Science Sleuths!
A Classroom Grant
Funded by
Foundation for Allen Schools
Regena Bell – Kerr Elementary
Allen, Texas
Science Sleuths is grant program in our first grade classroom provided by the Foundation for Allen Schools. We have received monies that support science learning by providing new manipulatives for use by our first graders for science investigations. We wish to thank the Grant Foundation for their generous gift and their insight into progressive educational practices. Below is the grant math syllabus for projects to support all first grade math TEKS (Objectives):
Song/Science reading sets will be purchased to enhance the following science curriculum:
First six-weeks: TEKS – 1.3A, 1.3B, 1.4B, 1.5A, 1.5B, 1.6A, 1.6B
· Wanted – Dead or Alive! - grouping and comparing living and non-living objects
· Measure It! - featuring measuring, weighing, sorting, patterns, observations, graphs
· How Does Your Garden Grow? – observe and describe parts of plants
Second six-weeks: TEKS – 1.1A, 1.2B, 1.2C, 1.2D, 1.2E, 1.3C, 1.5B, 1.6A, 1.6B 1.9A
· Using Our Senses – communicate explanations about investigations using various tools such as a magnifying glass, microscope, or telescope; investigations in solving problems; collecting data
· Are You Warm or Cold? – animals that are cold and warm blooded; their habitats and food sources
Third six-weeks: TEKS – 1.5B, 1.6A, 1.6B, 1.6C, 1.6D
· Move It! – an exploration into simple machines; identify parts of machines
· It’s Not Spooky! – skeletons, bats, spiders
Fourth six-weeks: TEKS – 1.4A, 1.5B, 1.6A, 1.6B, 1.7A, 1.7B, 1.7C, 1.9A
· Can You Hear Me Now? – Observing, measuring, and recording changes in sound, size, mass, quantity, and movement
· Splish! Splash! – featuring properties of water, the water cycle, and the weather;
· You’re So Attractive! - featuring magnets, pushes, pull, wind, friction, and gravity
Fifth six-weeks: TEKS - 1.1B, 1.4C, 1.5B, 1.6A, 1.6B, 1.7D, 1.9A, 1.9B
· Let’s Recycle! – conservation
· Life Cycles – Observe life cycles of organisms – butterflies ladybugs, and tadpoles; investigate how living animals depend on each other to meet their basic needs – the food chain
Sixth six-weeks: TEKS: 1.5B, 1.6A, 1.6B, 1.10A, 1.10B, 1.10C
· Rock On! – observations of soil samples and rocks; earthworms
· The Great Outdoors – featuring a variety of natural resources of water including, ponds, streams, lakes, oceans; animals – a visit to the zoo
/Math reading sets will be purchased to enhance the following math curriculum:
First Six Weeks: TEKS – 1.5A, 1.5B, 1.3A, 1.4, 1.7C, 1.9A, 1.11A, 1.12B
· Skip To My Lou – use patterns to skip count by two, fives, and tens
· No Odds About It – patterns of odd and even numbers
· Let’s Sort – sorting and collecting data
· Math All Around Us- identify mathematics in everyday situations
· On the Move - Addition and Subtraction- create addition and subtraction problems using concrete models (manipulatives)
Second Six Weeks: TEKS – 1.5D, 1.9B, 1.11D, 1.12A 1.12B
· Math Whiz! – developing strategies and using math tools for problem solving (addition and subtraction)
· Graph-a-matics! – organize data to construct picture and bar graphs
· Got Math? – Relate mathematical language and symbols
Third Six Weeks: TEKS – 1.1A, 1.1B, 1.1C, 1.3B, 1.5D, 1.10A, 1.11A, 1.12B
· Count On Me! – counting/order/comparison/sets of whole numbers up to 99
· That Makes “Cents”- identify coins by name and value
Four Six Weeks: TEKS – 1.1B, 1.1C, 1.1D, 1.5C, 1.5E, 1.7G, 1.8A, 1.11B, 1.12A, 1.12B
· Fact Families- patterns in related addition and subtraction families
· Cold or Hot – compare and order two or more objects according to relative temperature
Fifth Six Weeks: TEKS – 1.1A, 1.6A, 1.7A, 1.6B, 1.6D, 1.7D, 1.7E, 1.7F, 1.8B, 1.11B, 1.11C, 1.12B,
· Rock Around the Clock – read time to the hour and half-hour
· Measurement – estimate and measure / compare length from longest to shortest / capacity / weight – mass / area of surface
· Dimensional Shapes – describe and identify 2 and 3 dimensional shapes including circles, triangles, rectangles, squares, spheres, cones, cubes, cylinders, and prisms
Sixth Six Weeks: TEKS – 1.1C, 1.2A, 1.2B, 1.3A, 1.10B, 1.11B, 1.12B, 1.13
· Fraction Action! – separate a whole into two, three, or four equal parts and use the appropriate language to describe the parts
· It’s Probable or Impossible! – identify events as certain or impossible (probability)
Thanks to the Foundation of Allen Schools for the opportunity to request supplementary materials for the classroom. Students learn best when multiple instructional strategies are implemented in the classroom. It is appreciated that we are given the chance to obtain these assessable tools for our children.
Reading Strategies
Suggested helps from past grants
To become better at anything we attempt, it takes practice. To become a better reader we must read everyday.
