As part of our Nature Journal (similar to "Hot News") we have a Tuesday and Thursday opportunity for students to discuss nature. We use the website Pebble Go to introduce our Kindergarten learners to animals, insects, weather, seasons, astronomy, geological features, etc. The website is K-3 focused with simple but detailed facts, read-aloud and word highlighting audio options, video clip, maps, and picture add-ons and printable options. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we look at 1 animal topic (linx, stars, etc.) as a provocation to open doors for discussion and then writing / drawing in their Nature Journals. Our students are not expected to choose the topic of the day, it is simply a talking point for our circle discussions.
For example, yesterday we looked at stars. Before we even got into our topic of stars, a JK with a lot of physical struggles (eye sight, gross motor, hygene etc), got really excited and said that when stars come together you get constellations. We asked him what constellations are and he said, groups of stars that are connected together to make a picture. Minutes later we looked at a constellation and a young JK who doesn't usually say much joined in the conversation and identified the constellation as the big dipper. The discussion continued into exploding stars, gasses, the sun and more. Our discussion are about 3-5 minutes followed by 12 minutes or so of drawing / writing, followed by 10 minutes of author's chair. Many students chose to draw / write about other aspects of nature but some continued on writing / drawing (mostly drawing) about stars and the sun.
The website is a paid website... EXCEPT that Temiskaming Library (New Liskeard area) offers it FREE through its website:
Go To: http://www.temisklibrary.com/
-Click on "your library online"
-Click on "online library e-resources"
-Scroll down and click on Pebble Go.
--Nathan (JK/SK @ GAPS - South Porcupine)
Thanks for sharing! Pebble Go is great. We sometimes use the boards subscription to Book Flix.
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Leslie Schippers-DECE-EPS
Thanks Nathan for the resource. I can't wait to integrate it into the inquiry that the students have started.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a wonderful opportunity to continue and expand on an area of interest for your students by further inquiring and exploring about stars.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you might want to gather students to work with you individually and ask them to draw what they know about stars - what does a star look like? where can you find stars? what do stars do? As they draw, scribe what the students are saying directly onto the picture that they are drawing.
This is an excellent tool that will highlight preconceptions and possible places that you can go next with students. You might also want them to draw the same thing later into your inquiry to see how their ideas and understanding has shifted over time. This is a great assessment tool, and is something wonderful to have on display for students to refer back to and helps make learning visible.
Happy star gazing!