Science: Late Winter, Week 1

Welcome back to Science Atelier! The past two terms the children have been experimenting with biodiversity and adaptation. To further expand on this knowledge we will be studying animal classification.
To begin, the children worked to understand the basics of deconstructing classification through a tangible process. Our first step was to deconstruct a place that we all had in common, our school. We drew out the downstairs, the upstairs, who is in each space, the number of classrooms, the number of teachers, the name's of groups, etc.... As an explanation I explained that each time we put someone into a group we were sorting, or creating a classification for that person. Next we moved on to our own families. Using a visual aid the children shared who (people and pets) is in their family and then we took turns sorting by girls and boys, parents and children, people and animals, short and tall....
On our second day meeting we took a closer look at the animal kingdom. The children took turns sorting animals into groups based on their own knowledge and what they understood through our research. Our conversation lead us to an in depth discussion on mammals and how they are sorted. How is it possible that a dolphin and a monkey are in the same kingdom?! Garland pointed out, "Humans are primates and so are monkeys." As we moved more into deciphering how to deconstruct the animal groups we began to understand more about fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and vertebrates.
On our third day we were all excited to examine the new specimen jars. I brought out all 100 of them to the tables and after explaining the guidelines of how to handle them (they are very delicate) the children began to sort or classify. The children decided to fill one table with all the vertebrates and the other table with all the invertebrates. Through further sorting the children grouped like color and like shape. Frogs and turtles went together because of their green and brown and all worm-like creatures went together because of their shape.
On our fourth day I provided the children with different animal characteristics such as snake skin and fur. The children were invited to explore the materials and utilize any of the specimen jars to combine together to create their own creature. As they combined materials the children would explain if they had created a mammal, reptile, amphibian, or something else based on the animal's characteristics.
On our last day together we got out everything that we had been discussing and experiment with so that the children could create their own specimen sketches. Some children drew new animals of their own imaginations while other drew those animals that fit into a specific classification. It was an exciting learning process to watch. Check in with your children about the animals you see in your own neighborhood and yard and decide where it should fit or create your very own fantastic being!