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The Great Backyard Bird Count: Community science in your backyard or schoolyard
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Bird counts involve children in citizen science projects where a greater community contributes to the data used by scientists to understand bird behavior and more. The Great Backyard Bird Count is happening now and…
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Footprints in the snow—books to extend learning
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Bird footprints in fresh snow With 18 inches on the ground, and another 2–4 inches of snow due Tuesday, is it any wonder I’m thinking of how to make the most of this unique material in school? When we get back to…
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Exploring form and function with hats: books about firefighters
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In the February 2010 Early Years column (Science and Children) I wrote about exploring form and function using hats, and testing them for how water flows off of them. Children might think, “Of course a firefighter’s hat…
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Two-year-olds explore transparent, translucent, and opaque materials
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Science activities with two-year-olds may not last very long but sometimes the children surprise me. One group of four children spent about 15 minutes exploring a set of cardboard tubes with ends covered with either…
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More science in the early years—a reoccurring theme from high school teachers and researchers
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So it’s not just me, or you…An elementary school science specialist wrote to National Science Teacher Association colleagues asking middle and high school teachers which science skills and knowledge are typically seen…
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Gardening catalogs arriving daily? Help is on the way!
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Is the arrival of gardening catalogs inspiring you to dream about planting with your students, and plan a garden of any size? You know that people of all ages benefit from spending time outdoors and that your children…
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If you were a dinosaur …
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Some children love pandas, some love dogs, but many more love dinosaurs. At times it seems young children feel dinosaurs are “more real”—more interesting, more important, more present in their minds—than modern animals…
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The snow was lovely for me, arriving on a Friday night after my children were home and enough neighbors were in town to make the shoveling more of a community gathering than a huge chore. I…
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Ask a question … none of us has all the answers but we might have some
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Wondering if teaching about magnetism is appropriate for preschoolers, which chemistry activities can be safe for young children, what materials to provide for exploration of gravity, or how to raise butterflies?…
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Making a dough for classroom play is also a time to teach vocabulary and math skills, and social skills such as cleaning up after oneself. Write the recipe on a page or easel paper to refer to even if your students are…
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Young children love using a periscope. Maybe because when you look through one, the view is not what your brain expects, somewhat like using someone else’s glasses. (My sisters and I used to take turns running down a…
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NAEYC–early childhood and science!
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Will I see you at the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s national conference in Washington, D.C., this week? Come say “Hi” and tell me what great sessions you’ve attended. I’ll be in the…
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Did I tell you how happy I was to see the returning three-year old students use magnifiers appropriately? Because this half-day preschool for 2-5-year-olds had moved to a new space over the summer, the “usual place” for…
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Learning about science curriculum and meeting more early childhood teachers than I expected were the happy outcomes of the two days I spent at the really well-run Virginia Association of Science Teachers 2009…
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With water play students gain experience they can record in writing and drawing
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Children observe objects in water. Playing in water opens many avenues for science explorations—flow, wetness or phases of matter, volume, and buoyancy. Unexpected results make children think and explore further.…
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