Living things outside can be easily observed, the size of a tree, colors in a garden, noises from animals. These observations also change with the season or even the time of day. The outdoors is filled with wonderful learning opportunity for little scientists. They may ask questions, including how do seeds grow into plants? Instead of telling them the answer, you can say "let's find out!"
Beyond the Classroom
Reading with your children is a wonderful way to bond and even learn about science! Try out stories that relate to different living things that you can explore with your child to help make connections. When you read books about what your child will be exploring, you begin to build background knowledge of what he or she already knows and what other questions can be explored.
Cuantas veces has escuchado de los niños, adultos, o quizás Ud. mismo decir "La ciencia es aburrida" o "La ciencia es muy difícil". Pero no tiene que ser!
Si verdaderamente pensamos en este concepto, usamos la ciencia en cada aspecto de nuestra vida todos los días – cómo que es aburrida?
La ciencia es parte de tantas cosas que hacemos, desde amanecer con el despertador hasta apagar la luz al dormir. Tener esta conciencia nos ayuda como padres a apoyar esa curiosidad en nuestros hijos, además de experimentar y la predicción.
How many times have you heard from children, adults, or even yourself saying, “Science is boring” or “Science is hard!” But it doesn’t have to be, does it?
When you think about it, don’t we use science everyday; how boring is that?
We use science everyday to support so many things that we do. From the start of the day with a snooze of the alarm clock to the switch of the light to go to sleep – we are using science.
Being aware of science in our lives can support much more than experimenting and predicting.On Sunday, September 27, a total lunar eclipse will coincide with a Super Moon. What does this mean? The moon will be at its closest point in its orbit around the Earth, which makes the moon appear bigger. At the same time, we will experience a Lunar Eclipse. A Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned, causing the Moon to pass through the Earth’s shadow. All of this will be visible throughout much of the world on Sunday evening into early Monday morning.
My son turns 3 today and I have a 3 month old baby girl. It is amazing to see how far my son has come along in 3 short years when I look at how new everything is to my daughter. In that time he has already experienced so much of the world around him. Although there are tremendous developmental differences between toddlers and 4 year olds, children start out as curious explorers. It is not too early to gently encourage toddlers to begin thinking like little scientists.
Without the pressure of classroom planning and the daily routine of the school day, summer is a great time to continue professional development goals. The Office of Early Childhood at DC Public Schools recently facilitated their second annual summer Professional Development series. This two week program provided a variety of workshops for early childhood educators and support staff from Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms in DCPS to continue professional development goals throughout the summer.
Recently, I was looking through pictures taken by Science in Pre-K teachers from 2009 through 2012 that captured various moments of science learning in their classrooms. The pictures had very common threads that connected them. There are lots of pictures of very tall towers, and pictures of students gathered around water tables. There are also many pictures of students visiting the National Air and Space Museum. But I am most fascinated by how unique the images are. Each classroom had different stories to tell in learning about science.
