Welcome to the Elementary
Science Lab
Mrs. Maynard
The Science Lab offers a unique learning environment for Ida Elementary
students. When students enter the Science Lab, they become scientist
immersed in experimenting, exploration, and discovery. The Science Lab
explores topics not covered in the general classroom. Science,
Mathematics, and Technology are integrated together to encompass our
changing world of science.
Kindergarten
I am so excited to have this age group this year. They are so full of
questions! We could spend each class just asking questions which is
exactly what scientist do. This age group comes once a week either on
Thursday or Friday. Their time in the science lab will be a great start
to many years of discovery. I look forward to learning new things with
these young scientist.
First Grade
Welcome to the Little Bear Science Club! Our young scientists make up a
very special part of the Science Lab. Young children have a wonderful
fascination with our environment and want to understand the way things
work. The Little Bears are beginning the school year learning how we use
our five senses. To lead into using our five senses to observe our world
the scientist are discovering things living and non living. Once
students understand these differences, we will discuss how scientists
observe living and non-living things using their five senses.
Second Grade
We are beginning an exciting unit on soil. We will have so much fun
digging in the soil and discovering who and what makes up our precious
Earth! The three types we will focus on are Humus, Sand, and Clay. Some
recent discoveries include finding out Humus is made of sticks, leaves,
bark, insects, roots, worms, and other rich materials; Sand is made of
tiny rocks, seashells, and bones; and Clay is made of teeny tiny rocks
and tiny rocks. Our first investigation will be about how well these
soils absorb water. Great job kids!
Third Grade
The third grade is just finishing a review of the US Customary System,
the system of measurement used only in the United States. We will next
begin immediately with the Metric System, the system used by the rest of
the world. It is very important for the kids to become experts with the
Metric System because of our greatly diversified world. From now on the
Metric System is the only system being used through fourth grade in
Science Lab. Kids usually like using the Metric System because it is
much easier than the US Customary System.
Fourth Grade
What matters about matter? A whole lot! We have reviewed the three
states of matter and will begin learning about the useful properties of
matter. These experienced Science Lab scientist are expected to perform
more independently as a group rather than teacher led. As they explore
matter, many materials will be set out and the students will determine
which types of matter would be useful to people in different ways. This
is some very busy hands on discovering taking place. We will continue
using the metric system throughout fourth grade.
Everyone is welcome to stop by the Science Lab and participate or
observe all of the exciting discovering going on. You are also always
welcome to ask questions about the different investigations we will be
doing.
See you soon,
Mrs. Maynard