Preschool play can reflect young children’s knowledge about the natural world and the human interaction experiences they’ve had. I get to observe and learn what the children express through play when we finish our opening discussion and they move about the room.
Twelve four-year olds and two teachers spend about 45 minutes in the Tree House Room where I set up materials more or less tied to the topic of the activity I am sharing that week. The plan was to observe, draw, and read about tadpoles borrowed from a local nature center. But the Fours have been playing “Doctor’s Office” in their classroom with dress-up uniforms, pretend medical tools such as stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs, and plenty of tape for bandages on dolls. The doctor play was especially significant to the Four’s class because the school’s director and one child had casts on limbs for several months.

To support this learning, I put out x-rays on the light table, a foam human skeleton puzzle, and small clip boards, but they mostly create their own props, taking some plastic bugs and turtles, and drawing materials from the shelves. Tadpoles do get a little attention but the world the children re-create is most important to them.
A few children lie down on their backs. One child tucked some plastic bugs and turtles underneath the “patient’s” shirts. Enter the doctor:

Child 1: How is my little girl doing?
Child 2: She broke her leg and she had those bugs in her tummy. (Showing an x-ray drawing she made.)
Child 1 (in a quiet aside): I called you “little” girl because I’m pretending to be a doctor.

Later with the second patient:

Child 1: First we have to do an x-ray of what’s in his tummy. (Holds paper over the stomach and draws the turtle.)
Child 1: He has a poisonous turtle in his tummy. You’re going to have to open it because I don’t have the tools.
Child 2 (removing the turtle): It sure is a poisonous one!

This play is so delightful but that’s not all. I’m delighted to have a window into what children know about doctors and what x-rays are. They certainly know the difference between pretend and real, understand the need for cooperation between medical personnel, and can represent animals through drawing. We can work on “poisonous” turtles next week and the tadpoles will become more interesting when they develop legs.
(Note that the child is making the skeleton “preschool” size without all the leg bones! This may have been his re-design or an accidental omission. The puzzle allows for several inventive adjustments to the human skeleton. At first I was concerned that the alternate assemblies might create some misconceptions about the human skeleton but when children find a few pieces leftover, or stand back and see the proportions, they usually self-correct. And other scientists often chime in and make changes, and we count the number of “sections” in our actual legs and arms.)
Share your science play stories by clicking on the word “Comments” below!
Peggy

The June/July issue of Learning and Leading with Technology has a description of the website Science Buddies, a comprehensive resource for science fair participants of all ages. Getting started with a topic was the hardest part for my students, and this site has a “topic selection wizard” that guides students through the process of selecting and fine-tuning a topic. It has sections that can help students with planning a project and teachers with planning a science fair (including rubrics for evaluating projects).
This site is already in SciLinks, along with many other resources for planning a science fair and helping students with their projects. (My favorite resources are those that have suggestions for alternative science fairs, including online science fairs and those that include presentations.)
The cartoon here was created with another online (and free) tool that was spotlighted in Learning and Leading with Technology. MakeBeliefsComix allows users to create simple comic strips by manipulating characters and word balloons. Text can be added in many languages, and there are suggestions for how this can be a tool for learning and literacy skills. The strips can be printed or saved with screen shot or grab tool.

