Fall SAVY 2017, Day 4- Environmental Explorations: Dig It! (Kindergarten)
Dear Parents:
Our morning began with another story from 11 Experiments that Failed. This book allows students to review the scientific method through discussion of the steps the author took to answer a question/hypothesis, and how she responded to what happened in the process. Next we reviewed our experiment last week to discover the porosity of our 5 soil types. We also began a soil concept map. Students were able to recall the types of soil and what they are composed of. This pathway set us up for our focus today; what things can harm soil. Our generalization regarding change today was: Change can be natural or manmade.
Before beginning, I asked students what manmade meant to them. They had to think for a few minutes, and a few students replied that it is things that we make. I explained a bit more about manmade through reviewing our natural resources concept map, and students made the connection of how we learned last week how man uses natural resources to make things. This discussion led to a discussion of pollution and “What is it?” Students knew it was not healthy for us, but weren’t quite sure where it came from or how to classify it. I read a book about pollution and the types, as well as effects on humans, animals and plants globally. After identifying water and air pollution and causes and effects, students were ready to hear an important message from a geologist about a problem they needed to try to solve! Students listened as I read “a text” I received last week, from a geologist from Queen Anne’s Island, in Virginia. The geologist told us that Queen Anne’s Island is in trouble because of water and air pollution, and soil erosion. Students drew a pictorial representation of Queen Anne’s Island and the problems they visualized they had. These were quite accurately and skillfully done! Students decided we needed to learn more, so our next experiment was to see how soil erosion affects soil.
We identified what soil erosion was, and then we set up the organization of our soil erosion experiment with what we have observed, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, outlining our materials, and listing the steps for conducting our experiment. To secure some of our materials for the experiment, students went out on a scavenger hunt to collect twigs, leaves and branches. Once back, we set up our experiment to determine the effects of erosion on soil. Students created a mound/hill with the soil we were using in the long aluminum pan. Our scientists first applied wind to the soil to observe effects (soft wind (mouth), then high wind like a hurricane). Students made notes and discussed. Then students took turns seeing the effects of water with only soil, then with leaves in the soil, next with twigs, and finally with thick branches. Students wrote what happened and we will begin our session next week discussing what happened, making sense of it and tying it into how students can help Queen Anne’s Island with their soil erosion problem.
If you get some time this week to discuss with your students what they are doing at fall SAVY, please ask your students what kind of experiment they think they could do to determine what solutions they can come up with to suggest to the people who live on Queen Anne’s Island to help diminish or endtheir soil erosion problems. Our scientists will be designing an experiment next week! I am looking forward to more learning.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Tyson
Leave a Response