Science: A Team Effort

Part of the packet is to draw a diagram of the spadefoot life cycle.

Colleagues compared notes about the spadefoot toad. We also shared videos and links. We're learning right along with the students as we nurture these tiny tadpoles each day.

The tadpole life cycle, systems, food chain, adaptation, and reasons for endangerment all fit beautifully into the fifth grade science standards so this study is a win-win.

We started our science teams today too. Students chose roles and that really helped with regard to managing our spadefoot exploration. We hope to use these teams in the days to come and focus on the collaboration needed to do good science work.

Tonight I'll take another crack at organizing the STEAM center--it's always a challenge to fit all the supplies into the space allotted, but we have a few PTO dollars to spend on this so I'll shop, sort, and organize.

Next week is a week filled with STEAM exploration and science tests too. Plus a bit of play practice and reading too. When one student remarked during today's exploration, "Can we do this everyday," I knew that our course was well set.

If you'd like to step into our classroom exploration, take a look at the video below. The whole experience is profiting from a team effort including students, educators, and outside organizations as well.

Note:
In watching the video, I can see questions we'll discuss before next week's observation and recording:

• What words and actions support positive teamwork?
• Did the team roles work out well?
• Was it difficult to get an accurate weight? (I may get better scales)
• How did you measure the length?
• How were you careful with the tadpole? (I'll get softer spoons without the hard edge)