Tidepool Treasures 2015-2016
First Grade Project Overview: Winter 2016
Driving Question:
How can we, as first grade scientists, create a product that helps others understand tides and tidepools?
Essential Questions:
What are tides?
What are tidepools?
How does the moon, earth, and sun affect the tides?
Learning Goals:
This 12 week project will engage first grade students in learning about the natural phenomena of tides and the tidepool habitat. Students will become experts through scientific field experiences, discussions with professionals, practicing purposeful scientific inquiry, and participating in the critique and revision process. Throughout this project, students will develop essential reading, writing, math, collaborative, and technological skills to communicate their learning as they: observe, describe, and predict patterns of the motion of the moon (NGSS ESS1.A), analyze and interpret data by using observations to describe patterns in the natural world in order to answer scientific questions (NGSS 1-ESS-1), make observations to collect data that can be used to make comparisons (NGSS 1-LS1-1), by learning that all organisms have external parts and use the parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find and take in food, water, and air (NGSS LS1.A). Students will explore these concepts through literacy and mathematics as they: tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction (RL.1.5), tell the main topic and important details in nonfiction books (RI.1.2), understand and use helpful parts in nonfiction books to find important facts and details (RI.1.5), find the reasons that an author gives to help teach about the main idea (RI.1.8), write to teach about a topic by giving facts about it (W.1.2), explore books and write about what we learned (W.1.7), tell and write time to the hour and half-hour using analog and digital clocks (1.MD.B.3), organize, show, and explain number information (1.MD.C.4), ask and answer questions about number information that is organized (1.MD.C.4), represent and interpret data using visuals, tally graphs, and bar graphs, and interpret moon and tide calendar patterns.
How can we, as first grade scientists, create a product that helps others understand tides and tidepools?
Essential Questions:
What are tides?
What are tidepools?
How does the moon, earth, and sun affect the tides?
Learning Goals:
This 12 week project will engage first grade students in learning about the natural phenomena of tides and the tidepool habitat. Students will become experts through scientific field experiences, discussions with professionals, practicing purposeful scientific inquiry, and participating in the critique and revision process. Throughout this project, students will develop essential reading, writing, math, collaborative, and technological skills to communicate their learning as they: observe, describe, and predict patterns of the motion of the moon (NGSS ESS1.A), analyze and interpret data by using observations to describe patterns in the natural world in order to answer scientific questions (NGSS 1-ESS-1), make observations to collect data that can be used to make comparisons (NGSS 1-LS1-1), by learning that all organisms have external parts and use the parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find and take in food, water, and air (NGSS LS1.A). Students will explore these concepts through literacy and mathematics as they: tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction (RL.1.5), tell the main topic and important details in nonfiction books (RI.1.2), understand and use helpful parts in nonfiction books to find important facts and details (RI.1.5), find the reasons that an author gives to help teach about the main idea (RI.1.8), write to teach about a topic by giving facts about it (W.1.2), explore books and write about what we learned (W.1.7), tell and write time to the hour and half-hour using analog and digital clocks (1.MD.B.3), organize, show, and explain number information (1.MD.C.4), ask and answer questions about number information that is organized (1.MD.C.4), represent and interpret data using visuals, tally graphs, and bar graphs, and interpret moon and tide calendar patterns.
Field work and Exhibitions:
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Products:
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Timeline:
December -
- What's up with the moon
- Evening moon observations
- Introduce new and full moon
- Introduce rotation and orbit
- Earth, moon, and sun demonstrations
- Draw and record moon
- Write in moon observation journal
January -
- What do we know about the moon?
- Intro to moon calendar
- Moon phase research
- Why are we in the New Year?
- Intro to clocks and telling time
- Build and create your own clock
- New moon and full moon location demonstration
- Waxing and waning moon challenge
- Intro to tidepool sea creatures and habitat
- Fieldwork to Birch Aquarium - Jan. 13
- What is a tidepool? What are tides?
- Introduce extreme high and extreme low tides
- Connect to patterns found in time/day
- Intro to reading a tide calendar
- Connections to tides and time of day
- Clock math practice
- Fieldwork to Carlsbad to tally sea animals - Jan. 21
- Mussel clump dissection
February -
- Introduce bar graphs and begin to analyze fieldwork data
- How can we teach others how to go tidepooling? Begin drafts
- Sea creature habitat and adaptations - a closer look
- Being work on interactive products - what can we build to help others understand the content?
- Review Drafts and receive critique
- Fieldwork to Swami's tidepools - Feb. 19
- Intro to computers/layouts and using digital media
- Begin written explanations for content
- Begin visual representations/models for content
March -
- Practice speaking and sharing work
- March 9th Birch Aquarium Exhibition
- March 15th School Exhibition at HTeNC