oLife Science Activities
oBig Ideas from Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines
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Characteristics of Organisms
- describes color, size, and shape of organisms.
- describes animals’ needs for food, water, air, and shelter or plants’ needs for water, nutrients, air, and light.
- compares differences and similarities of animals (fish live in water, dogs and cats have fur, all birds have feathers).
- uses the tools of science (hand lens and measurement tools) to observe and discuss plants and animals.
Life Cycles of Organisms
- plants seeds, then observes, discusses, and records plant growth.
- observes, records, and discusses the stage of the life cycle of an organism
- describes characteristics and differences between living and non‐ living.
- observes and discusses human growth (growth charts at the beginning of the year and again at the end of year).
How Organisms Interact with the Environment
- discusses how animals and humans depend on plants (birds eat seeds, cows eat grass, humans eat vegetables).
- observes, discusses, and records living organism (spiders, insects, worms, snails, birds) in their natural environments to learn about their habits.
- observes, discusses, and records seasonal changes in the neighborhood trees and organisms (watches for birds in the spring as they collect nesting materials).
- discusses how seasons affect his daily life (clothes he wears or activities he plays).
- describes and explains animal behaviors (a bird building a nest).
Tools and Measurement
- investigates and discusses the mass of a variety of items (rocks, feathers, metal chain, etc.) using a balance or scale; categorizes weighted objects (heavy/light); and length of objects (long/short).
- measures volume of water, sand, etc. using non‐standard measures (4 cups to fill 1 small bucket).
- measures length using non‐standard units.
oAgenda
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Reviewing the Process Skills via activities:
Free Discovery (p. 19)
Focused observation:
How Tall are Plants (K p. 218), Looking at Critters (p. 51)
Observing to classify:
Seeds, Seeds. (K p. 250), Living or Nonliving (K p. 248)
Organizing and communicating observations:
Draw It – A Matter of Scale (p. 222)
Making guided inferences/Guided predictions:
Looking at Critters (p. 50), Let's Plan a Garden (K p. 266)
Center based activities
Whole Group:
Is it Alive? Tell Us Why! (K p. 171)
Art:
Draw an Animal (K p. 146)
Dramatic Play:
How Does that Animal Move (K p. 151)
Sand and Water:
Hiding Out (K p. 174)
Discovery Center:
Everything Has a Life Cycle (K p. 178), The Human Life Cycle (K p. 180)
Small Group:
What's Alike About Us? (p. 68), Digging Dandelions (p. 236)
Outdoors:
Animal Watchers (p. 288), Birds: They're Everywhere (p. 230)
Assessment:
How Do They Look (K p. 259)
Final Activity for the day:
Build a Tree (p. 144)