New Science Unit- Light and Sound Waves

I am very excited to share with you that we are starting a new unit in science this week on light and sound waves. This is a new unit for me as well as for the kids. Starting next year we will be switching our science curriculum to align with the recently released Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in West DePere. These standards are grade level specific and include Science and Engineering Practices. Because I serve as a member of the science committee for the district, our classroom is piloting some new materials to help us find high quality and effective teaching materials. From research that we did last year we decided to give Carolina's Building blocks of Science units a try. We did one lesson yesterday and it went very well. The kids seemed to enjoy it and we had lots of meaning full discussion about light. Today we continued to discuss light as we went on a scavenger hunt around the school to find light sources (see pictures below). One change that you will notice because of this pilot opportunity is that on the 2nd trimester report card your child will not be graded on force and Motion. Instead they will be graded on light and sound waves. There will be a reminder note in the report card letter. With this unit there are also some family science activities that your child will be bringing home. These are optional. If you do decide to participate please send them back to school so we can discuss and reflect on your learning at home, as a class. Stay tuned for more information and to see the exciting things we will be doing with light and sound!