Part 4. Science and More:
Light and Color:
I’m including this section because, although I’ve seen many very
good books on
primary science ideas, I don’t remember seeing ones like those given
here.
That’s not to say I didn’t sometime, somewhere. After teaching for a
long time the
source of ideas can become a little fuzzy.
I and the children enjoyed working with light, mirrors, prisms and
lenses. Much has
been written about these.
We also were able to move into topics of symmetry and mirror images. I
can always
remember the ease at which some Grade 3 children could do cursive
writing
backwards, just so they could look at their writing in a mirror and see
it as it should be.
Obviously their minds and muscles were not locked so firmly into a
pattern as mine.
But this isn’t about prisms, mirrors and lenses. It is about light and
color. It isn’t a
complex science activity, although it would be a very complex study if
you were to
really go into it. I say this simply because the subject deserves some
attention, even at
an early age. You don’t need to know a lot about color, nor have
perfect color vision;
something I lack, just like about 1 out of 10 other males.
I don’t intend, as I’ve said in my other booklets, to go into great
detail about how a
lesson is made up. I just want to give you a start towards developing
your own.
All that is required is some different colored paper. 8.5 x 11 sheets
are just fine, and
the more colors the better.
I had a big bag of colored circular stickers given to me, ten different
colors in all. I also
had a lot of different colors of art construction paper.
I put 10 different colored stickers on one side of each of the
different colored sheets I
had, and I did include one black and one white sheet.
Note: I did this when the children weren’t around. You’ll see
why later.
The stickers were arranged in the same way and order on each page.
Scraps of colored paper could have been glued on in their place.
These sheets were then placed on a chalk ledge, with the light shining
on them as
equally as possible.
The children were asked to decide how many different sticker colors
they saw
altogether, on all the sheets. The sheets were left up for awhile so
they could study
them and discuss them together.
Some time later I asked the same question. I had about 9 different
colored sheets so
the answers varied between 10 and 90, with most being towards 90.
Then I asked how many different colors of stickers must I have had
altogether.
Again most answers were close to 90, but some clever people would sense
a trick and
begin to change their answers to 10, or close to it.
14.
We had a great discussion about how answers could be completely correct
in one
sense, and completely wrong in another. The children who saw 90
different colors on
the stickers were quite right. The children who were sure there were
only 10 different
colors of stickers were quite right.
How could that be?
This way we approached the subject of background and how one color can
affect our
perception of another.
To make this clearer we stuck a red sticker in the middle of several
different sheets and
watched what we saw change. We did the same with a green sticker.
To make the point that what our minds think they see is influenced by
how our eyes
work, we did the following, but not all at once.
I put up one sheet with one red sticker, gathered the children together
close in front of
it, and asked them to stare at the sticker for 60 seconds or less. Some
children had
difficulty, but holding their hands up on either side of their faces
helped.
They were to report on what they saw, and it wasn’t long until some
began to see
something they knew wasn’t there.
After about 60 seconds they were asked to look at another part of the
paper where
there was no sticker. Again they saw something that wasn’t there.
We repeated this for a green sticker, and again on different
backgrounds.
For the older children this led into discussions about what was inside
our eyes, and
what was happening to these parts. We could even discuss how flip books
give
a sensation of motion, and how motion pictures turn a set of still
pictures into the movies.
Next we went back to the sheets with 10 stickers. We turned off all the
interior lights
and saw what changes this brought about. We closed the window blinds
and did the
same.
I had access to a small slide or filmstrip projector. I’d already made
up some stiff paper
holders with windows in which I had inserted different colors of
plastic or cellophane
for use in other work with mirrors, lenses and prisms. With these I was
able, with the
classroom windows covered and lights off, to shine different colors on
the sheets. This
made a terrific difference to some colors we were looking at.
We could discuss what color was. It obviously had something to do with
light.
Another activity the children liked was to view their own clothing in
different colored
lights using the projector and the colored filters. Sometimes they were
delighted with
the improvement this made, and sometimes not.
We tried the same with colored pictures they had created.
Later we repeated some of this with the light from a prism held in
front of the projector
beam.
15.
Gravity and Friction:
There are times is science lessons when the object may be to promote
the growth of
questioning minds, rather than a knowledge about, for example, spiders.
I’ve
included a few ideas here that need very little material or
preparation, although you
should try them out on your own first.
The following brought about a lot of discussion amongst children of
various ages,
speculation as to what was at work here, and questions to be answered.
As always I’m not going to describe lesson plans. These have to suit
your situation.
I had a large number of glass baby food jars, the kind that roll
beautifully if you lay
them on their side. I found a thin piece of smooth surfaced plywood
about 1 ft. (30 cm)
wide and 3 feet (1 m) long. We had old books of uniform size which we
stacked on the
floor, and then we put one end of the wooden strip on the stack to form
a ramp.
I had filled the jars to different levels with sand or water and left
one empty.
We then placed a jar on its side at the top of the ramp and let it roll
down the ramp and
along the classroom floor. We described the jar’s contents on a piece
of tape which
we left on the floor where the jar stopped rolling.
