What is Science?

Another great start to a school year is in the books! Students spent the first three days getting to know each other and their new classroom. We did so many activities designed around classbuilding and team building. We set clear expectations for our school and classroom focusing on what it looks like to BE NICE, BE SAFE, and BE READY TO LEARN.

As much as I love the beginning of the year activities, I also get so excited to apply the expectations that we set the first week of school to our academic learning.  On Monday, we had our first science class of the year.  I posed the question, “What is Science?” to the students.  At first they were hesitant to answer such a broad question.  We decided that a circle map would be a great tool to map out our thinking.  Each student created their own circle map with the word “Science” in the center.  After a bit of a slow start, the ideas started flowing and the pencils started moving.

        

Once the students had enough time to jot down their own ideas, they had an opportunity to learn from their classmates. The students used the structure Give One, Get One to share and receive ideas from each other.

Once everyone had a full circle map, we came together as a class and shared out our ideas. It was so fun to hear so many answers to a question that the students students initially had no idea how to answer. I look forward to working with these scientists this school year!