jessibt

Light is something I think many of us take for granted. We have never experienced what life is like without it and I think that makes it hard for us to appreciate how it makes our life easier. Some areas of the world live without light on a day to day basis when I think of that I realize that artificial light is not essential to us as humans because we have lived without it for thousands of years. Natural light however is extremely important to us as it helps for healthy development of our eyes, it is also a source of vitamin D which helps us absorb calcium for the development of strong bones.

The activity on page 296 which asks the children to look in a dark box, illustrates the important role that light plays quite well. Children are able to develop an appreciation for light and how it helps us see things when it would otherwise be dark.

I think the activity on page 298 is a great way for children to be active in the discovery process. It allows children to find different objects and see how different materials let light through. I was impressed with the integrating activities section because it seemed to cover all the bases. I liked that they mention ideas to incorporate the importance of conserving energy because I think that our world particularly North America is very wasteful of energy resources.

I have not facilitated many activities on light, although I did to one with the infants at my daycare. I took a flashlight and turned the lights off and closed the blinds. I shined the lights on various surfaces around the room and observed to see if the infants were following it. It was funny because many of them tried to reach for and grab the light beam. To make it more interesting I taped a piece of coloured tissue paper on the end of one flashlight and a different colour tissue paper on another flashlight. I let the older infants hold the flashlights and move them around. With the two colourful lights moving around the room, it almost looked like they were dancing. The infants were complexly entranced.

The one thing the text could have included more activities on is natural light. The children could test sunlight, specifically ultra-violent light. I came across an interesting experiment using tonic water and tap water. The cups of water are place in direct sunlight during the middle of the day, and a black paper or cloth is placed or held up behind them. The tonic water is supposed to have a blue glow on it’s surface due to the ultra-violet light in sunlight. The website is: http://www.sciencekidsathome.com/science_experiments/sunlight_1.html

Word Count: 455

This chapter is something that children would really respond well to because most have experienced sound since they were in uterus. I never really thought about sounds as vibrations, although I know that that is how sound is made. I think the text does a good job at introducing vibration by doing something concrete like having the children use their own bodies to make vibrations, this is a good way for children to go from concrete learning to more abstract learning when more concepts are introduced.

I think that what struck me about one of the activities in this text is that I had the children do a musical instrument activity but I missed the important learning that was embedded in it. For example at the camp I worked at in the summer we had the children make musical instruments: drums, guitars, etc. The children decorated them and made music with them. We used it exclusively as a creative arts activity. Now that I have gone over the activities in this chapter, particularly the one on page 280 I realized that I could have included important science concepts in this activity that would help the children understand how vibration makes musical instruments work. For instance they could have looked at the elastic band to watch it vibrate as they plucked the guitar or like the text suggested place light objects on top of the drum to watch how things jump from the vibration. This would have enriched the experience and would demonstrates how activities can integrate other subject areas.

One of the concerns I had about the activities in this section was how children who are hearing impaired can participate and get the most out of the learning. However when I thought about it some more I realized that children with hearing impairments can be include in some of these activities because we can see and feel things vibrate, so in a way we can see and hear sound.

I love the activity on page 285, I think it is a fun and interactive activity that is sure to be a hit with the children. This activity made me think of another activity involving water in glasses, you run your finger around the rim and the water makes a high pitched sound. I think that the type of sound depends on the amount of water in the glass. I have never actually tried this but have seen it done in movies (I know not the best source). Has anyone ever tried this? or have seen it done?

I think that this chapter could have mentioned how sound is related to the sense of hearing so that children can use their prior knowledge from the human body and extend on it by learning what sound is and how it travels.

I like the creative thinking extension. The children could talk about sounds they hear daily and in their environment and how they make them feel which relates to social emotional learning.

Chapter four has some very good activity ideas and extensions for plants. I was amazed at all the different things that can be done to help children understand plants and their life cycle. I was very impressed with the list of resources that appear towards the end of the chapter it will be useful when planning extension activities. However I was also a little apprehensive and overwhelmed. The activities are quite in depth and would require a lot of time. However when I though about this issue some more, I realized that the children are not only focusing their learning on the science of plants, there are other areas of the curriculum that are being addressed as they engage in the plant activities. For instance the text mentions measuring the plant as part of math, acting out the plant life cycle to music or a poem as art or play. I think what teachers find so stressful and overwhelming is having to meet curriculum objectives over the course of the year. They do not realize how many are being touched upon in the activities that they do. In the placements I have been in there seems to be a separation between all subjects. Perhaps it is a fear that once they are integrated, they are not as strongly presented to students.  

            There was one activity in the text that I did not particularly like, although the overall intention was good. I would change it to make it more environmentally friendly. It was the one called grassflower gathering in which it asked students to go out to grassy areas and pick flowers for children to keep as decoration or for bouquets. I think it contradicts what we teach children about respecting nature by not destroying it. Instead I think the students and teacher could plant their own garden, one that is intended for bouquets and not flowers that are a natural occurrence. If they have their own garden to tend to and take care of the children will be able to apply all their plant knowledge from previous activities-seed growth, watering, sunlight etc.

            When I was in elementary the only things I remember about studying plants is growing a bean plant in a Styrofoam cup, and to this day I really do not know much about plants. By relating plants to other curriculum areas like math, art, movement, etc it ensures that children are relating to what they are learning, and applying it to other learning experiences. I think this is an excellent way for children to practice what they have learned and to help them remember it. 

            I like the texts suggestion about “capitalizing on other plant life experiences.” For instance the text mentioned the rotting pumpkin. By observing it children would see how plants wither and rot when they are uprooted and taken away from their source of nutrients. These are the types of spontaneous learning opportunities that teachers should be addressing on a day to day basis.