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I am a student teacher in a 1st grade classroom, what are some hands on science activities for first grade?

Hi Samantha!

First graders are naturals at hands-on exploring, and there are many activities that can take advantage of their curiosity and interests.

One place to start is by looking through NSTA's Science and Children journal. Each issue includes ideas for young students. I'd look at the Early Years and Teaching with Trade Books articles.

What specific topic(s) do you have in mind? That would be helpful to those of in the Forum who have lots of classroom-tested ideas, and we are ready, willing, and able to share!

Mary B

I am also a student teacher in a first grade classroom. We recently covered weather in science and also incorporated it into math a little bit where we had the students go outside and make observations about the weather and then record their observations on a graph. The kids really loved the freedom of going outside and writing whatever they perceived the weather to be. They also had some great conversations and were respectful of each others thoughts and opinion on the weather, some people thought it was sunny, other students felt it was windy, and some thought it was partly cloudy. The lessons seemed to go very smoothly and were enjoyable for the kids.