E

CLARELILLIAN@GMAIL.COM
NLWS
April 9
TTER
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2023

(434) 296-9334

MS. STAUFFER 1ST GRADE SCIENCE CLASSROOM

Welcome to First Grade Science! I look forward to working with your young scientists and am
excited for the coming year. This newsletter outlines the activities your kids will be participating
in this year, focusing on the first few months. I also offer some crucial details regarding your
child's learning process this year and what you can do at home to support and assist scientific
instruction inside and outside the classroom. I strongly encourage parents to get involved in the
school. We'll be able to engage in many hands-on activities, so your participation and assistance
are very much appreciated. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have concerns or
questions!

WHAT WILL WE LEARN THIS YEAR?

This year in our science classroom, we will be covering the First Grade Virginia
Standards of Learning or SOL:
Scientific and Engineering Practices: Students will practice asking questions and defining problems, creating and applying models,
organizing and conducting investigations, and data analysis and interpretation.
Force, Motion, and Energy: Students will experiment with motion and find that it can be altered by forces acting between things.
These forces have the ability to move energy between things, changing how they move.
Matter: Students will discover Solids, Liquids, and Gases; matter is anything that occupies space.
Living Systems and Processes: The student will investigate and understand that animals, including humans, have basic needs and
certain distinguishing characteristics.
Earth and Space Systems: Students will look into how Earth works and discuss where it fits into the solar system and the galaxy.
Earth Resources: Students will explore natural resources, water, soil, air, rocks, and minerals and understand are important to living
things, including us!

WHAT STUDENTS WILL HAVE LEARNING AFTER OUR FIRST UNIT

We will learn about living systems and processes at the start of the school year. Our first
main focus will be learning about animals and humans' basic needs and characteristics.
Students will take different objects out of the bag individually and tell us what the animals
are, what specific needs the animal has, and where they live. Once the students understand
the needs of animals, they will create a plate diagram for the animal they pick from the bag.
Students will then show their knowledge about animals and where and what they need to
survive by designing an ecosystem diorama. This allows students to show me what they
have learned through project-based learning along with their unique creativity!
 WHAT IS INQUIRY BASED LEARNING?
Inquiry-based learning is a student-centered learning process performed in the
classroom. The inquiry-based learning process promotes students' curiosity, their urge to
inquire, and their capacity to develop answers that change the world. A striking question
is the first step in every investigation; then, it goes through an in-depth study and results
in action. These inquiries are profound and significant. They encourage student learning
and generate interest. Filling out worksheet blanks is different from what inquiry-based
learning is about. Research and analytical thinking are required. Students employ what
they have learned to take action and develop solutions that impact the world. All more
profound learning techniques stem from the inquiry process, which encourages students
to ask questions, conduct research, and create.

MEASURING STUDENT LEARNING IN OUR CLASSROOM

There will be numerous methods used to evaluate student learning.Tests and
quizzes will still be necessary, but there will be other opportunities for students to
demonstrate their understanding of a subject. There will be assessments in the form
of tests/projects and evaluations for a whole class grade. This year, students will
create and complete several projects and always receive a rubric serving as a guide.
Daily, I will review their work to evaluate their comprehension, knowledge, and
scientific abilities.

