Math & Science Discovery

Through non-standard measurement activities, young learners build understanding of measurement concepts through the use of everyday objects. Students build confidence in comparing and estimating, while strengthening their problem-solving skills. 

I printed out pictures of spring flowers, one flower to each page, and adjusted the sizes so that my students had a variety to measure. I laminated them for durability and so that students could write their counts with dry erase markers.

For an engaging math activity, real spring flowers could be used too!

I gathered a variety of items for the students to measure with including snap cubes, glass gems, counting squares, and pouch caps. 

It took a little bit, but my students started to really get involved and became obsessed with finding other items to measure with. We measured with crayons, playdough, and toy cars too! 

Many students were amazed by the number differences when measuring the same flower with different objects. They soon realized that the size of the objects they used to measure with were an important part of the entire measurement equation!

This easy math activity can be made to coordinate with all learning themes. For example, print out pictures of vegetables to measure for a gardening unit, different dinosaurs for a dinosaur unit, or different sized clouds for a weather unit. 

It is a versatile and fun activity to reinforce measuring and counting skills!

It's spring here in New Hampshire and we have a lot of new grass and budding flowers coming to life, so we are happily using it for learning!

This activity will introduce students to weight comparisons, as well as the science of liquids and solids.

I purchased a package of small containers (10) with lids from the Dollar Tree. I filled 3 with sand, 3 with potting soil, and 3 with mud. I made sure all the container covers were tightly closed and each container was clearly labeled.

I introduced the bucket scale and demonstrated how to use it. Then I showed my students 3 containers (one each of potting soil, sand, and mud). Before I let them hold them, I asked them some questions:

Which one do you think is the lightest? Why? 

Which one do you think is the heaviest? Why?

We discussed their answers and then I let them hold the containers. They compared the weight of the containers using their hands and many of my students changed their initial predictions after holding them.

We started to weigh the containers using the scale and my students discovered that their hand weighing skills were just as accurate as the scale (they were very proud of this). 

We discussed the feeling and weight differences between the potting soil, sand, and mud. 

My students started mixing among the containers to see what would become the heaviest when water was added. They discovered how each element's consistency changed with the more water that they added and that all dirt is not the same, especially in weight!

This was an engaging activity that mixed both math and science skills. It strengthened problem-solving skills and encouraged further discovery into states of matter, and quickly transfered to a sensory discovery activity as well. 

Have you ever heard that warm water freezes quicker than cold water? My grandmother often told me this and as a child I just could not fathom her reasoning.

I decided to test my grandmother's theory with my students' help.

To start the experiment, I purchased 2 ice cube trays. I labeled one COLD and one WARM using masking tape.

I ask my students if warm water would freeze quicker than cold water? As you can imagine, many of my students laughed at my question. In fact, one of my students reminded me that cold water was already half-way to being frozen..."Cold water freezes quicker!"

I filled each ice cube tray according to its water temp label. We placed them in the freezer and noted the time. 

We would check the trays in 1 hour. 

While we played and waited for the hour to pass, we contemplated how and why warm water would freeze first.

I think one student said it best; "Maybe warm water has to work harder?" Several students pondered this and decided that she made a good point.

My students were already using their critical-thinking skills! 

When the timer went off, I had students very eager to discover the truth. We had graphed our predictions and they were all eager to see if they were right.

What do you think we found?

After an hour, the warm water ice cube tray was definitely more frozen than the cold water ice cube tray. The cubes were not frozen solid. The top of each cube was frozen with unfrozen water inside.

The cold water tray had a very thin layer of ice across the top of each cube. 

The majority of my students were shocked by the findings. Most assumed that the cold water would be the first to freeze solid.

My grandmother was right!

But why is this so?

It is known as the Mpemba Effect. Warm water loses mass through evaporation, which lessens the actual amount of water that needs to freeze (less water = less time). Warm water also has a lower density than cold water, so freezing temperatures are more even, allowing faster freezing. 

After a night of fresh snow, my students LOVE to look for animal tracks! 

They are so excited to find footprints and work so well together to figure out what animal could have made them.

But, it is spring now, and there is a good chance that we will not be enjoying snow any time soon. However, my students are still eager to discover what animals have roamed their school yard, playground, field, and woods.

We decided to search for clues in the fresh grass and the muddy forest floor instead!

I will admit it...it's hard to find noticeable footprints without the crisp, white dusting of snow to capture them so perfectly. 

But we found other things that painted a perfect picture of what animals were around!

What we discovered:

1. Remnants of eggshells from recently hatched baby turtles in an empty hole.

2. The loud music of frogs from a neighbor's nearby pond.

3. Two ducks flying to the lake across the street.

4. Bones (a piece of jaw with a row of teeth).

5. Scat (3 varieties).

6. Chewed bark with visible teeth marks.

7. Feathers.

8. Slugs and worms.

9. Skunk Cabbage

What we learned:

1. It is turtle-hatching season and that a turtle mom found our field to be the perfect first-home for her babies!

2. Frogs are making loud music to attract mates.

3. A pair of ducks are making the lake across the street their happy home and we may see ducklings in the near future!

4. By researching pictures online of woodland animal jawbones and teeth, comparing bone size and teeth formation, we were able to determine that the bone we found was of a small opossum.

5. Through identification of scat found in the woods, we were able to determine that rabbits, deer, and foxes have been enjoying the woods around us.

6. The teeth marks on low, small limbs indicated that rabbits had been eating bark recently and this was made even more evident with the large amount of rabbit scat found around all the low-lying limbs.

7. A young bird (assumed by the very small feathers found) had been in the brush near the woods recently. We contemplated whether it had been by itself or with its mother, and found no signs of a disturbed nest in the area.

8. With all the winter snow melted, bugs and worms that had been in the ground during the winter months, are coming out for spring-time adventures!

9. Skunk Cabbage is one of the first plants to sprout in the spring. It actually starts growing when there is snow on the ground. Black bears eat the cabbage when they come out of hibernation and many other animals and bugs rely on the smelly plant as a food source.!

In just over an hour of outside time, our students discovered so much! Their curiosities were peaked by the spring weather and the greenery around them. They observed. They investigated. They compared. They researched. They communicated wonder and excitement with every find they found. And...through all the learning about spring, animals, insects, weather, and habitats, they played joyfully and got messy in puddles and mud. 

Go outside with your students and discover spring!