Theimaginationnook: November 2014

We have been having so much fun learning about weather and seasons. I think every year my students always love science and this year seems to be no different. I like starting out with weather as our first science unit because the experiments are really easy for the first graders this early in the year and they are all low prep. I am all about keeping it simple.
Our first experiment was after we had learned about the water cycle. I wanted to have them experience evaporation. It's not able to be seen, so this experiment is a great visual for them to gain a better understanding of the concept. All you need is water and chalk. They pour a small cup of water on the concrete trace it with chalk and wait an hour. Depending on the weather, the water should be smaller in size. It was such a nice day out, we only needed to trace it once and within the hour, all of the water had evaporated. I have the write a hypothesis and draw the process, then complete their conclusion.

We made it rain in our next experiment. We talked about the clouds holding the water until it is too much and they "let go". Voila! It begins to rain. This experiment is a crowd favorite. It works better when a little bit of liquid iron is added to the rain. The weight of the iron shows the rain breaking through the rest of the water better. Otherwise. I feel like it pools. Last year, I set this experiment up during Open House, so the kids could redo this experiment and explain to the parents what they have learned about weather. They were so excited.

Another one of our experiments was making a kite. We predicted what the wind would do to our homemade kite. A paperbag, yarn or string and tissue paper cut into thin pieces to use as tails is all you need. Let the kids decorate it and take them our for some exercise and fun.