When we arrived at school on this rainy morning, the Wonder of the Week became, "Why are all those worms on the sidewalk?!?"
We knew we had a morning research project! We wondered and came up with hypotheses for why we thought the worms came up on the sidewalk.
We read the book What Is a Scientist?
We learned that scientists do things like look for answers to questions, measure, count carefully, look closely, and think logically. Then we headed outside with our Think Books, magnifying glasses, rulers, and pencils to look more closely at these worms.
researchers in the rain
We measured...
We measured...or tried to...the wiggly worms wouldn't keep still!
We observed...
...and we wrote!
Here is a video of our Wonderful Worm Explorations.
Why do you think the worms come up on the sidewalk after it rains?
In addition to our regular weekly Word Wall Words, each student has the opportunity to work on words that are specific to their spelling needs. About once a week, each child picks one word from his or her personal word wall. S/he makes this word in many ways, hopefully helping them retain the correct spelling. The kids came up with many ways we could use our classroom materials to make our personal word wall words:
Using our bodies...can you see the word "look"?
Play-doh!
Different math materials
Math materials, like links
Pipe cleaners
of course, LEGOS!
Legos is definitely challenging, but a favorite.
After a few activities, Kierstyn realized that she didn't need to refer to her Personal Word Wall anymore, and she could spell her word with her eyes closed. When she shared this, many others were able to do this, too...goal accomplished!
Here is a video of our first official Personal Word Wall Spelling Workshop!
We have been learning about how researchers look closely and notice tiny details. Researchers wonder about things and record their observations. The researchers in Room 408 looked closely at this contraption and wondered about its use:
We put the contraption under the document projector and drew it with as many details as we could. We also predicted what we thought certain parts were and labeled them.
Many students could confirm their predictions about the parts and use of this machine. Once we found out it was an apple peeler, they each got to test out and observe it in action.
Such concentration!
They even looked closely as they peeled.
Most enjoyed the spoils!
That's a long apple peel!
Sticking your tongue out helps with concentration...
After we peeled our apples, we carved them in hopes that they would turn out to be like the Civil War dried apple dolls like these:
Carving was interesting, to say the least...
As always, sticking your tongue out helps you concentrate!
Here is a video of our apple peeler activity!
Have you ever used an apple peeler? Have you ever made a dried apple head that actually turned out?
We have finished up our popsicle math inquiry by using popsicle sticks to measure length. We learned that when we measure, the units we measure with shouldn't have any gaps and they should be as straight as possible. Mathematicians are very careful and double-check their work to make sure it's accurate. Here we are working with our partners, measuring like mathematicians!
Sometimes we practice inquiry skills by researching the Wonder of the Week, and do a mini-inquiry. Our class goes through all the stages of inquiry in one afternoon: We immerse ourselves in resources, investigate the answer to our big question, coalesce our learning and decide which observations answer our big wonder, and go public by sharing what we learned.
We took a wonder from our Wonder Window and made it into our Wonder of the Week. Kierstyn's wonder from the Wonder Window got us all wondering about how money was made. Throughout the week we wrote our predictions and thinking on our Wonder of the Week chart posted on our door.
At the end of the week we discussed "sources" and how we could use different sources to find information to answer our question. We looked in books:
We looked online at research sites such as Pebblego and Brainpop, Jr:
We looked at the real thing, very closely:
And, of course, we wrote down our observations and new learning!
After sharing what we learned, we went on a virtual field trip to factories and watched coins being minted and paper money being printed.
