Science Fun
in Grade 1

Through the very difficult 2020-2021 COVID-19 teaching year, Andrew’s Grade 1 class continued to have a lot of fun with some fantastic science.  

One activity was especially engaging for families: In October and then again in November Andrew sent home science ‘experiments’ - i.e., little exploration tasks that could be done with everyday household materials. Students did the experiments with their families, observed what happened, and then presented their experiments to the rest of the class.

Andrew’s goals for these experiments were to:

• Get kids excited about the science that can be done with everyday materials.

• Use simple, hands-on demonstrations to explore the idea of experimentation: "How would your project have gone differently if you had used x instead of y?" "I wonder what will happen if I ...."

• Allow valuable learning to happen when things don't work the way we thought/hoped they were going to.

• Provide an opportunity for students to present to their peers and develop their speaking skills.

And how did families enjoy the experiments?

Our family isn’t new to experiments BUT I was thrilled about how the presentation piece inspired our child as he’s usually very quiet in class. Once our child had finished his tests, he practiced his presentation a number of times so he could make it interesting for his classmates. He was so pumped each day after giving his presentation!  -- Emily

It was great for our family. We all were involved in setting it up and practicing. :)  -- Hannah

It was a lot of fun, and really eye opening - being assigned well-thought-out material that encouraged exploration with our little one in a way we would have never tried on our own. -- Jen

(My fox) really enjoyed both experiments. She always wanted to get her explanations right and would practice her presentation during the walk to school.  -- Jessica

Andrew shared that “I was struck by the number of connections kids made--connections between the concepts presented by their peers and these same concepts in action somewhere else in their lives.” He reflected on how the students were very excited about their experiments and wanted to do more. They were all well-prepared and came to school on the date assigned to them with all of their materials; they were ready to roll.

While learning shifted online for January, Andrew was still finding engaging ways to build science into students’ days. For instance, as a quick body break, Andrew assigned the kids a task of putting food dye in water and putting in outside. The students were then encouraged to check in on the water throughout the day to see when it had started to freeze. Throughout the week the experiment expanded. Would the water freeze faster if it was in a small container or a big one? Would the water freeze slower or faster if you added salt? Andrew has also set our kids up to identify and count common backyard birds.  

There are so many opportunities to learn science concepts and it’s exciting to see how science is life in Grade 1!

Date posted: 2021

Tags: confidence, experiential learning, Family & community-centred school environment, Innovative approaches to teaching and learning