Forums

Hi! I am a new kindergarten teacher looking for great inquiry-based lessons to teach life science in Hawaii. It would be great if it were aligned to our standards, teaching similarities and differences between plants and animals or teaching differences between living and non-living things. Any suggestions would help! Thank you!

Hi there! I taught a Kindergarten class over the summer (inquiry based) but am usually a 7th grade science teacher. I taught them the differences between living and non living by first reading them a book (they have a ton of scholastic grade level appropriate books) that I had, (I'm sorry...I can't remember the title of it off hand). In the book it talked about the characteristics and needs of all living things: able to move, grow and develop, reproduce, react to their environment, need space, need nutrients, etc.. I then took them on a campus walk and had them point out a few living and non-living things. We ended it by also saying that all living things contain cells...which then we could view cells under a microscope. There are steps in between these major steps that students can participate in for example, having them view a lit candle (I used the long ones) and ask, "does fire move?", "does it grow?" "Can it reproduce?" - all of which the answer should be YES...however, you can continue discussions about life cycle (does it have one?), "does it contain cells?" Although it sounds high level for the students, the kindergarten students I had were so much higher level thinkers than I had first presumed.....like the most. I believe that if given the chance and opportunity, exposing our students to higher levels of thinking would continue to give us products that would amaze us, as yours will....have fun!!!

Here are some ideas for your kindergarten class: Lesson on plants for Kindergarten: http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/3001.html Ideas for living vs nonliving for kindergarten -http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/2012/03/a-science-mini-unit-living-and-non-living.html -http://www.ehow.com/info_7930224_activities-kindergarten-living-nonliving-things.html Ideas for K-6: http://classroom.jc-schools.net/sci-units/living-things.htm#Kindergarten

Thank you everyone for your wonderful input!! I like the idea of using fire and asking those questions because I think it will get them to think about what makes something living. I agree with you Adah, in that observation should definitely be taught and practiced in kindergarten so their young minds can become more aware and will be better at the science processes so that later on they will be able to apply those skills when they do learn more of what inquiry based science is. I am currently doing a science unit on the five senses, having the kids experience them one at a time in different activities and games. :) I also especially like the kindergarten-kindergarten blog that was shared, she is amazing! I will definitely use all of this to teach science in my kindergarten class! Thanks all for your support and sharing your resources! Greatly appreciated!:)

A fun way to teach living and non-living to kindergarteners is to have the students go on a scavenger hunt. You can teach them the difference of living and non-living then have them go outside your classroom to find objects representing both living and non-living. You can have the students classify the objects. The students can work at home to draw pictures of living and non-living things they find at home. At the end, students should be able to explain in their own words the difference between living and non-living.

A fun way to teach living and non-living to kindergarteners is to have the students go on a scavenger hunt. You can teach them the difference of living and non-living then have them go outside your classroom to find objects representing both living and non-living. You can have the students classify the objects. The students can work at home to draw pictures of living and non-living things they find at home. At the end, students should be able to explain in their own words the difference between living and non-living.

I've taught Kindergarten for quite a few years now and have tried to vary the ways that I teach science lessons so the children feel as if they are exploring. The best way I've found is to bring your objects into the classroom. Beginning with living and nonliving things, we look at the criteria for both groups and then when there is a level of understanding of what to look for, my Kindergarten students and I do out for an exploration walk. We find things that we identify as living or nonliving using the criteria that we have listed. We eventually find a couple of things that we can bring back to the classroom to represent both groups. If you do this it's also a good to bring a couple of jars with you to hold the items that they find. The next unit of comparing animals to plants branches off of the living and nonlinving unit. For this I usually bring in a plant of some sort and a small fish tank. These items take only a small space in the classroom and the students really enjoy it. From there your lessons can stem from what your students find as the observe. It's always amazing to see what the students come up with.

Hi Rachel, You ask a great question about how to teach younger students about life science concepts through inquiry-based lessons. I am also an early childhood teacher and I would have to agree with Adah in that teaching young scientists fundamental observation skills is key. For every science unit I do, I have my students create a journal for the unit. For example, for our butterfly unit, my students create a butterfly journal. Through this practice, my students no only make first-hand observations but they draw and dictate their daily observations and are able to go back and reference their observations. Other great concepts for journaling with younger students is plants (e.g., from planting seeds to seeing beans grow). Another life science type activity I like to do is take each student's picture and measurement at the beginning of the year (e.g., height, weight, etc.) and compare it to end of the year pictures and measurements. My young children (and their families!) really enjoy seeing how much they've grown in just nine months.