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Lesson Plan: Observing School Supplies Grades: K – 3

Sandra May

Kindergarten Teacher Poinciana Elementary School

Boynton Beach, FL (Lesson edited and formatted

by Real Curriculum, Inc.)

Summary Students develop observation skills by identifying objects based on magnified images.

Topic(s) • The Skills of a Scientist: Observation and the use of observation tools

Concepts • Property

Knowledge and Skills

• The student understands that all matter has observable, measurable properties.

Equipment and Materials

• ProScope M2, ProScope HR (recommended) or Scope on a Rope™ with video capture board

• A set of school supplies (crayons, markers, pencils and pens, art paper, paper clips, etc.)

• Printouts of images of magnified school supplies (see examples below)

• Hand lenses and microscopes (if available)

Purpose: The student will learn how to use various scientific tools to observe properties such as color, size, and texture of items used in the classroom. Preparation Prepare a center set of 10x or 50x magnified photos of school supplies taken with a ProScope. (Laminate for long-term use.) Place actual school supplies in a basket at the science center.

Lesson Plan: Title www.schooltr.com

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Procedure Instruct students in the correct use of hand lenses and, if available, microscopes. Allow time for them to use these tools to look at objects in the classroom (or found outside) which they select, and to describe what they see. Ask students to generate a list of “describing words” for the objects they observe, with and without the lenses/microscopes. In this context, introduce the word “property” as “something you can observe or measure” and get students to practice using the word in their descriptions (e.g., “One property I noticed was…”, or “This book has the property of being green.”)* Have students notice the properties of the school supplies in the basket and compare them to properties shown in the images, so as to match each image with the correct object. (This may be done as a class activity, or you may wish to set up stations for students to visit individually or in groups of 2-3 members). As a class activity, use the hand-held microscope to display magnified images of the objects and verify the matches. (As you do this, be sure to model the action of describing aloud what you see in the image and the use of the word “property”.) Examples