Education Standards
Google Drive with all of the resources.
Standards Alignment
Changing Seasons (K-2)
Overview
This sequence of instruction was developed in the Growing Elementary Science Project to help elementary teachers who were working remotely. We developed a short storyline that ties together a few sessions to help explore a specific concept. We tried to include some activities that honored and included the student’s family and experience, and some that included the potential for ELA learning goals.
Students view a couple of videos and record what they notice and wonder about how plants change as seasons change. Students take a walk with family members to search for evidence of changes due to weather in their neighborhoods.
It is part of ClimeTime - a collaboration among all nine Educational Service Districts (ESDs) in Washington and many Community Partners to provide programs for science teacher training around Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and climate science, thanks to grant money made available to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) by Governor Inslee.
Storyline
( pdf version: https://bit.ly/3sHwUZg )
The unit of instruction is centered on answering the questions:
- Growing Elementary Science Distance Learning Storyline –Question: How can we use our senses to tell what season it is? | ||||
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Ask and ExploreIntroduce Phenomena or Problem | Carrying Out an InvestigationInvestigation – discussion questions- support student use of three-dimensions | Read, Write, Make SenseDiscuss Results- Read to gather information- Make Sense of our Ideas | Putting the Pieces TogetherBring together evidence from activities-synthesize- extending the learning based on student interest | |
Engaging Students in Practices | Phenomena launch:Introduce the videos of two types of tree responses to Autumn: Losing Leaves, and staying Evergreen.
WATCH WITH or WITHOUT SOUND!
Watch K-2 Leaves v1
Watch K-2 Leaves v2
Notice & Wonder Jamboard for Notice & Wonder Activity https: Example Jamboard: https: | Carry out an Investigation:Family Wondering Walk: Introduce the outdoor Family Wondering Walk activity during a synchronous session. Review terms: Prediction: What someone thinks might happen or what someone thinks is currently taking place (predicting what season it is, for example). A prediction is not a guess; it is based on previous observations, experiences, and knowledge. Predictions can be tested by collecting evidence. Observation: When you use our senses - hearing, touch, smell and sight - to examine something, noticing facts or taking measurements. Observation is a little more than just a quick glance. Evidence: Information (observations, for example) that helps someone test a prediction or make a case for a claim (what season it is, for example). Preview the data collection sheet, and, with the class, fill in one or two examples using our videos. Students should complete this activity and collect observations asynchronously. | Data Analysis:Data is shared The class creates a class data set of the observations collected by the various families. What season did we predict it is? What observations did we make - to help answer the question? What sense did we use?
Modeling Jamboard to aid in this discussion: https:
Reading OptionsStudents read an article and then think about the signs of different seasons. They can add these ideas to their initial models using the sentence prompts. Ideas surfaced during data sharing should also be added
Read-AloudsWe’ve pulled together a few suggested Read-aloud books for each grade level in this document. This list includes some articles from NewsELA for the 2nd Grade level.
| Putting the Pieces TogetherGo visual - Make a model (diagram)) that provides evidence for your argument about what season it is. Use your observations and findings from elsewhere to support your ideas.
Gallery walk - compare a couple of the finished products. |
Family and Community Connections | Collect colorful leaves. | Investigation - Family Wondering Walk activity - done with Family at home. | Do you know anyone who works outside or spends a lot of time outside? Interview them about how the different seasons change the way they do things outside. |
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Technology Considerations | Provide students with links to the videos. Possibly use technology to collect ideas or have teacher create class collective notes. Jamboard, whiteboard/ Annotation. | Students collect and share data from their Family Wondering Walk via images (if possible.) Possible technologies: Jamboard, Seesaw, FlipGrid | Books, read-aloud videos and NewsELA articles are shared. This can be done for follow-up asynchronous work.
(A free NewsELA account is needed to access these articles, which are available at several reading levels) |
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Storyline Launch → → → → → → Investigating → → → → → → → Sensemaking |
Materials
Changing Seasons Standards Alignment: https://bit.ly/3zcr1px
Google Slide Deck (Student Facing Slides): https://bit.ly/3zbtQXz
Leaves Video (v1) - https://bit.ly/3klnuic
Leaves Video (v2) - https://bit.ly/3Dal7ay
Notice & Wonder Jamboard: https://bit.ly/3B03NTQ
(Note: The above link forces you to save copy to your google space.)
Example Jamboard: https://bit.ly/3gp8MFM
Family Wondering Walk Activity (pdf): https://bit.ly/3sICuL6
Modeling Jamboard: https://bit.ly/3gsNSFX
(Note: The above link forces you to save copy to your google space.)
Read-aloud books (And NewsELA for the 2nd Grade level.): https://bit.ly/3859sMb
Google Drive with all of the above resources: https://bit.ly/2WmZeUQ
Standards Alignment
This document lists the Science AND ELA standards that are/can be addressed with these materials - at the Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade levels.