Hello my dear friends of the Omschool! A hearty welcome to the next year in our adventure--back to school! Here are some nifty back to school STEM activities and lesson plans geared for all ages from 3 to 103! Make nature science detective kits to explore wildlife science concepts. Use this activity to welcome kids back to school. Kids will love playing nature CSI investigators! Homeschooling parents will love these multiage inexpensive, hands-on science lesson plans too.
You
will need one of each of these items per student:
--large
gallon size zipper bag or cheap carry-all bag to store supplies
--plastic
magnifying glass (available in bulk at Great Party, Party America or Oriental
Trading)
--cheap
one-subject notebook
--pocket
folder (cheap at Walmart, Staples, Target, Amazon)
--plastic
disposable gloves (choose latex free; give each student one pair)
--tweezers
or cotton swabs (both would be useful, but use cotton swabs to save money)
--3
or 4 specimen bags (snack size Zip-Loc)
--3-4
larger specimen bags (sandwich size Zip-loc)
--sheet
of label stickers
--pen
and pencil
--
roll of invisible Scotch tape
--several
pieces of yarn or string
--box
of crayons ($.25 at back-to-school sales)
--ruler or measuring tape (here's a free printable rulers and squares.) check for other free printable measuring tools.
How
to Use Nature Detective Kits:
Make
kit assembly part of the lesson. Set out supplies in stations and give students
gallon zipper bag and supplies list. This provides experience in counting,
sorting and organizing.
Using
stickers, kids label notebook: Investigator (name)____________ or Detective
(name)____________. Label bags: Exhibit A, B, C or Evidence. As evidence is
collected, data and date should be added. For example: 'beetle exoskeleton
9-3-2015.
Go on
nature investigation hunts around your neighborhood, school playground or camp.
Assign students different items to investigate, native to your area. Students
should not keep living specimens, but they might bring a bug box to temporarily
house and examine a living critter. Look for evidence of living creatures: bug
carcasses, exoskeletons, fallen leaves, feathers, owl pellets, seed pods,
rocks, fallen nest, bits of animal fur, bark samples, plants, flowers and
rocks.
Have
students draw living creatures, homes and habitats: spider's web, bird's nest,
wasp's nest, rabbit hole, ant hill, scat (animal droppings). Students should
record when and where they observed it. Students shouldn't touch but may
observe scat(animal droppings) or dead animal remains.