I started with the full jar of water, but which you start with is up to
you. I just wanted a
base point. Before rolling the next jar we could get predictions as to
whether it would
roll farther or not as far.
Then, after the second jar had stopped, it was time to ask for possible
reasons for the
difference in distance rolled.
I saved the empty jar until last.
Note that these jars can break and care must be taken that they don’t
run into metal
chair or desk legs. The board I had was not too thick so there wasn’t
much of a drop to
the floor when the jar rolled off the end. Also, the floor was not hard.
If you only had a thick board, or a cement floor, I think it would be
wise to taper the
end of the board or tape a wedge to the end to make sure the jar was
not hitting the
floor too hard.
It was also possible to vary the length of roll by increasing or
decreasing the size of the
stack of books. We always used books of exactly the same thickness so
we could
accurately picture the difference between stacks.
What was important here, in my mind, was the predictions before and the
discussion
after, about the result of each roll. I found the children very
interested in looking for
reasons why the jars might roll different distances, and in coming up
with changes to
the jars that might further their theories.
For instance, if a jar partly filled with water rolled farther than one
partly filled with
sand, what would happen if the jar were partly filled with water and
sand?
16.
Gravity and Balance:
Hammers, or Rocks and Sticks:
One day, long ago, I was shown how to hang a hammer from one
end of a foot long
(30 cm) wooden ruler. Only a small portion of the other end of the
ruler sat on a table.
It really caught my interest.
The trick is to have a loose loop of cord around both ruler and hammer
handle, but
about 4 in. (10 cm) from their ends. The end of the hammer handle must
be able to
touch against the ruler, and the hammer must hang free under the
other end of the
ruler.
You can experiment with the size and placement of the loop.
Place the free end of the ruler on the edge of a desk or table so that
the heavy end of
the hammer hangs underneath it. Done properly, the heavy hammer should
appear
suspended under the table without any direct connection to it.
At first it amazed me how this struck people of different ages. Adults
and older children
who hadn’t seen it before were very interested and puzzled at first by
what they saw,
because it seemed to go against their experience with heavy objects.
The younger
children seemed to just accept it as something normal.
With the older children it was an interesting way to begin a discussion
of gravity, center
of gravity, and balance. With some experimentation we were able to make
the ruler
start to stand on its end, and we were able to add small weights to the
end that was off
the table.
For children who wished to show their parents, and who lacked a hammer
at home, we
got two short sticks, taped a rock to one end of one stick, and put a
loose loop of cord
around the end of the other stick and the free end of the stick with
the rock.
Books:
Just about every classroom I’ve been in had a set of old hard covered
texts, all the
same size and weight, and perfect for experimenting with stacks, and
discussing
gravity, center of gravity, and balance.
Put one book on top of a table, but with one side right to the edge.
Place the next book
on it but a little past the edge of the desk. Continue to place books
on the stack with
each a little farther out. ( If you’re worried about them falling,
start the stack on the
floor.)If the texts are small it might be better to place the books
with one end towards
the edge of the desk.
Children like to speculate on how many books can be added to this
slanting pile, and
why. How far past the edge of the desk can the top book be?
You might like to reverse the slant at some point and start bringing
the top book back
toward the desk. Could you get the top book right over the bottom, with
an empty
vertical space between them?
Another trial could be to have two piles form an arch with one book at
the top.
17.
Map Making, Map Reading, and Story Writing:
A little or a lot can be done with this simple project, and you
don’t have to know a great
deal about maps yourself to make it work. It can be varied according to
the age of the
children, and it can be changed to suit your location.
I drew and duplicated a simple black and white map of an island.
The map contained contour lines to show four different heights of land
and three
different depths of water.
Each of the seven different sections was identified by the letters ‘a’
to ‘g’.There was a
simple map legend containing a description of that land, without
measurements, and
how it should be colored.
NB: an example of this map follows the sheets of
drill tests.
Now you could add more to this, or take away from it. If you live
on an island the
children may be more interested in the map of a mountain valley, or a
mountain range
with a wide plain on the other side, or a mountain range with something
of their own
design on the other side.
On my map I’ll make ‘a’ the highest land, land that may contain
mountains. I would ask
that it be colored red.
‘b’ will be high land that may contain hills. Color it brown.
‘c’ will be for flatter and lower lands. Color it yellow.
‘d’ will be for low lands, as at the beach. Color it green.
‘e’ will be for shallow water you might swim in. Color it very light
blue.
‘f’ will be for water deep enough for all sailboats. Color it light
blue.
‘g’ will be for water deep enough for the biggest boats. Color it
medium blue.
This information is contained in a ‘map legend’ on the page.
My island has a large, sheltered bay on the south side with water of
depth ‘e, f, g’, and
surrounded mainly by land that is ‘c’ and ‘d’ in height. The mouth of
the bay is formed
by land that is ‘b’ in height.
There is another narrow bay on the southwest side, water of ‘f’ depth,
and surrounded
by land that is ‘b’ in height.
The land around the large bay moves north as ‘c’ and ‘d’ in height
until it reaches the
north coast.
