Fun Friday!

What do you get when you teach two Science lessons with lots of exploration time in one day?   FUN FRIDAY !!!  I can't remember when I have heard so many different children state how much they enjoyed school.  Not even when we went to the pumpkin patch or fire station mind you! What a rewarding day to be their teacher!  What, do you ask, caused such excitement???  MAGNETS! Yes, you heard me right... magnets!  Who knew?

We began our lessons with two books about magnets. The first was a non-fiction book which explained how magnets work. The children learned that magnets have a north and a south pole. They also learned  the terms "attract" and "repel".  Magnets only attract magnetic metals: metal with iron or steel in it. They also learned that opposite poles attract each other, and like poles repel each other. The second book was a fiction book called "Mickey's Magnet". This is a story about a little boy who spills a box of pins, and his father suggests using a magnet to pick them up. This propels the boy to discover what types of items in his home are attracted to his magnet.  It was a perfect lead in to our first exploration time.

We went fishing with magnets! Horseshoe magnets were attached to pencils with string. Our 'pond' was a basket filled with items made of magnetic metal, non-magnetic metal, or no metal at all.  The kids had so much fun taking turns with their partner discovering how magnets work!

Owen catches a key chain with a key on it. The key was
not made of magnetic metal, but the ring holding the key was.

Taylor shows off her catch. She attracted the metal piece
on a pony tail hair tie.

Each pair of children shared a pond and pole. 

The goal seemed to be catching more than one item. The children
learned that metallic items turn into magnets themselves when attached
to a magnet. Some children figured out how to attract two or three items.

Kylee shows how the metal portion of scissors is attracted to the
horseshoe magnet.

After our fishing exploration, the children took the horseshoe magnet off the line and explored our classroom. You should have heard the science talk in the room! "Mrs. Ferrell, the white board must have iron or steel inside, because my magnet is attracted to it!"  "Hey, the black part of the pencil sharpener is metallic!"  "Look, our gel boards have iron or steel inside, because the magnet draws on it!" These are just a few of the comments yelled out during our lesson!

After lunch, we recorded what we learned in our Science journals. First we wrote about our magnet observations: how they are attracted to iron or steel, how they have a north and south pole, and what we caught with our magnet fishing poles.  

Our next lesson was aimed more toward learning about attract and repel.  This time, I began the lesson with a magic trick of sorts.  I used a wooden stand with magnetic rings.  First I showed them that when the the magnets stick together, it is called "Attract".  See the picture below:

The magnet rings are attracted to each other.

Next, I amazed them with a cool trick!  I alternated the rings so that the like poles would not stick.  They learned that when the magnets do not stick to each other, it is called 'Repel'.  

OOOOHHHH, are you as amazed as your first grader was???

This inspired the children to explore with two bar magnets.  They discovered they could make the bar magnets spin without touching them when they put the two like ends together. The shouts across the room of children wanting to show me what they discovered was amazing! As I stated earlier, it was a great day to be a teacher!

Our journal entry for this lesson included drawing and labeling the concepts of attract and repel using a drawing along with labels.  It was most certainly a "FUN FRIDAY"!

Thanks for reading!