Summer SAVY, Session 3 Day 1, “Plants & Pollen: Exploring Agricultural Engineering” (1st-2nd)
We have been busy as honeybees learning so much already about pollinators and plants!
We started our day by taking time to learn about each other and developing our top five behavior expectations that our group feels are the most important behaviors to follow to ensure a successful week together.
To help us connect our learning, we are utilizing a metacognitive strategy called the Johari Learning Window that allows us to allow for new inquiry, see how our learning was impacted, and how we might contribute to the learning of others (Open, Blind, Hidden & Unknown model). The theme for this week’s learning is structures. We are focusing on generalization statements about structure and how the theme (of structure) connects to what we are learning about pollinators and plants. We know that structures have parts that connect, parts of structures support other parts, smaller structures may be combined to form larger structures, and a structure is no stronger than its weakest part (or component).
Students were introduced to engineers and technology, and vocabulary words using a Connections Web. Students were placed into groups and provided a bag with random items. They had to determine how the objects were related and then select one item to analyze. For their one item, students analyzed the purpose of the item, the materials it was made of, and how the object helps to solve at least one problem. It was fun to help students understand that technology is all around us. Nearly everything we use, work with, or wear is engineered.
Before reading our main story, we discussed vocabulary terms that students may not be aware of and the location of the Dominican Republic, where the story takes place. Many of our activities this week will be built upon our primary story, Mariana Becomes a Butterfly. To help students understand pollinators, we did a hands-on science experiment where we dissected a lily flower and learned about how the different parts of the flower work. We wrapped up the day by reading The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Keller.
Please note that we will be adventuring outside tomorrow morning to make some observations, so consider wearing sunscreen and bringing a hat if possible.