The Kindergarten students learned a lot about weather this year! Students practiced observing the weather daily and took turns reporting the weather as our class meteorologist. In addition to learning about different types of weather we had a lot of classroom discussions about how weather impacts our daily lives.
One of the culminating projects at the end of this unit challenged kindergarten students to use their knowledge around these topics to design the roof of a dog house that would protect a dog from different types of weather. First we had a discussion about potential building materials. The kids had so many great suggestions and reasons to back their ideas. For example, "We should use rubber because that protects you from lightning!" or "We should use metal because the water won't want to stay on it." Some other materials suggested were; wood, tape, plastic, cardboard, paper, glitter and more!
I explained to the kids that engineers and builders often have to work with a variety of constraints - such as budgets and limited resources. We made a list of available resources within the classroom that we could use and decided to focus on a roof that would protect a dog from rainy weather (instead of cold or extreme heat). We then tested the different materials to see which were waterproof.
Finally, the kindergarten students entered the planning stages of their designs. They selected materials and created sketches of their plans. Then we started building! After constructing our dog houses, the K students tested their creations to see if they would hold up to rainy weather. We recorded our results in our weather journals. There were so many great discussions throughout this project and the kiddos really had fun!
One of the culminating projects at the end of this unit challenged kindergarten students to use their knowledge around these topics to design the roof of a dog house that would protect a dog from different types of weather. First we had a discussion about potential building materials. The kids had so many great suggestions and reasons to back their ideas. For example, "We should use rubber because that protects you from lightning!" or "We should use metal because the water won't want to stay on it." Some other materials suggested were; wood, tape, plastic, cardboard, paper, glitter and more!
I explained to the kids that engineers and builders often have to work with a variety of constraints - such as budgets and limited resources. We made a list of available resources within the classroom that we could use and decided to focus on a roof that would protect a dog from rainy weather (instead of cold or extreme heat). We then tested the different materials to see which were waterproof.
Finally, the kindergarten students entered the planning stages of their designs. They selected materials and created sketches of their plans. Then we started building! After constructing our dog houses, the K students tested their creations to see if they would hold up to rainy weather. We recorded our results in our weather journals. There were so many great discussions throughout this project and the kiddos really had fun!