observing

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observing
By Jana

I am starting the year off with several observing activities. Last week, my students brought in a rock that they had found outside--medium sized. I gave them an observation sheet for 3 activities on it. The first one was
labeled My Rock. They were to sketch their rock and the write 4 observations about it on the lines beside their sketch. I then had them turn in their rocks with their names on a piece of paper and when they were not in the room, I numbered each of them as I made a master key. Later that day, I had each of them pick out their rock without talking randomly. I explained afterwards that

scientists make observations everyday and that they were great scientists so far as everyone had made good observations to identify their own rock. The kids loved it! Tomorrow, I am going to divide them into groups and give them a lime to sketch and write down 5 observations on the same activity sheet as the rock. Then, I am going to have them observe a burning candle after that and make 10 observations. So far, so good. They really love it! Good luck!