When children try to make sense of their world they need concrete connections between the different subjects of learning in order to build right understanding.
Therefore, in our Nature and Scientific Discovery class after school we have been connecting science to art, music, songs and expression as well as language, phonics and mathematics.
We decided to explore science and nature via the alphabet and end blends. In this way, both the younger and older children have a real connection to what they are learning daily in the classroom and can strengthen their knowledge through a different medium.
The first subject was 'ants' for the letter 'a' and the end blend of nt. We warmed up by marching and moving like the ants and singing a song about ants.
To learn more about different ants we read books about them and then drew ants via a tracing technique. Other artistic mediums and techniques were explored such as watercolor, glue paints and 3-D clay modeling.
Mathematics and scientific language was explored by counting the body parts of the insect and comparing it to our own as well as using the correct nomenclature for learning new scientific vocabulary.
In this way children build up a comprehensive picture of how the world can be connected even through a small animal like the humble ant.