The west side of the island is high with sections of ‘a’ land and some
mountains.
The east side is lower with sections of ‘b’ land and some hills.
After coloring their maps, and some thought and discussion, more
details such as
rivers, lakes, streams, and waterfalls could be added.
What they are involved with now is map reading. They are interpreting
the lines and
colors on the page.
18.
Where would rivers and streams start? What direction would they flow?
What would
happen if a stream were to flow into the small narrow bay surrounded by
high land?
Where would you find a lake?
Where might people build a dock, a road, a little town, school, farms,
an airport?
Where would the roads go?
For the older children you could get into more complex cardinal
directions. You could
decide this island was on the other side of the equator, and discuss
the changes this
would make. Latitude could be brought in to decide how far from the
equator the
island is, and what effect this might have. You might bring in the
topic of prevailing
winds and how the island’s mountains might affect rainfall amounts and
patterns.
Would this island be mainly dry, or would it be good for growing crops?
Children can make up symbols for various items of interest if they wish.
There’s a lot to discuss, and a lot of decisions to make. There is also
room for a lot of
individuality.
Story Writing:
They can write stories based on this map. These can be factual
explanations as to
where things are located, and why. Or they can simply be stories about
life on the
island. The stories might also be related to story books they have
read. There may be
buried treasure, or strange animals.
I’ve always found this kind of topic, a new unknown land , to be a
favorite of children,
and a productive one.
I can remember long ago an actual news story about a man who got on his
horse to
travel into the mountains and was never heard from again. Thinking
about where he’d
ended up and what he might be doing really appealed to the children.
On p. 10 and 11 I’ve told how I handled story writing in the classroom,
and why.
Now I’ll give further reasons for my beliefs.
I started teaching in 1960 with a Grade 5 class. At that time, Spelling
was a very
important subject, as was Handwriting. Even at university many of the
education staff
seemed very concerned with how correctly you formed your letters and
words. This
didn’t trouble me because by this time I was able to do quite well in
these areas.
When I moved to the primary grades after about six years I gradually
found that this
emphasis on the appearance of stories created by children was not
realistic, and in
fact it took away from their stories.
Most young children like to please the teacher, and if the teacher
wants something
neat and correctly spelled, that is what they will strive to produce.
But this can be very
difficult for many. It can become the main focus of their efforts.
What I believe we want is for them to learn how to communicate their
thoughts to us
through print almost as freely as they talk.
Print lets them speak to us, but at a distance, or a later time.
I have had children who were very slow in learning to spell and print,
yet who were
able to express very interesting ideas with ease when speaking. When
these children
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found I didn’t mind interpreting their printed efforts, and would help
with words they got
stuck on, they opened up and delivered some really good stories to me.
During story writing times I was kept very busy helping children with
the lesser task of
spelling whenever they came upon a word they knew they couldn’t
attempt. As quickly
as I could I supplied the correct spelling and a model of good printing
on a small piece
of paper.
They concentrated on the story writing.
Part 5. Math Drill Tests:
Following this page are 6 sheets of drill tests of
varying levels of difficulty. Their use
has been described on p. 4 to 6. They are loose so they can be
duplicated easily.
I’ve tried not to repeat questions on the first two pages of each set,
addition and
subtraction, and multiplication and division.
These may be too difficult for some and too easy for others. My
intention was to
provide you with an example, if these do not fit your situation.
They are not the same groups of questions I used in my classroom.
I do know that when I first made up my drill tests I had great
difficulty making sure I
didn’t repeat questions on the same test, and I didn’t leave out too
many.
This time I used my computer, made up a complete list of facts, and
used the cut and
paste function to create as many drill tests as possible.
Then I made a copy of those and used ‘cut and paste’ again to take from
them and
create the last tests.
You could use copies of these sheets in a similar way to create your
own.
These samples could also be used to make up drill sheets of the type
described on p.6
and p.7 . The questions are read aloud by the teacher, there is a short
pause to allow
the children to print their answer, and then the teacher rereads the
question, with the
answer. Any child who has the wrong answer, or no answer, then writes
the answer in
what can be called the teacher’s space. This can simply be a second
line space to the
right.
This has the advantage of having children see and hear the question,
followed by the
complete number sentence. Errors are corrected immediately.
The teacher has control over the amount of time taken for the task.
The samples could also be used to make up other types of drill cards.
This is the last of my booklets describing ideas I found useful over
the years in my
classroom. I hope you’ve found something in them to adapt to your
teaching
situation, or they have made you think of some better ideas, or further
ideas, yourself.
Just one idea can stimulate the growth of another. The card games in my
first booklet
grew out the experience of watching my son play a simple card game at a
friend’s
house. Once I had the made the number cards then more games began to
come to
mind, and not all of them worked. It’s been the same with most of my
ideas.
I know it is very difficult to be creative when you are under stress
and overworked, and
that is the lot of many teachers, especially the beginning ones.
But now we’ve got the internet, and a lot of successful ideas can be
saved for others to
consider, to use, and to build on. That’s real progress! Happy
teaching!
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