Science Science Science

One of the wonderful things happening at the school for me and the students is that I get to teach science. So far in the first grade classes, we've been observing plant leaves and flowers and naming the parts of a plant and the roles they play in the plant's life. It's really fun. I had the first graders "become" the parts on stage and tell or show what they do. We also collected leaf and flower samples and observed them with magnifying glasses. They draw and write about them. Good fun! I have a lot of freedom on how I teach the classes. That is so important to me as a teacher. I don't think I'd get that freedom back in the USA.

I also am running the after school 2nd grade science club. It meets once a week for 40 minutes so it's just enough time to do and explain fun experiments. The first 3 club meetings we'll be doing "Air Pressure." Can't go wrong here. The first meeting we'll be making straw flutes. The second meeting we'll do balloon rockets, third is paper airplanes. Then we get into fluids and solids using cornstarch and water. Should be fun! I hope to have photos.

Here's a good physics experiments web site http://littleshop.physics.colostate.edu/onlineexperiments/