Classifying Leaves

Dear 3B,

A recap on the group activity on "Classifying Leaves"...

The children were told to each bring a number of leaves to school without knowing what they were going to do with them.

The next Science lesson, they were told to come into their groups and pool their collected leaves together. Kudos to those who remembered and hence facilitating the group work much easier!

They were tasked to classify these leaves in any way they like, keeping in mind what kind of characteristics are they comparing and hence grouping. They were to draw a classification diagram and paste their leaves on a vanguard sheet in 20 minutes.

Team members hard at work

 Pictures of completed and incompleted classification diagram:

I hope that 3B pupils will be even better team players by communicating effectively and working out their differences. After all, we are all continuously learning from one another. Knowledge-building, remember?

The next lesson, we reviewed some groups' diagrams and we realised that they are other ways of classifying leaves, other than common characteristics like color, shape and size. We explored other characteristics like edges (e.g. smooth/entire, toothed/jagged), simple and compound leaves as well as pattern of veins (network and parallel).

I hope from these group sharing by your classmates, you are armed with more knowledge of classification.

Here's a snapshot of Iona's AA project - Classifying leaves.

Notice how she didn't just classify by colour and size only.

There are always more ways to classify the same items.

Good job again!

Science Learning Journey to Singapore Science Centre

Dear 3B,

Here are some overdued pictures for your Science Learning Journey to find out more about Insects Mystery!

Excited to go on their first Science LJ!

Break time

In awe of being in a Science laboratory

Paying close attention to what the trainer is saying

Diligently writing down notes

It's time for some hands-on!

3B children in general are really BRAVE! (:

Little scientists at work, observing!

I hope this LJ has been an enriching experience for all of you boys and girls.
Keep the enthusiasm burning, and we will learn more about Insects in the next term! 

Classification: Sort-it-Out!

Dear children,

Here are some pictures to help you recap what we have learnt for Term 1:

January: Sort-it-Out! Activity

Each group was given an envelope containing different pictures of things. They are tasked to classify them into groups, by comparing their similarities and differences.

Here are the pictures sorting done by different groups. Can you still recognize your group's work? 

I'm sorry that I can't seem to rotate the pictures here, so you might need to save the pictures and rotate them for an easier view.

Can you tell how the other groups had sorted out their pictures?
What characteristics did they base on?
If there's another way to classify your pictures, how would you do it?
Draw out a classification diagram in your Nature Study Book (different from what your group had done).

If you really can't remember which of the pictures above is your group's work, you can choose any group's sorted out picture, figure out how did they classify them and choose another way to classify them.

Have fun!