Chemistry - Grade 1

First grade chemists conducted a series of experiments called, "What Dissolves?" Students worked independently to test a variety of solids to see which are water-soluable and which are not. We extended the experiment to examine the affect of water temperature on dissolving. The first graders were so excited to do these experiments! They set up each experiment on their own and recorded their own data - great job first grade!!!

Grade 1 - Mass, Using a Balance, Extinct Animals

First graders were introduced to the concept of MASS and they learned how to use a balance to find the mass of extinct animal models. Some of the animals we discussed: pterosaurs, giant sloths, amebeledons, dodos, saber toothed tigers, megalodons, woolly mammoths, and thylacines.

First Grade Engineers! Bridge Building

I am so proud of my first grade engineers! I presented them with a story I wrote about gnomes trying to solve a big problem: they must get from their village into town in order to sell their vegetables. There is a large lake separating the village & town.  Engineers are needed to design & build bridges for the gnomes. I wrote this lesson plan to meet the NGSS engineering standard for first grade:

Before we began designing & building, we examined the structure of many well known bridges to determine what each bridge had to have:

Everyone's favorite bridge seemed to be Tower Bridge:

Everyone made a fantastic bridge! All bridges had to meet 2 important criteria: the bridge must span the lake and it must be able to accomodate 2 gnomes at a time. I used my classroom green screen to put grade 1C into gnomeland:

The first graders worked so hard on their bridges! I love seeing their fantastic creations!! Here are photos of grade 1C's bridges, they finished today. I will post grade 1Q as soon as their bridges are complete!

1Q: