Exploring Properties of LIGHT

After a busy STEM Week, Grade 1s continued to conduct experiments, but this time, it is to explore properties of LIGHT. Facts we learned about light this week: LIGHT travels in a straight line. LIGHT travels around 300,000 kilometers per second. LIGHT does not need a medium to travel. It can travel even in a vacuum. LIGHT is the only form of energy that we can see. There is a wide range of light. A small portion of it is called a visible light. This is the portion that human eye can see. Our eyes can see because of the light reflected by an object. The image sent at the back of our eyes is inverted or upside down, but the brain interprets it the proper way. Light can pass through objects that are transparent and translucent. Light is blocked by objects that are opaque. When opaque objects block the light, shadow is formed. Next week, we will explore properties of sound.

STEM Week

STEM Week is one of the big events at school that allows the students to present their creative ideas related to the theme of the year. This year's STEM Week's theme is Sustainable City of the Future. When we had the unit on relationships of living things, we explored the different ecosystems. As we get to know marine ecosystem, the Grade 1s were surprised to find out that only 3% of the water in the world is fresh water. Out of that, 2.5% of the world's water is ice (glaciers, etc.) and only 0.5 % is accessible. This fact opened their interest on problems of water. Thus, we decided to take on water consumption as Grade 1's topic for the STEM Week. At the beginning, we explored water problems that the world is experiencing. These problems include: - water shortage - limited access to fresh water - water pollution .It was very timely, when the school invited the Sailing Rewild team - Stevens Family. The Stevens are sailing around the world and has been on sea for two years. They opened up idea of sustainability because when they are on water, they have limited access to a lot of resources, including fresh water. In their talk about their travel experiences, they mentioned how they keep a steady supply of potable water while at the sea. We took this chance to take advance steps on our STEM Week topic (area). We invited them to our classroom to talk about the process of turning salt water to fresh water. Their explanation was a big help. They explained the series of filtration that the water has to undergo before it turns into potable water, as well as the strict rules they have to implement to ensure wise water consumption.

Aside from looking at filtration and desalination processes, we also conducted simple experiments to see how these concepts work.

The Grade 1s worked in groups and came up with plans and models that will help them in their presentation. STEM Week presentation Day came. Our Grade 1s, despite being shy, showcased their work and shared tehir creative ideas. Good job, Grade 1s!

Exploring the 6th Unit of Inquiry

This week, we reflected on the previous unit and officially started with our Unit 6 on How we express ourselves. The Central Idea is "Properties and functions of sound and light enable us to express ourselves creatively." We will tackle the following concepts and topics: - Properties of sound and light - How sound and light are used to express our emotions - Being creative with sound and light To begin with, we started with exploring what they know and what they are wondering about Light and Sound.

Synthesizing our Unit on Sharing the Planet

This week, we further explored symbiotic relationships and adaptations. We aimed to answer the 3 questions about adaptation: What, How and Why. What is adaptation? How living things adapt? Why living things need to adapt? We also looked into the similarities and differences of the symbiotic relationships. We presented our understanding using Venn Diagrams.

As our unit points directly to SURVIVAL, Grade 1s explained the connection of all our learnings to it as our conclusion to the unit.