I had other plans with the class last Thursday afternoon but then I looked out our second floor window and the way the bright yellow and red fall leaves looked against the bright blue sky changed my mind. We got our science notebooks set up with observation squares and zoom-in circles, clipped them to the clipboards, grabbed magnifying glasses and pencils and headed outside.
I asked the students to look for three different types of plants (trees, shrubs, grass, flowers, weeds, etc) and to draw the "whole" plant and then to draw a zoomed-in portion of the plant after looking at it with a magnifying glass.
Photographs of the whole and the zoomed-in:
It was a glorious afternoon full of detailed scientific observations and some fun leaf pile making/jumping.
Teaching this class in the afternoon often means they are pretty tired so I am learning to embrace what the students are telling me (in their own way) and work with it instead of against it.
Today the students finished some detail work and writing in their notebooks. I am so impressed with how they are doing with their entries.
I can't wait to get outside with them again...there's all sorts of great places to walk to around the school!
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