Starting the Science Rotation

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Each teacher on our team teaches one area of science to all fifth graders. I am teaching the physical science unit. I've started that unit with my homeroom students, and today I'll begin the unit with another class. At first, I was going to jump right into the unit with an exciting experiment, but when I woke up this morning and thought about it, I decided that it's best to start with a good introduction that sets the stage for the exciting experiments to come. So what will we do?

First, I'll let students know that their math teams are their science teams--basically that means the table group they sit with are their science teams. Then I'll introduce the overall expectation of the unit by reviewing the unit website and long term assignment. After that we'll review the language of the unit with a simple activity, and then I'll model a couple of simple science activities. As I model the activities, I'll focus on care for materials, observation of properties, making predictions, safety, and the unit main ideas. Later students will have the chance to begin their research for the end unit project, and the following week when we meet again, students will have the chance to complete their first experiment.