{"id":2129,"date":"2008-04-04T05:14:42","date_gmt":"2008-04-04T12:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/?p=2129"},"modified":"2009-12-01T20:51:53","modified_gmt":"2009-12-02T03:51:53","slug":"science-topics-for-first-grade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/?p=2129","title":{"rendered":"Science Topics for First Grade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most important thing to teach in early science is observation. Teaching your kids to observe, and make notes of what they see is as important as getting the concepts. They can draw pictures of what they see, make notes or even take along a camera to take pictures and scrap book their observations. Encourage, as much as possible, your child to describe details in what they see.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Animals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My kids are simply fascinated with the <\/span>Sea World<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> website. Check out the Shamu cam, print coloring pages and look at activities. Or why not play some animal games on the <\/span>Animal Planet website. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Pets<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I admit that <\/span>sea monkeys<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> are not likely what is meant by “<\/span>pets<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>” but just the same I think they are cool. They are easy to keep, easy to observe and your kids can really get into them! <\/span><\/p>\n

However, one great activity if you do have pets is to have your child measure the amount of food and water that your pet requires every day. Measuring skills are something that will be used again and again as you teach science. Of course if you got your pet as a baby, your child can keep a journal of the pet’s growth and development as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Farm animals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If at all possible, take your child to a <\/span>farm<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. In the fall especially, there are lots of farms that have apple and pumpkin picking as well as opportunities to pet <\/span>farm animals<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Zoo and circus animals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What’s not to love about the circus? If you get the chance, take your kids to the <\/span>circus<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. Something interesting to talk about is what type of relationship the trainers must have with their animals. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Woodland animals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Take a nature walk and discover the animals in your back yard. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Plant and animal habitats<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A great experiment to do to learn about habitats is to <\/span>make a terrarium <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>out of an empty two liter bottle. If you are inclined to get a kit where everything is included, consider the <\/span>frog terrarium habitat<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Seeds, bulbs, plants, flowers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Living in the apartment in the inner city, we are not so fortunate to <\/span>have a garden<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. If you do have a yard, let your little scientists plant their own garden. If not, never fear. You can still plant a <\/span>windowsill garden. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Weather and seasons<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In my opinion, it is best to study weather when there is a lot of weather happening. Take advantage of hurricane season, April <\/span>showers<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> and heavy winter blizzards. There is no law that says you have to teach one unit on weather and cannot go back to it ever again. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Day and night<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you ever tried to explain to your budding scientists exactly what causes day and night? It’s might hard with only two hands. This <\/span>site<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, has excellent pictures demonstrating the rotation of the earth. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Solids, liquids, gases<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The best way to watch and explain the differences between solids, liquids and gases is to experiment with water. Freeze it, play with it in the <\/span>bath tub<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> and boil some water to show your child the steam. Hint: talk about the “shape” of the solid, liquid, or gas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Air and water<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a ton of <\/span>great experiments <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>you can do with air and water. I recommend doing the water experiments in the bath tub–it seems to yield less “experiment” on the floor!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Magnets<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One activity that we’ve used to teach what type of surfaces are magnetic, is to use refrigerator letters stuck on various metal surfaces around the house. Help your child see the similarities between the types of things that <\/span>magnets<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> are attracted to. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Sun, moon, stars, planets<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are several really good websites that show all things astronomy. At this age it is likely not worth the effort to get into specific constellations, <\/span>galaxies<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, etc. However, it is a great age to teach about the <\/span>8 planets<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, how they orbit, and other things outer space. It is definitely worth checking out the <\/span>NASA kid’s site<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. My kids also really love the <\/span>astronomy picture of the day<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. They don’t always get what’s going on but it’s certainly cool to look at!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Simple machines<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you don’t want to build an example of the simple machines (lever, pulley, inclined plane, etc.) then check out <\/span>Edhead’s simple machines<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>. It’s a cartoon game that teaches kids how simple machines work. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most important thing to teach in early science is observation. Teaching your kids to observe, and make notes of what they see is as important as getting the concepts. They can draw pictures of what they see, make notes or even take along a camera to take pictures and scrap book their observations. Encourage, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,8,10,44],"tags":[88,298,402],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3415,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions\/3415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}