Habitat Dioramas

Students have worked really hard during our last unit. It was a long process. First they chose which habitat they would like to know more about and formed groups. Next they browsed books and internet to find information about the habitat. They wrote where it is, how does it look like, which animals and plants live in that habitat, are there any endangered animals, how does the food chain look like and more. After that they thought of their own questions they wanted to know and found answers to these questions as well. Finally they thought what to do if someone tries to destroy or change the habitat. Then they presented the habitats to others. They showed it to Reception and Grade 2 students. They showed that they have grown a lot as inquirers.

Wonder Table

Thank you for bringing in so many different objects from various habitats. Students had many questions which lead us to discussions. Keep your eyes open to the wonders of the nature whenever you are!

Creating Habitats

Here you can see how students find information about the habitat that they chose. They think how to make a diorama that looks like the real habitat with animals and plants in it. They started to work on this task with great enthusiasm and at the end of the day one student said,``Making a habitat was fun. It was like play.``

Park as a habitat

Here we are at the park close to our school and the task is the same as last time.
Find out what kind of plants and animals live in this habitat?
Nate is trying to catch a spider who is trying to run away. We did let all the living creatures back in their habitat after we observed them a bit. So there should be no spiders, ants, flies, bees brought in to our class.
The tree is a chestnut tree on the photo. Students figured this out since they found a lot of chestnuts under the tree.  Do you recognize the plant on the last photo?
(a burdock)

Exploring the habitats

Would you prefer to have a UOI lesson in class or do it outside?
I knew which place students prefer. As a part of our UOI we started to explore places which provide the living things with all that they need to survive. That place is called a habitat. 
Here we are looking at our school yard habitat. We found insects, small plants, bushes, trees and even a seagull who was sitting on her nest on top of the roof.
What plant is on the second picture?

PYP Assembly

At the last PYP Assembly Grade 1 students demonstrated experiments about properties of the air to other students.
Thank you Axel, Austeja, Dimitrios, Nate and Tyler for volunteering. You were risk takers!

Digging up the trash

Our first unit was about Recycling. During that unit we estimated how long it might take for different materials to decompose. After that we asked Mr. Guido to help us and we buried trash into the soil. That trash stayed there till this Wednesday about 7 months. We wanted to see how much of that trash is still there and how much has decomposed. Not for our surprise we found trash from glass, metal, plastic was still there. What we did not find was bread and tissue paper. They were gone. When we looked back to our notes we saw that it takes couple weeks for bread and tissue paper to decompose. For the other trash it takes years and years and years. It is better if you do not bury plastic, metal or glass under the ground. As you see from the photos we also put back the worms that we collected in autumn for our compost. We hope the worms were happy to be free again and visit their old friends. We used that soil from our compost to plant some flowers. As you walk by our classroom you will see them blooming. Now we need to remember to give water to the flowers and hopefully there will be enough sun so they can bloom for a long time.

Airplanes

I remember my first flight with an airplane when I was 7 years old. Grade 1 students who are also 7 years old use an airplane more often then they use a bus or tram. We all have our stories to tell about being on an airplane. I read students a story " the Glorious Flight" by Alice and Martin Provensen. This is a story of Louis Bleriot's flight across the English Channel demonstrating to the world that barriers of land and sea no longer exist for the airplane. Boys loved that story! What is happening with airplane wings when it flies up? We were trying to model airplane wings and try how the wings move when you blow air across the top of the paper or when you blow underneath the paper.The paper acts like the wing of an airplane. Making the air move faster across the top of the wing makes the plane go up. Making the air move faster across the bottom of the wing makes the plane go down. Happy flying!

More Air Experiments

We continued with Air experiments this week. The air pressure experiment seemed like a magic trick to students. On the photos they are trying to do it on their own. Ms. Tiiu suggested that if you try and experiment does not turn out you must put the orange funnel on your head first and then try it. Tyler tried and it worked!!! The water stayed in the glass even when he turned it upside down.
Ugne is showing us an experiment of how we can see that there is water vapor in the air. She practiced it at home and then demonstrated it to everyone in class. Axel is her assistant. Good team work!
Boys are trying how the parachute and helicopters fly. Thank you Even for bringing in your parachute!

Experiments

``Breathe in- Breathe out``this is a title for our unit. We are exploring air. We started the unit with finding out what are the properties of the air? We had a lot of fun together doing the experiments to find out if the air takes up space, does it have mass,what happens when the air gets warmer, is it invisible etc. Students were given a question``Can air push on objects or not?``. They worked in groups and had to create an experiment, write down what they needed for it, how to do it, what happened and why it happened. Then they presented their experiments to Grade 1 and 2 students. On these photos you can see how one group proves that air can move a paper. Other group shows that air can move a leaf. Third group demonstrates that air can push a book and fourth group shows that air can push a boat. Good job Grade 1 students!