Living or Nonliving?

Today we did a mini-inquiry to determine what makes a living thing, a living thing.
First, we searched in books for clues as to how we know something is living or not.

Then, we got together and brainstormed our ideas.  We had a great discussion--as each idea was shared, students showed if they agreed or disagreed by making signs, and then shared their thinking about why they disagreed or agreed.
This was our brainstormed list:

Everybody got a copy of that picture, and then used book sources or online sources to learn more about living and nonliving things.

We used Scholastic News...

...books...

...and the 'Living or Nonliving' article on PebbleGo.

Next, students marked each idea as confirmed (checkmark) or as a misconception (X) as they researched.

We met again for discussion and determined what it means to be 'living.'

We determined living things:

--need food/energy

--move

--need water

--breathe/need air

--grow/change

--can die

--have babies/reproduce

--go to the bathroom/give off waste

We were still a bit unsure about a few things...

Don't all living things need a place to live and grow?  Don't all living things have functional parts to help them survive?  Don't all living things have some kind of covering?

Some of us weren't convinced that plants could move on their own.  Here are some videos showing plants growing, changing, and moving on their own:

Stay tuned for the rest of our Immersion Phase of our animal inquiry!

Field Trip!

LEADS went to a play at the Weidner and the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary today for our field trip!

We saw the play based on the books by Doreen Cronin: Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Spider, and Diary of a Fly.

We had great weather at the wildlife sanctuary, inside and outside.

Organizing for our Animal Inquiry

Our classroom library is a big consideration as we prepare for the serious research we do during our animal inquiry.  Right now we have about eight tubs of "animals and habitats" books, plus various animal books mixed in with our "just right" leveled book baskets.

In order to easily find the books we need without wasting time searching, we needed to reorganize our classroom library.  During our Morning Meeting we discussed the various ways we could organize our animal books.  Then we took a class vote:

We decided to sort them based on the first letter of the animal--then if we wanted to find a book on giraffes, we would look in the 'G' basket.  To get ready, we had to find all the animal books!  We had quite a big pile as we pulled as many animal books as we could find!

Next, we passed our books out around the room based on the first letter.  We had to problem solve along the way....like if a book was about a caterpillar or a puppy (baby animal), we decided to put it in the tub that would match the beginning letter of the adult animal--caterpillar would go in the 'B' animal basket for 'butterfly' or 'I' basket for 'insect', and the puppy would go in with the 'D' animal basket for 'dog'.  We also realized that we had a lot of books that were all mixed animals...we sorted those by habitat or put them in a 'mixed-up animals' basket.
We realized that when we collaborated, the immense job got done so much more quickly!

Then, we had to label each basket. We either worked alone or in pairs to make labels for the book baskets.

Such hard workers!

Animal Immersion Stations

We're entering the Immersion Stage of our animal inquiry.  We have a lot to get done before our Exploration Celebration on April 16th.
We explored a variety of animal immersion stations:

We have an ocean flannelboard activity mat...

...a desert flannelboard activity mat...

...various animal models and matching photo cards...

...hundreds of animal photo cards to sort and read...

...a habitat matching game...

...two big tubs full of animal models...

...and animal x-rays.

As the students engage in these experiences, it's a great time for me to listen in on their conversations to find out what they already know about animals.

For example, observing and listening in on exchanges between students I learned that Gavin knows about the difference in teeth between carnivores and herbivores.  This kind of information is very helpful as we move forward in our animal inquiry.

Look at how engaged they are!

Congratulations, 6&4 and 7&3!

We had our "Tens Wedding" for 6&4...each child got a cracker with squeeze cheese with the numbers on them.  We visualized that number pair and gobbled them down!

 Mason happened to have a cool way to make a snack display that day--6 + 4 = 10!

I was able to model a growth mindset as I *tried to* artfully squeeze cheese into number shapes.  It's not too easy, if you have ever tried it!  I showed them my first attempts (upper left of the paper towel below) and how I didn't give up.  They could see that I got better with practice--just what I have been preaching all year!

7&3 also got married:

Since the numbers were all sparkly, we made our number mountains with glitter to help us remember this number pair!

Congratulations on yet another wedding, Tens Family!