Science Picture of the Day

I imagine you have tried (or at least heard of) those prompts, picture of the day, right?  They are a great way to engage your students and of course to practice many different language arts skills.  BUT… have you heard of science picture of the day?

I brought in a regular photograph one day and asked my students what they observed. Then, I asked them what science they noticed in the image.  Together we inferred all the different science that was occurring or could occur just from one single image!  For example, we talked about this image, a person picking berries.

We discussed our observations.  We noticed that the hands were small, so it was likely a child.  We observed that there was a flower with the berries.  We observed that some berries were red, while others were green.  After a few minutes of brainstorming our observations, we then discussed what science we could infer from it.  We could infer that there was the plant life cycle happening here.  We know this because we know that berries and flowers are part of the plant life cycle. (And here we are, justifying our reasoning!)

The students really enjoyed it and were so engaged.  It got them thinking deeper about science being everywhere around them and it involved more critical thinking on their part.  That’s when I started creating these sheets.

Sometimes I wanted to provide more of a challenge, so we used this one below.  It requires students to record their observations, inferences, create questions, and then the science.

This science picture of the day activity is a great writing tool in my classroom and it is also a great science warm up!  You can read all about how I use it in my classroom by checking out my blog post, Using Pictures to Create Scientists.  If you just know that you are ready to check out the freebie and get started in your classroom, then let’s go!  All you have to do is head here and download it!  Your students will definitely love it– and so will you!

Happy Teaching!