We have done a ton of hands on learning over these past 2 weeks. The focus of this blog is Science learning that took place in the STEM Lab. These lessons were taught by Mrs. Madanski.
We had an eye safety program called Wise About Eyes. Students learned about parts and function of the eye. They also saw a preserved cow eye.
Students experimented on small gel filled globes that represented the eye and ways it can be easily damaged or hurt.
They each had 2 globes in a dish. The first globe they were asked to gently squeeze. It didn't take too much force to pop/break that globe. In this photo, students added a small amount of sand to their globe and discussed their observations.
Then students learned about certain eye diseases. Goggles were used to represent vision with each eye disease.
Mrs. Julie Campbell visited our Science support teacher and offered to teach our students about the benefits of wetlands in reducing pollution in our water supply. She used this Enviroscape to demonstrate rain runoff.
Students collected relatively clear run off in this pic.
But then she added common pollutants such as oil (brown gel), fertilizer (green gel) and litter (oatmeal). Students made rain once again and gathered a different result!
Laila observed the runoff was very green from the fertilizer. She observed the wetlands couldn't clean all the pollution. She also asked if this was bad because "Don't we get some of the water that we drink from here?" Can you see the connections our littlest scientists can make?
After discussing all the homes, farms, and businesses that inhabit the Enviroscape, students each had turns providing "rain" for the community.
Moving on to last week...We learned about The Three Sisters. This was the Native American way to plant corn, squash, and beans so that all would thrive.
Students made a representation of the three sisters. They used a block of clay for soil, a stick for corn, a string for beans, and chenille stick for squash. Then the following session, they were able to plant all three plant seeds in our Robinson Community Garden.
We are so excited for our garden to grow! We can harvest next school year when they are First Graders!!