Happy Friday! I hope everyone is staying safe and warm! Prayers lifted for those of you in the extreme deep freeze. Please take care! This weather has been crazy!!
We had a great week! In science we've been studying the interdependence of living things. We believe in a hands on approach to science, so of course we had to come up with a plan. Our district suggest we either study aquariums or terrariums. Well, we tried the aquarium thing last year and enjoyed it for a while, but when the adult fish stared eating the babies...oops, that circle of life- that interdependence- got a little sad for our firsties.
This year we decided to try the terrarium route. We did some research and tah-dah!! We made terrariums with our kids today!! Here are a few pics! First we reviewed and created a little response chart as we learned about the interdependence of living things:
Then we began our lab.
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| Gather soil, rocks, 2 litre bottles, and plants |
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| Cut tops off two 2 litre bottles |
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| Pour a layer of rocks for drainage |
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| Add a layer of soil |
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| Add some plants, and water until moist |
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| Put the second bottle bottom over the first to create a terrarium! |
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| Place in a window |
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| make observations |
I put all the directions and explanations into a little unit. Here are some pics
Unit also has observation recording sheets and a fun little vocabulary word search.
If you are studying living things, you may want to try this. You can get the unit by
I can't wait for the kids to see how the plants depend on each other for survival (without eating each other). As a bonus, we will be able to see the water cycle in effect!!
Each class made one terrarium, but I also think it would be fun to have the kids each make a mini one using small clear water bottles. Hmmm. Maybe next year!! If you do try this activity, please let me know how it went. What would you change, what worked better for you, etc. I am always looking for improvements and clarifications!!
Have a fantastic weekend, friends!!
Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!!
Joyfully!
Nancy
I love this! As I was reading, I was wondering how long it would take me to save enough bottles for all of the students, then you said there was just one, that was a relief. I do like the idea of using water bottles, I know the kids would love to take a terrarium home. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteKelly
I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher
Thanks for this! I am going to start this unit of Science in a couple of weeks, this helped me solidify what I was going to do.
ReplyDeleteJennifer