Look and Listen · Grade 1 science · 36 weeks
Answers, the point of each week, and the specific wrong turn each one produces. Written for a teacher who is not a science specialist and does not need to become one.
Every table of results in the book is practice data, invented so the whole class can answer the same questions, and the page says so every time. When your class does the real investigation its numbers will differ. Ask which numbers are more trustworthy, theirs or the book’s. The answer is theirs, because they watched it happen.
The reader is six. Each page 1 has one sentence in large type: that is the sentence the child reads. Every word in it is on the first-grade sight list or is a science word taught that week, and a script checks this on every build. Read everything else aloud, the READ ALOUD card above all, and work through page 2 together. A drawing, or an answer said out loud, counts.
verify.py, which ships beside this file and runs on every build, checks
all 106 answers below: every number is recomputed from the practice data as
printed in the workbook, and every worded answer is checked against its expected
wording. It also checks that every table a page calls a fair test changes exactly one
thing.
A plant has roots, a stem, leaves and flowers, each with a job. People copy good ideas from plants and animals. Young plants look like their parents, but not exactly. Animals have parts that help them, and animal parents help their young.
A plant has parts: roots, a stem, leaves and often flowers.
| Most leaves | B |
| Flowers in all | 3 |
| No flower | C |
Children who think the roots are not part of the plant because they are under the ground. Pull up a weed and look.
Any plant drawn with 5 leaves and 2 flowers. Count them together.
Each plant part has a job: roots drink water, the stem holds the plant up, leaves take in light, thorns protect.
| Drinks water | roots |
| Keeps animals away | thorns |
| Holds the plant up | stem |
Children who think plants drink through their leaves. Most water comes in through the roots.
Thick or tiny leaves, or spines instead of leaves, which lose less water.
People copy ideas from plants: a big leaf makes shade, so a big hat can too.
| Lasted longest | a big hat |
| Big hat against no hat | 10 |
Keep children from looking up at the sun while they set out the ice.
A leaf-shaped hat with its shade drawn on the ground underneath.
Young plants look like their parents. The leaves are the clue.
| Baby 1 | C |
| Baby 2 | A |
| Baby 3 | B |
Children who match by size. Babies are small; look at the leaf shape instead.
A parent and a baby with the same leaf shape.
Young plants look like their parents, but not exactly: no two are the same.
| Plants 7 clips tall | 2 |
| Shortest | C |
| All the same | no |
Children who think a shorter plant is broken. Small differences are normal.
C, A or E, B or D: A and E can swap, and so can B and D.
Animals have parts with shapes that help them live.
| Has a shell | a turtle |
| Keeps the bear warm | thick fur |
| Claws help the cat | climb |
Children who say the turtle chose its shell. It grew it, as we grow hair.
Any animal with a digging part, like big claws or a strong nose.
A beak is a tool, and its shape fits the food.
| Picked up the most | tweezers |
| Against the clothespin | 5 |
Paper balls only, and nothing in mouths.
A long, sharp beak, like a heron's, for catching fish.
Part 1 in one page: plants and animals have parts that help.
| Row a | plant |
| Row b | animal |
| Row c | plant |
| Row d | animal |
| Row e | plant |
| Plant parts | 3 |
| Animal parts | 2 |
Children who call fur a plant because it is soft like grass.
One labeled part on a plant and one on an animal.
Animal parents help their young: they feed them, carry them, lead them and hide them.
| Brings food | a bird |
| Hides its baby | a deer |
| Parents in the table | 4 |
A fawn left alone is usually hidden on purpose. Children should never pick up a baby animal they find.
Any parent helping its young: feeding, carrying or keeping it safe.
Young animals call and parents answer. Things that shake make sound; a big shake is loud. Sound can carry a message, by a tap code or a cup phone. Young animals look like their parents too.
Young animals call, and parents answer. A sound can carry a message.
| Called the most | morning |
| Morning against noon | 4 |
Children who think the baby calls only when it is scared. It calls when it is hungry too.
A made-up call with a meaning.
Sound comes from shaking. The shaking travels and can shake other things.
| Most rice jumped | a hard tap |
| Hard against soft | 9 |
Keep taps gentle near ears.
Three things that make a sound when they shake, like a ruler, a bell or a guitar string.
