Cognitive

Soil samples (Madison)

Goal 1: Use senses to observe materials that are both man made, and natural.

Materials: Containers for the soil, shovel, plastic wrap, magnifying glasses, water, seeds, paper, markers

Procedure: Gather some soil, and put it in a container with plastic wrap covering it to keep in the moisture. Then, take them inside and place the samples on different sheets of paper. Observe the soil using the magnifying glass. Make notes about what is observed.

To Simplify: Have them touch, smell, and play with the samples. Make notes of the simple differences.

To Extend: Have students carefully examine the soil for the different components in it. Try planting seeds, and observe how they grow. Experiment with different lighting, amount of water, and temperature.

Sniff Test (Madison)

Goal 1a: Examine the observable properties of man-made and natural objects, using their multi sensory abilities.

Materials: One set of vials filled with items that have different smells (flower, perfume, lemon), and another set of vials with those same smells, blindfold, magazine

Procedure: Blindfold one child, and have them use only their sense of smell to match up the vials with the same scents.

To simplify: Students match what they smell to pictures of the item in a magazine.

To Extend: Provide a wide variety of scents. Also, try the same activity with tasting.

Place Value Pocket Game (Sheila)

Goal 16: Understanding numbers, ways of representing numbers, relations among numbers, and number systems.

Materials: Laminated cards labeled 1-9, pocket charts with 6 slots labeled (right to left): "ones," "tens," "hundreds," "thousands," "ten-thousands," and "hundred thousands."

Procedure: Get students into groups. Hand a child 2 or 3 numeral cards to form a 2 to 3 digit number. For example: "Students, I need you to form a number that has 6 in the hundreds and 5 in the ones place." Then ask students to make corrections and why, if needed. Have student select another card and start again.

To Simplify: Demonstrate the game first. Use only 1 or 2 cards.

To Extend: Add cards and work up to getting the students to create numbers in the ten-thousandth place.

Mystery Box- Hailey Hammer

(For Younger or Less Experienced Children)

Goal 5: Develop and refine their skills to communicate findings.

Materials: Box; sets of objects that children are familiar with.

Procedure: “Hide” several objects in a box. Provide oral clues to children about the identities of the objects. Invite the children to ask you questions about the objects to discover what is in the box.

To Simplify: Place only one object in the box. Pick objects that the children will be familiar with.

To Extend: Place several objects in the box that are different but have one characteristic in common. (e.g., all are articles of clothing). Have only one of the children take the role of “clue giver.”

Grouping and Sorting: Sort, Classify, and order objects by size, number, and other properties.

by: Norma Gubler (For Younger and Less Experienced Children)

Materials: Any group of objects that can be grouped on the basis of size, shape, color, pattern, or position. Basically what we did in class. We got 5 items out of our personal bags.

Procedure: On a daily basis give children opportunities to classify a variety of objects. Remember that there is no right or wrong answers for children to classify. Instead, have the children explain how they reached the conclusion of how they classified.

Example: “Tell me why these things go together.”

To simplify: Use fewer objects or obvious grouping possibilities.

To extend: Use more objects that are not so obvious, like our 5 items from our bags.