Blinded by Science!

I have become increasingly enamored with teaching science. I was never a huge science person in high school or college, but do have a passion for learning. I enjoyed Physics, and I liked Biology and Chemistry because my friends were in the classes. As a whole though, science wasn't very memorable.

Ah, but now I am teaching science... and I love it. In fact I want more time for it. Lately we have had a whopping 35 minutes. (dramatic pause)... I know your head is a little sideways right now, or you are scrunching your face up into a nasty sour and confused look, as 35 minutes isn't enough! Tell me about it.

Today our 1st and 2nd graders got as far as gluing in their focus question (What do all living things need to live?), compiling a list of living things (including coyotes, trees, AND some non-living things accidentally) and drawing the living thing of their choice. They then drew the surroundings, and what it needed to survive. Things I learned...

• Pigs eat food (specifically garbage) and use mud so as not to burn their bodies
• Plants need food, in particular that Miracle-Gro stuff
• Lizards like water
• Oxygen is the forgotten, perhaps assumed, part of what living things need