My school does not have a recycling program, but as a science teacher I’d like to set an example of “green” behavior. What can I do in a single classroom?
— Tyler, Louisville, KY
I’m sure you’ve heard of the expression “Think globally, act locally.” Although many schools do have recycling programs, their success depends on what happens in individual classrooms like yours.
Isn’t it depressing when you have a desk or locker clean-out event and you see students discarding tests, handouts, and papers you thought had gone home weeks ago? I read about a teacher who started her recycling efforts with a “garbology” lesson. She collected her classroom trash for a week. The students weighed it, and they examined the contents (wearing gloves), separating the actual trash and recyclable materials such as paper, cans, and bottles. They then weighed the recyclables to estimate what percent could be recycled. Perhaps the amount of paper used in your classroom might be a good place to start your efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Save old handouts or outdated materials printed on one side. Cut the paper in halves or quarters to use for quizzes, notes, or practice work. Use the double-sided option on the copier for any new copies. Put a box next to the copier for any “mistake” copies whose blank sides could be reused.
Use science notebooks in which students do their assignments (notes, lab reports, diagrams, etc.) rather than lots of handouts. Encourage students to write on both sides of the paper. If you teach more than one section of a subject, consider whether it’s necessary to give each student a copy of a multi-page test. Could you make a class set of tests and have the students use separate answer sheets?
For lab activities, you could give a copy of the directions to each group, rather than to each student. A lot of teachers laminate handouts so that they could be used again. My school did not have a laminator, so I used 3-ring sheet protectors. As a plus, I could take out the papers and re-use the protectors for other handouts.
Take advantage of available technology. Use a class website to share announcements and your class newsletter or syllabus. Post copies of class handouts, too. Some teachers also post podcasts of their lectures/discussions rather than giving out notes. Use parents’ email addresses to send announcements home. Depending on the grade level, students could submit written work online.
Since your school does not recycle paper, you’ll have to be creative as to what to do with it. If your community has recycling bins or curbside pickup, you could recycle there. Perhaps a high school student or class is in need of a project and could pick up your recycling periodically.
Another suggestion is to recycle inkjet printer cartridges. Some organizations collect them as a fundraiser (a Google search could give you some ideas). Check with a local office supply store to see if they have a recycling plan. The one in my neighborhood has a “reward” program giving a credit for each one recycled. (I recently got a coupon for $30 in the mail to spend at the store!) Some parents might send in their used cartridges for this program so you can get extra goodies for your classroom.
Be sure your students are aware of your efforts and ask them for other suggestions. For example, one elementary class suggested adding a “recycling monitor” to the list of classroom duties. This student would remind others to put materials to be reused or recycled in the proper container. Another class suggested covering bulletin boards with plain fabric or wrapping paper rather than construction paper that fades quickly and has to be replaced. Once you and your students show reducing, reusing, and recycling can be done in a classroom, perhaps your local effort will lead to a schoolwide one.
Readers, do you have any tips to share?

What percentage of children ever get to see a tadpole grow into a frog? Reading about tadpoles amazing metamorphosis into adult frogs is less amazing than observing the living animals and noticing a daily change in size or form.
The seasonal nature of this transformation means that young children may not remember the last time they saw it because it happened one third of their lifetime ago, so teachers may want to repeat this observation activity every year. There are concerns among scientists that even common species of frogs and other amphibians are facing extinction because infectious diseases are damaging their ability to grow and reproduce. To prevent any accidental spread of disease causing organisms, officers from the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) and Amphibian Ark wrote a letter to the editors in the 2009 April/May Science and Children (also posted at www.ssarherps.org) describing the strict but feasible hygiene conditions and procedures that must be followed by anyone keeping and then releasing amphibians into nature. They said that observing live amphibians “is a great approach for fostering “’bioliteracy.’” IF YOU KEEP LIVE TADPOLES AND OTHER AMPHIBIANS IN YOUR SCHOOL PLEASE READ THE EXPANDED LETTER, “Considerations and Recommendations for Raising Live Amphibians in Classrooms, SSAR’s response to a recent article in Science and Children.”
I won’t quote from the letter because I believe it’s important to get the accurate information in the entire letter but will say that bleach is used in the disinfection procedure.
Now that you know where to get information on how to prevent the spread of disease in amphibians by classroom activities, here is a photo of the baby Wood frog, newly released back to the pond where it hatched. I wish I could have taken each of my students (a few at a time!) with me to see the frog in its natural environment.
Please read the letter and follow these best practices so that generations of frogs will be alive to inspire wonder in generations of children, both animals that are growing and changing.
Perhaps we will be inspired to create school yard habitats so children can observe animals in nature every day.
Peggy