Location: circle (indoor or out)

Materials: whatever is associated with what you're observing, optional: paper and writing utensils

Circle Time can be the perfect time to focus on an ongoing science project or observation. Here are some examples:

• planting seeds and watching their progress
• studying caterpillars and watching their lifecycle to butterflies
• watching food rot and mold
• the weather

Taking the first example, if you're studying plants with your kids, have your kids plant their own seeds and then monitor the growth. You can bring the plants to circle time every day to look at as a group. Ask questions like:

• "What do you notice?"
• "How has it changed since yesterday?"
• "Why is it changing?"
• "What do you think it will look like tomorrow?"

This can also be a time to revisit vocabulary and new concepts you've introduced.

Possible Extensions:

• After circle invite children to document what they're seeing in a science journal. This can be done one at a time or a few at a time.
• Talk about what it means to be a scientist. Invite children to pretend to put on their "scientist hats" before you dive into any group observation activity.
• Provide tools for close examination (ex: magnifying glass) and have each child take a turn taking a turn to look closely at the observation project.