You can feel sound as shaking, and when the shaking stops, the sound stops.
| Things that shook | 3 |
| Did not shake | a quiet desk |
| Quiet desk made a sound | no |
Rubber bands point away from faces.
High and low hums feel different: a high hum buzzes faster.
A big shake makes a loud sound; a small shake makes a soft sound.
| Row a | soft |
| Row b | loud |
| Row c | loud |
| Row d | soft |
| Row e | loud |
| Loud sounds | 3 |
| Soft sounds | 2 |
Keep every sound gentle. Loud sounds close to ears can hurt.
A loud and a soft sound from the same thing, by shaking it more or less.
Sound can carry a message, even when people cannot see each other.
| Row a | no |
| Row b | yes |
| Row c | come here |
| Two taps | no |
| Three taps | come here |
| Taps for yes | 1 |
Children who tap so fast the taps run together. Slow, clear taps.
A new tap for a new message, like four taps for hello.
A tight string carries sound from one cup to the other.
| Worked better | a tight string |
| More words | 7 |
Never put the string around anyone's neck. An adult pokes the holes.
A longer string still works if it is tight.
Young animals look like their parents, but not exactly like them.
| Puppies with spots | 3 |
| Puppies in all | 5 |
| Some look like the father | yes |
Children who think all the puppies should look the same. They vary.
Three kittens, each a little different from the others.
Part 2 in one page: every sound comes from something that shakes.
| Shakes when you talk | your throat |
| Shakes on a guitar | the string |
Children who think a drum's sound comes from the stick. The stick makes the top of the drum shake.
A new sound and the thing that shook to make it.
You can see only when there is light. Some materials let light through, some let a little through, and some block it and make a shadow. Mirrors bounce light. Flashes of light carry a message.
You can see only when there is light.
| Could not see the toy | lid closed |
| Times they could see it | 2 |
Children who think their eyes can get used to complete darkness and see. They cannot; a little light is always sneaking in.
Light from under a door or from a window.
More light lets you see more.
| Saw the most | lamp on, curtains open |
| Fewer with the lamp off | 3 |
Children who say the room got smaller. The things are still there; there is less light on them.
A room with one lamp, the far corners shaded dark.
Some materials let all the light through, some let some through, and some block it.
| Blocks all the light | cardboard |
| Lets some through | wax paper |
Flashlights at the wall, never at faces.
Glass or clear plastic lets light through; a book or wood blocks it.
Each layer blocks a little more light, until none gets through.
| Light with 2 sheets | yes |
| Sheets to block the light | 4 |
Children who count all the sheets instead of the first one that blocked the light.
Thicker paper blocks the light with fewer sheets.
A shadow is where something blocks the light. Closer to the light, bigger shadow.
| Biggest shadow | near the light |
| Near against far | 5 |
Children who think a shadow is a thing. It is a place with no light.
Any hand or object shadow shaped like an animal.
Shiny things bounce light. A mirror can send light to a new place.
| Bounced the light | 3 |
| Did not | paper and cloth |
Bounced light still goes into eyes: aim mirrors at the wall, never at faces.
Tilt the mirror until the spot lands on the picture.
Light can carry a message.
| Row a | come here |
| Row b | stop |
| Row c | go |
| Three flashes | come here |
| Flashes for stop | 1 |
Flash at the wall, never at a friend's eyes.
A new flash code, like four flashes for help.
Part 3 in one page: light lets you see, goes through some things, bounces off others, and is blocked to make shadows.
| Bounces the light | a mirror |
| Blocks the light | a book |
Children who say wax paper blocks light. It lets some through.
Something clear, something shiny and something with a shadow.
The sun is low in the morning and high at noon, and shadows follow it. The moon's shapes repeat about once a month. Stars show at night. Summer days are long and winter days short. Then a small design problem: shade for the lunch tables. Week 36 is the year.
The sun is low in the morning, high at noon and low again in the late afternoon.
| Sun highest | noon |
| Sun low | morning and late afternoon |
Never look straight at the sun. Notice where the bright part of the sky is, or where sunlight lands on the floor.
The sun drawn low, high and low again across one sky.
When the sun is low, shadows are long; when it is high, shadows are short.
| Shortest shadow | noon |
| Morning against noon | 6 |
Children who think the shadow shrank because they did. The sun moved.
