Science Information Books about Solids, Liquids, and Gases

Our district's first grade scope and sequence in writing offers an opportunity to teach a small unit of writing in February.  This February unit is sandwiched after the informational unit we are just completing and before the persuasive writing unit which will begin in March. 

We are going to create science information books about Solids, Liquids and Gases.  The books will be challenging to create because they will include the six steps in the scientific method:
1.  Research Question
2.  Hypothesis
3.  Materials
4.  Procedure
5.  Observations, Data, Results
6.  Conclusion

Throughout this month, students will cycle through repeated states of matter experiments. For example, we may boil water and observe it change into a gas, or we may melt snow and observe it turn into a liquid.  In the first week, they will write to learn about the world, experiment to answer questions, and use what they know about information writing to teach others.  The following week, they will collaborate with peers and record their experiments.  Finally, they will put all of their learning together and publish information books.  If this sounds challenging, just know that it is!

Matter and Mass in Science

We are learning about matter in science.  Today we completed a science lab in which we determined the mass of four different objects: a plastic spoon, tape measure, penny, and eraser.  We used pan balances to figure out the mass of each object, and then we put the objects in order from highest to lowest mass.  First graders worked in pairs and recorded their results in a lab report.

We learned that the tape measure had the highest mass, followed by the eraser, plastic spoon, and penny.