Science Super Star: Rebecca Bootes
April 8, 2020
We are honored to recognize Rebecca Bootes, Kindergarten Teacher at Prescott Elementary in Oakland, as a 2020 Science Super Star!
Rebecca and her students studied the change in seasons, taking special note of the change of color in leave and the transition from Fall to Winter.
Before beginning an invesitgation, Rebecca and her classroom complete the first two/thirds of a KWL (What I Know, What I Wonder, What I Learned) chart together. She first asks her students to share everything they already know, and they discuss if certain beliefs are fact or fiction. She then has them ask questions about the subject, and writes them down to explore during later investigations.
She is amazed by the thoughtfulness of her students’ questions. Since many of them circled around the topic of how/why leaves changed so much between Autumn and Winter, and as she wanted a broad question, they came to a class focus question of: What happens to the trees when Winter comes?”
Rebecca took her classroom to the school garden regularly, where they would take special note of the trees, drawing all of their observations. She would overhear amazed comments from her students about their discoveries: “This is a big flat leaf!” “This leaf has a hole in it… like a lot of bugs were eating it.” “No, this leaf is too brown and crunchy.” “Why are there so many lines?”
As students reviewed their drawings, Rebecca created a pictoral input chart with labels for students to reference. She helped them with the different parts and structure of a leaf, and they all went back to their own drawn models to add in labels of leaf parts.
She noticed, as the unit progressed, her students were displaying a deep level of computational thinking, even outside their focus question. Many students hadn’t previously realized the connection between the changing of leaves with the change in season. Her classroom had interesting discussions on the differences of deciduous and coniferous trees. One student made comparisons between the oak tree at school and the Christmas tree in his house.
Her students would bring leaves to the classroom months after their initial investigation. They noticed that leaves still had not reappeared on trees and concluded that it must still be Winter. To continue engaging her students about the subject they cared so deeply about, she took them to Tilden Park where they went on a nature walk and were able to observe different types of trees and connect what they learned in-class to an area off school grounds.
Rebecca shared the story of one student that was particularly affected by this lesson:
“One particularly busy student who is always moving around and can never sit still was quiet and calm during our time drawing and observing leaves. She sat away from the group on her own and was extremely focues when it came time to draw her tree. It was the opposite of how she usually acts in the classroom.”
To all the teachers considering teaching more science, Rebecca has some advice!
“Reach out to CRS, talk to fellow teachers, just go for it!”