Observation Center  

In this center children are able to use journals to document different science activities.  They can make predictions, inferences, and understand sequences of events.  They can make come up with questions and draw conclusions based on their findings to get the answers.

Materials & Resources

Literacy Support

Dramatic Play Props:

Lab coat, gloves, goggles, microscopes, plastic beakers, magnifying glass, other things commonly seen in a lab

Oral language

Literacy skills-role-play/story telling, understanding plot, character, and setting

Literacy Props: 

Clipboards, pencils, blank paper, blank charts, plants, fish/fish tank 

Changes depending on the theme: Theme Ex. Nature Soil, rocks, acorns, leaves, pine cones,

Functional use of print

Oral language- descriptive vocabulary Literacy skills- role-play/story telling, understanding plot, character, and setting Emergent writing- making graphs and data charts

Environmental Print:

Safety Poster with Safety Rules Equipment Posters- Bill Nye Posters

Emergent reading

Functional use of print –convey rules

Alphabet recognition

Phonemic awareness

Other Print:

Posted science experiments 

Science magazines: 

National Geographic for Kids

Create interest in reading

Model reading a variety of texts

Book Examples:

Children Science Books Series:

Look Once Look Again Lets Discover published by Scholastic

Let’s Find Out published by Scholastic

Seasons & Weather Books Set (Lakeshore)

My Fist Science Series (Lakeshore)

Oral Language- vocabulary

Concepts of print- parts of a book Literacy skills- role-play/story telling, understanding plot, character, and setting, problem solving, and critical thinking

Functional use of print

Alphabet recognition

Phonemic awareness