Mirror … Mirror

Fourth grade students use mirrors as a science tool and math tool.

Key words:  concave, convex, lens, light, reflection, flip, left, right, upside down, magnify, distort, symmetry

Giving students a mirror will automatically turn on an excitement of learning in your classroom. 

The key to student learning at this age is to help students understand that images are flipped left to right.  Only images that are symmetrical will seem to stay the same. 

TIP:  using small plastic will help students see the convex and concave lenses themselves as they have the ability to gently bend the mirror. 

 

Using a Ruler – It’s Elementary

First and Second grade students have a difficult time learning to use a ruler.  I found a short video that is a great way to show students a demo.  How to use a Ruler

Because a ruler is a smaller tool, seeing an image much larger than life allows for full class instruction and greater success for mastering the use of a ruler. 

1.  Student are given a ruler as they enter the classroom.

2.  Quick “no no’s” are gone over about bending, hitting, etc. 

3.  Introduce video.

4.  View video in its entirety ( 3 minutes)

5.  Go back and instruct students by pointing out important aspect of using a ruler.  With the video, still shots can be used, as well as fast forwarded and replayed.

      These points are highlighted during my lesson:  1.  Holding ruler still with 2 fingers  2.  Identifying “zero” or the beginning of the ruler  3.  Making a small notch at the beginning and end when drawing a line.  4.  Stop at the longest line next to the number… not before.  

1st graders – use a ruler with only inches

2nd graders – use inches and cm

All students  can practice on paper drawing lines 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 inches or cm.

To add a little fun at the end of the lesson – Give students a small ball of modeling clay – make worms to match their measured lines!

Reading a Graduated Cylinder

In order to help students understand how to read a graduated cylinder, in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

The skill of using graduated cylinders is a third grade skill in SC science standards, which will carry over to higher grade levels.

The lesson used with my third grade students is one that allows students to explore various sizes of graduated cylinders first.

I used many pictures ( google images) to show students that g. c. could look many different ways and be made of different materials. 

Second, I placed 2 different size g.c. with each group.  Each were filled with similar amounts of water.  This allowed students to see that g.c. hold various amounts of liquid and may seem to be the shame by height, but are not because of size.

Third, to give students an idea of what a small amount of volume a mL is, we filled 10 ml gc using another science tool, the eye dropper.  Directions were given to 1.  Use an eyedropper to fill the gc with 2 ml of water.  2.  Then with the g.c. at EXACTLY 2ml, pairs of students  worked together to count the number of drops it would take to go from 2 ml to 3 ml.  3.  This amount is recorded.  4.  Students then could the number of drops to go from 3 ml to 4 ml, and continue recording and counting until reaching 10 ml.   This allows for students to understand  how measurements are taken with the graduated cylinder.

REMEMBER  :  When reading a graduated cylinder, students must get eye level with the liquid in the graduated cylinder in order to read it correctly.