Tracking

Continue to remind and reinforce science routines and thinking tools, building and growing students’ scientific thinking toolkits all year, developing observation skills (I notice...), curiosity (I wonder...), making connections (it reminds me of...), as well as continuing to share information and ideas, including discussion skills, and recording data.

In this lesson we build on the following Science Practices:

• Possible Explanations from Evidence— “I Think Maybe...” As students look at animal evidence such as tracks or scat, they will be observing and looking at evidence that might tell us what animal may have left these clues. They should observe the size, shape, contents, and more to come up with their ideas. Ask students “what’s your evidence?” often throughout this lesson to reinforce the concept.

• Testing ideas—through experiments, further study (such as looking things up in books or guides, as we do in this lesson), and also through discussion.

Don’t forget to remind students of these practices and reinforce their use as *routines* and thinking tools, building and growing students’ scientific thinking toolkits all year.

Games from Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature

By Jon Young