The Early Years: Observing With Magnifiers
Mon, Apr 27, 2015 9:10 PM
Possible Extension Activity
For an activity to use a magnifier I will use the opportunity to take my class outside. Prior to taking the class out I will go out and mark 1 square foot sections and have one for each student. I will than give each student their own section and a magnifier and have them go through and observe that they see in that section of grass. I will have each of the students make a science journal similar to the ones we used in class and they will have to draw and identify 10 different living organisms in their section of grass. Some of the challenges with having students in K-2 use magnifiers would be keeping the students on task, and their lack of hand-eye coordination. I would keep the kids on task by constantly monitoring the entire class and use reminders to get them back on task if they start to lose focus. I will also address this by possibly having them rotate between the sections of grass every 3-5 minutes so they see something new and they will also be able to move around rather than sitting in one place. To address the hand-eye coordination I will have 2 types of magnifiers available, one that’s a normal magnify glass and one that that is attached to a bottle or cylinder so they can place it on the ground without having to hold it over the bug or whatever they are looking at. By addressing these issues and being proactive throughout the activity the activity should be successful!