Grade 1

How can I group different objects?

Let's investigate...

Grab the following items:

• Your science journal

• Any objects or toys

Let's explore...

• • With any group of objects around the house, find a way to classify or group the objects. You can use the physical properties of the objects: color, texture, odor, ability to dissolve in water, and the amount of light passing through it. How did you decide to group the objects? Do you group your clothes or toys in a certain way? Describe the choices that were made in grouping the objects. Can you find another way to group them? Which way is the best, and why do you think that? Write about what you did in your science journal.

Essential Knowledge and Practice (connection to the science curriculum)

• make and communicate observations about the physical properties of materials (1.3 a)

• classify objects based on physical properties and explain how the objects were classified (1.3 a)

How can we protect ourselves from the heat of the sun?

Let's investigate...

Grab the following items:

• Your science journal

• Digital thermometer or phone weather app

• Cardboard

• Fabric

• Aluminum foil

• Plastic wrap

• Paper plates, or other supplies from around the house

Let's explore...

• • Find a location outside or by a window where you can take the temperature throughout the day. Every hour, write down the temperature and notice whether the thermometer is in the sun.

  • Now, design and make a structure that will keep the temperature from changing. Take the temperature inside and outside your structure during the day. Can you make a structure where the temperature changes very little? Draw a picture of the structures that you tried in your science journal and explain what works best to keep the temperature from changing.

Essential Knowledge and Practice (connection to the science curriculum)

• conduct a simple investigation to show how the sunlight changes the temperature at different times during the day (1.6 b)

• design a structure to reduce the change in temperature that occurs in sunlight throughout the day (1.6 a, b)

How do we tell different animals apart? Can we tell where an animal lives by what they look like?

Let's investigate...

Grab the following items:

• Your science journal

• Book about animals

Let's explore...

• • Look out the window, take a walk in the neighborhood, or look at a book about animals. What do you notice about the animals? How can you tell them apart? When you look at an animal, can you tell where it lives? How do you know?

  • Write about what you discovered in your science journal.

Essential Knowledge and Practice (connection to the science curriculum)

• observe animals in the schoolyard and describe their physical properties (1.5 b)

• predict what type of home (land or water) an animal would live in based on its physical characteristics (1.5 b)

How can we make sure we put as few things in the trash as possible?

Let's investigate...

Grab the following items:

• Your science journal

• Bags or boxes for recycling trash in your home.

Let's explore...

• • This is a perfect time to set up a recycling system where you live. Interview an adult and find out how recycling is done. Is it part of the trash pickup? Must you bring recycling to a special place? Talk to the adults around you and see if you can set up recycling in your home. You can decorate bags or boxes for aluminum, paper, and plastic recycling.

Write about what you decided to do in your science journal.

Essential Knowledge and Practice (connection to the science curriculum)

• determine a resource in the school or home that may be conserved, brainstorm solutions, and implement a plan to address the conservation concern (1.8 a, b, c).