Bringing Science Back!

One of my goals for second quarter is to be MUCH more consistent with Science instruction now that we have established Math rituals and routines and I am learning how to adapt our new curriculum materials to my students' needs and time allotments.  Our Math curriculum is very demanding (for students and teachers!), and just like kids (and teachers!) need a break to get outside and move (recess) each day, our brains need breaks from Math too!

Since Science is observing and wondering about the natural world around us, I personally think curriculum pacing should be more season-driven in nature.  So to make content as relevant and meaningful to my students as possible, my plan is to study what's going on currently in the natural world around us.

Here in Northeast Florida, Fall lends itself to clearer skies and milder temperatures, so I thought this would be the perfect time to start working toward mastery of this standard:

Observe that the patterns of stars in the sky stay the same although they appear to shift across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.

Starting this month, students will be given Northern Hemisphere constellation maps mid-month each month until the end of the school year.  The last two weekends of the month, students will observe the night sky and record their observations on a constellation checklist in their Interactive Science Journals.

From month to month, we will discuss our observations.  Each month we will also observe sunrise and sunset data, making conclusions about the earth's movement as we learn more about its rotation and revolution.

Sadly there isn't a Study Jam on stars (yet), but hopefully this one, which is related, will get you more interested in our study of Earth and space!