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First Grade

Air is all around us

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Hands-on in the classroom, our first-grade scientists had fun experiencing the air that surrounds us.

The students used syringes, tubing, vials and more to show that air is indeed matter. It is a gas, and it is invisible! Still, air, we all learned, does take up space. It can be both compressed and expressed!

For example, we conducted experiments that showed that when air is compressed its pressure builds and that pressure can push other objects around.

In another observation, we dropped img_6092parachutes to examine how the paper increased air resistance, slowing down the effects of gravity.

We blew up balloons and puffed on feathers in our classroom. Air definitely shaped and pushed those objects.

Our young researchers recorded their observations and their data in science notebooks. Another week of active engagement in the first grade!

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Sink or Float

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As we get closer and closer to the end of the school year, we can’t help but be excited about warm weather activities. One of our favorites is swimming! It got us thinking about pool and Copy of IMG_7370water safety. In PreK, kindergarten and first grade, we learned that designers often create prototypes in the name of safety. “I learned to swim with floaties,” mentioned Asher in PreK.

First, we looked at some action figures in the water and realized that they probably don’t know how to swim, because they sank to the bottom of the “pool.” To help them, we created prototypes of life vests for them. The goal of the design challenge was to keep the action figure’s head above water, because we don’t breathe through our toes, we breathe through our noses.