Summary:
Information about the first grade Exploration Tubs.

Main Curriculum Tie:
1st Grade - Content
Standard 1 Objective 3
Develop and use skills to communicate ideas, information, and feelings.

Materials:
Safety Tub

• blocks
• block people
• vehicles
• traffic signs
• play rug

Water Droppers

• plastic water droppers
• large paper clips with one end straightened
• pebbles
• erasers
• other objects such as sticks or leaves, small plastic container

Seeds

• seeds gathered from nature (students help gather)
• magnifiers

Boats

• tinfoil
• paper plates
• lids from various containers
• cups
• styrofoam and other discarded packing materials
• straws and clay
• pieces of foam and sponge
• corks
• counting bears
• small plastic animals
• wading pool or water trough

Sink or Float?

• lids
• toys
• rocks
• clay
• beads
• tinfoil
• objects made from different materials: plastic, wood, metal, glass, etc.

Attachments

• sample_web.pdf
  Sample Web Chart
• playground_web.pdf
  Safety Web Chart
• water_web.pdf
  Water Droppers Web Chart
• boat_web.pdf
  Boats Web Chart
• seeds_web.pdf
  Seeds Web Chart
• sink_float_web.pdf
  Sink or Float? Web Chart

Background For Teachers:
Exploration tubs, or learning centers, promote content vocabulary as students engage in exploration, discussion and build connections to real life experiences. Students with low language skills tend to have greater difficulty interacting socially on the playground and applying information they have been taught (e.g., English Language Learners, Poverty, Learning, Disabilities, Slow Learners, Highly Mobile). This lesson will model strategies that develop essential content vocabulary.

Attachments

• Exploration_Tubs_Overview.pdf
  This one page documents explains the value of using Explorations Tubs in your classroom.
• 1st_Grade_Exploration_Tubs.pdf
  Details on the first grade Exploration Tubs
• why.pdf
  Why Use Exploration Tubs

Intended Learning Outcomes:

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a positive learning attitude.
• Demonstrate social skills and ethical responsibilities.
• Demonstrate responsible emotional and cognitive behaviors.
• Develop physical skills and personal hygiene.
• Understand and use basic concepts and skills.
• Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written and nonverbal form.

Process Skills
Symbolization, observation, description, prediction, data collection, investigation, problem solving, form conclusions

Instructional Procedures:
1. Safety Tub

• Students will describe and practice responsible behaviors for safety.
• Students will identify safety hazards.

  Books:
  Be Safe on Your Bike by Joe Maloney (Rosen)
  Don’t Talk to Strangers by Nicholas Wrazen (Rosen)
  What if You Get Lost by Elizabeth Kernan (Rosen)
  Safety on the School Bus by Sarah Florence (Rosen)
  Safety at the Playground by Joe Maloney (Rosen)
  Safety Signs by Scott Peters (Benchmark)
  Safe at Work by Margie Burton, Cathy French, and Tammy Jones (Benchmark)

2. Water Droppers

• Students will begin to develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry.
• Students will begin to develop an understanding of properties of objects.

  Books:
  Water by George Huxley (National Geographic)
  Water Can Change by Brian Birchall (National Geographic)

3. Seeds

• Students will ask questions about organisms and answer questions by seeking information from sources and from their own observations and investigations.
• Students will begin to develop an understanding of the characteristics and life cycle of plants, and plants in their environment.

  Books:
  Plant Fruits and Seeds by David M Schwartz (Creative Teaching Press)
  Seeds, Seeds, Seeds by Brian and Jillian Cutting (Wright Group Level 1)
  The Seed by Christine Young (Wright Group McGraw-Hill, emergent)
  Plants and Seeds by Colin Walker (Wright Group Level 1)
  Where Are The Seeds? by Pauline Cartwright (Wright Group Level 1)
  Seeds Grow Into Plants by Mario Lucca (National Geographic)

4. Boats

• Students will begin to develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry.
• Students will begin to develop an understanding of properties of objects.
• Students will begin to learn how to plan and conduct simple investigations.

  Books:
  The Boat Book by Samantha Berger and Pamela Chanko (Scholastic)
  What’s on the Ships? by Harley Chan (National Geographic Windows on Literacy)
  Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen (Putnam and Grosset)
  Jack’s Boat by Nick Bruce (National Geographic Windows on Literacy)

5. Sink or Float?

• Students will begin to develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry.
• Students will begin to develop an understanding of properties of objects.
• Students will begin to learn how to plan and conduct simple investigations.

  Books:
  What Will Float? by Fred and Jeanne Biddulph (Wright Group)
  What Sinks? What Floats? by Wendy Vierow (McGraw-Hill)
  Is It Floating? by Fred and Jeanne Biddulph (Wright Group Level I)
  Sink or Float? by Michele Ashley (Rigby Kinderstarters)
  Sink or Float? by Leslie Fox (Harcourt Level 1)
  What Floats? by Rebel Williams (Wright Group, emergent)
  An Apple Floats by Christina Wilsdon (Outside the Box)
  Some Things Float by Lesley Pether (National Geographic Windows on Literacy)

Strategies For Diverse Learners:
Students with low oral language skills tend to have greater difficulty interacting socially and applying information they have been taught. The established routines of most classrooms are less evident on the playground, and children with low language skills frequently also lack judgmental and negotiating skills.

1. English Language Learners: These students may appear to be competent yet lack the kind of oral language knowledge needed for academic success.
2. Poverty: Because parents often work several jobs, parents frequently have little or no time to verbally interact with their children. The children have capable minds but poorly developed language.
3. Learning Disabilities: Hearing impairments, hyperactivity, ADD, and behavioral disorders, all impact language development.
4. Slow Learners: About one-sixth of the general population are slow learners (IQ falls between 70 and 85) and commonly have much poorer oral language vocabularies than their peers. And develop in literacy at a much slower pace. For instance a fourth grade student, (9-year-old) who is a slow learner can be expected to read on a first grade level if he is developing normally. You may have three to four slow learners in your classroom each year that will need extra assistance in their learning.
5. Highly Mobile: These drop in/drop out children, even with good teaching, miss consistent planned instruction and their oral language development can suffer.

* Adapted from Strategies for Reading Assessment and Instruction Helping Every Child to Succeed by D. Ray Reutzel and Robert B. Cooter, Jr. Merrill Prentice Hall

Author:
Utah LessonPlans

Created Date :
Aug 12 2003 08:36 AM