IMG_1010The students took their science notebooks outside with them and recorded their observations with drawings and words. We left it up to the students how they would do this.

IMG_1005 IMG_1004 IMG_1016 IMG_1015 IMG_1014 IMG_1031

It was interesting to listen in on some of the students’ conversations. Many of them wondered what the plants were exactly and looked for clues (like plant markers with the names on them!) to help them out. They were excited to see bright red radishes bulging up through the soil. One student noticed the tendrils on the pea plants and wondered what they were for.

IMG_1013

This led to other questions from the students and they began recording their questions in their notebooks alongside their observations.

IMG_1034 IMG_1033 IMG_1032

We came back inside for students to focus on the recording of their experience in their science notebooks. It was impressive to see the variety of formats the students chose to show their learning.

IMG_1044 IMG_1043 IMG_1042 IMG_1041 IMG_1040 IMG_1039

This experience for the students was connected to the primary teachers’ professional collaborative inquiry looking at taking science outdoors and making students’ learning visible through science notebooking.

~Janice

Comments are closed.