What should I do if I get stuck on a word?
The common answer to that question is “sound it out!” Research has confirmed that’s the last strategy we want to teach our children when they come to an unknown word. There are too many irregular words in our language for this to be effective. Below are strategies the children are learning at school and can be reinforced at home:
· Get your mouth ready.
Get your mouth ready to make the first sound and reread from the
beginning of the sentence. Your mouth will be ready to say the
tricky word.
· Look for key clues.
Look for clues in the pictures that my help you solve the unknown
word.
· Does it make sense?
What do you think the word might be? Does that make sense in
the sentence?
· Look for patterns.
Look for a pattern in the word. Does it have the same pattern
that you have seen in another word?
· Look for chunks or parts.
Look for chunks in the word. Do you see a smaller word or a chunk
inside the larger word?
· Read again.
If you come to a word you don’t know, go back and read the
sentence again. You may notice clues you missed the first time.
· Try it and go on – make a good guess.
If you don’t know a word, try something and keep reading the
sentence. Does it look and sound right? Happy Reading!
The “Write-Foot Forward”
The “Write-Foot Forward” was a past grant received also sponsored by the Allen Foundation to encourage writing and reading at home. The following offers suggestions for promoting writing activities at home.
Provide your first grader with a writing box (a plastic shoe box) filled with fun writing materials; markers, pens, pencils, writing pads, and shaped paper. You may like to add items to the box for incentives. For example, a stapler, scented markers, a hole punch, a clip board, stationery, scissors, and stickers may spark interest in writing more frequently.
Keep the writing box available for your child. An office area may be set up for your child to write. Maybe your child would like to write during commercials watching a television program. In such a case, keep the writing box close to the TV. You may encourage the writing box to be used while traveling in the car. Your child may bring their writings to school to share.
Below is a suggested list of writing activities that children may do at home:
riddles birthday cards grocery lists
diaries recipes journals
letters thank you notes signs
poetry dinner menus jokes
maps lists of names rules for games
notes e-mail messages retold stories
mazes rhymes seek and find puzzles
Strategies for Encouraging Writing:
· Make a point to involve your child with your own writing activities: “I’m writing a letter to Grandma. Is there anything you would like put on it?”
· Make writing portable. If you have paper and pencil attached to a clipboard, your child can carry it easily in the car, outside, or anywhere in the house.
· Connect drawing to writing. Have your child dictate a story to you from their drawing.
· Compliment your child’s thoughts and write them yourself. Respond to something your child may say:
“That is so interesting. I want to write that down so I don’t forget.”
Then, write it. This invites a youngster to suggest other things for you to write. Before long, you may hear your child say: “You don’t want to forget this. I’d better write it down for you.”
Hopefully, an outburst of reading and writing will take place at home and school. With that in mind, this handbook was compiled. We encourage your child to take risks with language. If children become “risk-takers” at home and school, there will be a steady growth of language construction in reading and writing. Research has shown that writing is an effective way to develop reading skills. Authoring and reading a text gives a child a sense of competence with print that encourages further interest in writing and reading.
Before a baby could walk, the child had to crawl first. The same process may be applied to reading and writing. As parents and educators, we have to accept the attempts the children are making as “risk-takers.” We must provide an environment where the children will want to read and write. As we go through the writing process, we will learn strategies to help in revision of our work. Continuing to correct mistakes is discouraging, but accepting attempts is encouraging. We need to facilitate learning by supporting the curiosity in children, praising efforts, and by providing new and challenging experiences for children to explore. It is hopes that you will enjoy the time with your child and their writing creations that will be forth coming!
Suggested Math Activities at Home
At the toy box:
· Sorting – place toys how they are alike and different in groups
· Comparing – place toys in order from large to smallest
· Greatest/least – how many more horses than cows / which group has the least
· Addition and subtraction – How many legs on 2 horses and 3 chickens / If 2 tires went flat on 2 race cars, how many good tires are left?
In the kitchen:
· Measurement/Comparing volumes – cups, pints, quarts, gallons, teaspoons, tablespoons / Which container will hold more/the least water / How many cans do you think it will take to fill this cooking pot
· Plane figures – place a napkin at the left of each plate. Fold the napkins as rectangles one day and triangles the next
· Dimensional shapes – find shapes of cones, pyramids, cubes, rectangular prisms, spheres
· Fractions / Sets – Compute how much of an item is needed to prepare for a meal given the amount for each person. Compute the amount needed if a recipe is doubled, tripled, or halved
Around the house:
· Classifying; describing: Sort one kind of item (e.g. socks) by size, color, or other attribute
Describe the features: fuzzy, soft, hard, smooth, rough, transparent, translucent, sticky, light, heavy
· Keep records of weight and height, make a graph and keep it current; find differences from time to time
· Measure items around the house; use metric measurements whenever possible
· Money: let children count the change in your pocket; play Monopoly and let child be the banker with your help; play store and let child calculate the cost, overhead, and profit
· Estimate: Estimate the length, width, and area of a room by pacing it off
· Chart reading: read schedules of information, the television guide, bus, train, or plane schedules
· Play games – Chutes and Ladders for counting to one hundred, Connect Four (as examples) logic games, jumping rope and skip count by twos, fives, tens