I love teaching science. I love that it is hands-on. I love that kids get to ask questions, after all, they are naturally inquisitive! I love that kids love to learn science and want to become entomologists, astronomers, and most recently in my class, little meteorologists. Most of all, I LOVE how science pops up in picture books and how these quality reads lead to authentic science learning experiences.
Last term we read That Magnetic Dog by Bruce Whatley. This lead to a discussion on what 'magnetic' means. They were so interested and had so many questions that we ended up doing a mini-unit on magnetism even though it wasn't in our planning!
We explored a baggie of different materials and created a T-Chart of those things that were magnetic and those that weren't. .
In pairs or small groups of 3, students made an hypothesis about why the magnetic items were attracted to the magnet and shared with the class. All groups hypothesised that all metal objects are magnetic.
Next, I visited the library and got out some non-fiction books which students read to research magnetism. From our research, we found out that only metal objects that contain steel or iron are magnetic.
After that, students had heaps more questions which they invesgated in groups like 'Are larger magnets more powerful than smaller magnets?' and 'Does magnetism pass through other objects?' etc. Sorry I don't have any pics, we finished this right before I started my blog so I didn't take any :(
What fiction books do you use as a springboard into science inquiry in your class? I'd love you to leave a comment and tell me all about it!
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