THE 5E'S OF SCIENCE

The constructive road to learning, which holds that students build or construct
new concepts on top of their existing ones, forms the basis of the instructional
approach known as the 5 E's. Students of all ages, including adults, can
benefit from using the 5 E's. Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and
Evaluate are the 5 E's, each of which denotes a stage of learning and which
starts with the letter "E." Together, students and teachers can engage in
, use of and add to past knowledge and experience,
everyday activities, make
create meaning, and continuously assess their comprehension of a topic
thanks to the 5 Es.
Engage: Connect what you're currently learning to what you've learned in the past. It is vital for students to
mentally engage with the subject, procedure, or skill they are learning.
Explore: Students recognize and develop ideas, procedures, and abilities. Students actively explore their
surroundings or material manipulation throughout this phase.
Explain: Students can explain what they know about concepts or exhibit unique abilities or behaviors.
Educators can share formal terminology, definitions, and reasons for ideas, procedures, skills, or behaviors.
Elaborate: Students gain a better and broader understanding of critical ideas, discover more about their
interests, and hone their abilities through new experiences.
Evaluate: Helps students evaluate their knowledge of essential ideas and skill development while allowing
teachers to examine students' grasp of these concepts.
 PROJECT BASED LEARNING
Students can use their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to tackle real-world
problems through project-based learning or PBL. This year, Project Based Learning will
be used by students in the classroom, and I'm looking forward to the new understanding
that will result from it! Projects are made to let students use their scientific knowledge in
unique and creative ways. Students might investigate issues or circumstances related to
the topic of study that interest them through project-based learning. It challenges them to
think outside the box when it comes to structuring, organizing, and presenting their
projects in original ways. The reality is that many people working in education understand
that completing tasks helps to sustain and improve our modern society.

SCIENCE ACROSS CURRICULUM

Students will combine their science study with standards and abilities from other
subjects in the first-grade curriculum. Students will create journal entries on their
scientific discoveries using their language arts skills. Dioramas depicting animal
habitats will be made using engineering principles. They will get knowledge of using
technological tools for study and creation. Learning communication and group work
skills will incorporate health norms. These and other curriculum standards will be
incorporated into the students' scientific exploration. Science inquiries are combined
with material or abilities from different subject areas, including arithmetic, reading,
writing, social studies, technology, and the arts, in a process known as "integrating
science across the curriculum."

SCIENCE AT HOME
Students can better understand the diversity and range of science as a field of research and what
it might be like to pursue science in the world as a professional or citizen scientist by bringing
science into the home. Early exposure to science may encourage the development of a child's
interest in, motivation for, and good attitudes toward science, which can enhance subsequent
learning results, according to past research that has recognized its benefits. When assessing
parents' readiness to participate in science activities with their children, it is vital to consider their
own affective experiences, the arrangement of the experiments, and finding time to conduct
investigations. Take out science activities at home, and the parents may not be happy with the
child's enthusiasm for experimenting; instead, they must be motivated and involved in the actions
themselves.

Click here for some fun and engaging at-home science ideas:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities
 REFERENCES:

Australian Academy of Science. (2021). The 5E model: a framework for guided-inquiry.

Primary Connections. https://primaryconnections.org.au/resources-and-
pedagogies/pedagogies/5e-model-framework-guided-inquiry

Bring Science Home. (n.d.). Scientific American.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/education-and-learning/bring-science-home/

Buck Institute for Education. (2019). What is pbl? PBLWorks; Buck Institute for
Education. https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl

inquirED | What Is Inquiry-Based Learning? (n.d.). InquirED.

https://www.inquired.org/what-is-inquiry

Measuring Student Learning | Center for Teaching Innovation. (n.d.).

Teaching.cornell.edu. https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/assessment-
evaluation/measuring-student-
learning#:~:text=Information%20about%20student%20learning%20can

(2022). Powerschool.com. https://www.powerschool.com/blog/project-based-learning-

benefits-examples-and-
resources/#:~:text=What%20Is%20Project%2DBased%20Learning

Priscilla parton. (2015, May 27). 5 E’s! Priscilla’s World of Science.

https://priscillasworldofscience.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/5-es/

ScienceAtHome: Citizen Science Games. (2020). ScienceAtHome | Citizen science

games. ScienceAtHome.org. https://www.scienceathome.org/

Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools Board of Education

Commonwealth of Virginia. (2018).

Vartiainen, J., & Aksela, M. (2019). Science at home: parents’ need for support to
implement video-based online science club with young children. Lumat: International
Journal of Math, Science and Technology Education, 7(1).

You For Youth // Integrating Science Across Curriculum. (n.d.). Y4y.ed.gov.

https://y4y.ed.gov/toolkits/afterschool/science/integrating-science-across-curriculum