A guess, then a check: longer than at noon.
The moon looks different from night to night: thin, half, full, half.
| Full | week 3 |
| Thin | week 1 |
| Half | 2 |
Children who think the moon changes size. We see more or less of its sunny side.
Week 5 is a thin moon on the other side, or no moon at all. Then the pattern starts again.
The moon's pattern repeats about once a month.
| Times they counted 30 | 2 |
| Full moon to full moon | about 30 days |
Children who expect exactly the same number every time. About is the right word.
The next full moon about 30 days after the last one.
Stars are always in the sky. We see them at night, and far from city lights.
| Most stars | the country, far from lights |
| Fewest stars | a big city |
| Why not in the day | the sun is too bright |
Children who think stars go away in the daytime. They are there; the sun outshines them.
Few stars over the city, many over the country.
Summer days are long and winter days are short.
| Most daylight | summer |
| Summer against winter | 4 |
| The same | spring and fall |
Children who think there is more time in a summer day. Every day has 24 hours; summer has more of them in daylight.
Light at 6 o'clock in summer, dark in winter.
Daylight grows toward summer and shrinks toward winter, and the pattern repeats every year.
| Most daylight | May and Jul |
| 12 hours | Mar and Sep |
Bars drawn to the wrong line. Each line is 2 hours.
A little less than 10 hours: December has the shortest day.
The sun sets later in summer than in winter.
| Later sunset | summer |
| Hours later | 3 |
Children who think the sun sets at the same time every day. The table is practice data; real times depend on where you live. One of the three hours is daylight saving time, which moves the clock, not the sun. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not change their clocks.
Two clocks, a later one for summer: 8 o'clock and 5 o'clock from the table.
An engineer starts with a real problem and asks people about it.
| Most said too sunny | the lunch tables |
| Children in all | 15 |
Children who jump to a fix. This week is about the problem.
Any idea for shade over the lunch tables.
Test two ideas the same way, and compare.
| Fit more toy people | a sheet tied between two poles |
| How many more | 5 |
Children who choose by which one looks nicer. The count decides.
A third idea, and a guess about how many toy people it would fit.
The year in one page: plants and animals, sound, light and the sky.
| Row a | sound |
| Row b | light |
| Row c | sky |
| Row d | sound |
| Row e | light |
| Row f | sky |
| About sound | 2 |
| About the sky | 2 |
Children who put the moon or the stars under light because they shine. They belong to the sky part, but say yes to the reasoning.
One picture with something from sound, light and the sky.
Almost nothing needs buying. Most investigations use things a classroom already has: paper, crayons, cups, a timer. A few are worth gathering before the year starts: a small potted plant or a weed with roots and a magnifying glass (weeks 1 and 2), paper plates and ice cubes (week 3), five small plants of one kind and paper clips (week 5), tweezers, a spoon and a clothespin (week 7), a bowl, plastic wrap, dry rice and a pot (week 11), rubber bands and a small bell (week 12), a drum or a box (week 13), two paper cups and a long string (week 15), a shoebox with two small holes (week 18), clear plastic, wax paper, cardboard and tissue paper (weeks 20 and 21), a flashlight (weeks 18 to 24 and 35), a small plastic mirror and foil (week 23), chalk (weeks 26 and 27), and craft sticks, tape and small toy people or blocks for the shade models (week 35). The Try it box on page 1 lists each week’s materials so you can gather them in one look.
The safety notes that carry the year. Weeks 3, 21, 26, 27 and 34 use the sun or a sunny window: never look straight at it, and keep children from looking up while they work. Flashlights (weeks 18 to 24 and 35) point at a wall, a box or paper, never into anyone’s eyes, and mirrors are plastic and aimed at the wall. Taps and drums stay gentle near ears (weeks 11 to 13), and in week 11 a grown-up does the hard tap while children stand back. Rice stays out of mouths, noses and ears. Rubber bands point away from faces (week 12). In week 15 an adult pokes the holes, and the string never goes around anyone’s neck. Small things like tweezers and paper balls stay out of mouths (week 7). Children touch only plants a grown-up says are safe, never put any part of a plant in their mouths, and wash their hands after touching soil (week 1). Nobody picks up a baby animal they find (week 9).
There is no flame, no heating, and no chemical anywhere in the book.