- (upbeat playful music) - Welcome to Room 9, our region's largest classroom.

I'm Emily Gentemann and I teach at Dewey International Schools, a part of St. Louis Public Schools.

Today, I will be teaching science for second grade but all learners are welcome because science rocks.

Are you ready to get started?

I'm glad you're here.

We are going to work on building what we have learned about our noticing and wandering skills.

And our objective today, I can make observations and predictions about the world.

Now observations are very similar.

I won't say just like, but very similar, close to an I notice.

Because an observation is a skill where we have to use our senses and our eyesight.

So when you notice you're seeing something, you're hearing something, an observation you are doing almost the same thing.

But a prediction you have to use your brain.

You have to use some thinking skills and you have to tell me what you think might happen next, what you think is happening and explain it.

So specifically using our observation and prediction skills, we are going to be talking about structures, natural structures.

So before we read this book I wanna take you on a quick trip outside where I found some really cool natural structures.

And I wanna show you my noticing and wondering skills, and then we'll come back to read.

We are talking about systems and all the different parts of a system.

And I found this amazing tree.

I notice that the way that the tree is in the ground it's on an angle.

So I can see all the different parts of the tree except for the parts that are in the ground.

But I can see all of these roots.

I notice that parts of the bark are coming up out of the ground.

And I wonder if that's okay for the roots.

Do you notice that you can see different section of the roots and that they're growing at an angle and there's so many pieces of it?

I have so many wonderings about it.

And if it goes further, do you think that the roots are underneath me and these steps too?

So remember as a scientist we're always noticing and wondering things.

And I am noticing that this tree is growing at an angle.

It's got lots of different sections to it and it's not growing straight up.

And I wondered why.

But then I looked specifically at it and I see that the building right there must be blocking part of the tree and it's getting its sunlight.

So that wondering I was able to figure out.

What do you think?

Did you enjoy that trip outside?

What about that tree with those amazing roots?

And the tree that was curved because of the building and the way that it needed to get sunlight.

I wonder if the roots were curved the same way or do you think that they went underneath the building just like normal.

So many noticings and wonderings outside.

Have you been working on your noticing and wondering journal too?

So let's read about natural structures.

This book this week, "What Are Natural Structures?"

The author, Bobbie Kalman published by Crabtree Publishing Company.

Look at all those different animals in nature.

Like always as a good scientist and a good reader who observes, we're looking at our table of contents.

We are seeing all of the different things we are about to read.

And I can predict that we're gonna talk a lot about natural structures.

I also infer that from the title.

Here are the page numbers for each one.

"What is a structure?

A structure is something that is made up of different parts.

Each part has a purpose.

A purpose is the reason why something is made the way it is.

People, plants and animals are structures.

Each of their parts has a purpose."

Let's read this caption.

"People and some animals have legs.

We use our legs for walking and running.

We walk on two legs.

Horses walk on four legs.

We use each of our body parts.

We have big brains too.

We can do anything.

Structures have colors and shapes.

Name the shapes and colors you see here.

Structures also have textures.

Texture is how something looks and feels.

How would this kitten feel in your hand?"

Rough?

Smooth?

Soft?

I can't say fluffy because fluffy is not a feeling, right?

All of these shapes.

"Kinds of structures.

Some structures are made by people.

Buildings and bridges are two kinds of structures built by people.

Buildings have different shapes and colors.

Find a triangle, square, circle, rectangle, cylinder and cone shape in this picture."

Can you imagine all of those are there?

Here's the cone, the cylinder, the windows, square, rectangle.

What did I miss?

The triangle.

Where's the triangle?

Way back there.

It's teeny-tiny.

"This building is a very old castle.

Kings and Queens live in castles.

Natural structures are not made by people.

They are found in nature.

Plants, animals, people and mountains are natural structures.

Some natural structures are made by animals.

This huge nest or home was made by birds called storks.

Baby storks will soon live in the nest.

This is a seashell in a natural structure.

An animal lives inside it.

Name two shapes you see in the shell.

Mountains are natural structures.

The goat and the tree are other natural structures."

They're doing an excellent job of labeling everything in this book too.

"Plant structures.

Plants are natural structures with many parts.

Each part does different jobs to help a plant stay alive.

Most plants have roots, stems, and leaves."

Didn't I talk about the tree having roots earlier?

And we were able to see the tree branches which were just like the stems and the tree.

The first tree had leaves but did the second one?

Not so much, huh?

"Leaves take in sunlight and make food for the plant.

The plant also breathes through its leaves.

The stem holds the plant up towards the sun.

Roots keep a plant in place.

They also take in water from the soil.

The water is used to make food for the plant.

The buds on this plant will grow into a beautiful flower.

Trees are the biggest plants.

Their stems are called trunks.

Branches grow out of the trunks.

Leaves grow on the branches.

Deciduous trees have flat, wide leaves that change color in autumn.

They fall off the tree.

Conifers are trees with combs.

Their leaves do not fall off in autumn."

So this is what a deciduous tree looks like.

That would have been the tree that we saw with no leaves, branches, trunk.

Here's a pine cone.

And this is what a conifer tree looks like.

It asks, "Is a tree trunk smooth or rough?

What is the shape of this tree trunk?

Is it a cylinder?

Look and feel.

There are many kinds of plants.

Plants have different shapes, colors, and textures.

The flowers and fruits of plants come in every color of the rainbow.

They look and feel different too.

Petals, thorns.

Rose pedals feel soft and silky, but the stems of roses have sharp thorns.

The leaves of conifers are thin-like needles.

What colors are the flowers on this page?

What are their shapes?

So many different colors.

So many different shapes.

This plant is called a cactus.

It has very sharp spines.

Spines are like sharp needles.

Do they feel like the petals or thorns?

Let's name the fruit that are round and red."

Which ones are round and red?

That's right.

Apples.

Number two.

"Name the fruits that are green, blue or red."

Green, blue or red.

That's right, grapes.

"Are long and yellow."

I bet you got that one quick, bananas.

"Look like stars."

It's got the star name in it.

Star fruit.

Last one, "Are fuzzy."

Kiwi.

"Bodies with backbones.

Animals are natural structures that have different shapes and sizes.

Their bodies are made of many parts.

Some animals have backbones and skeletons inside their bodies.

Animals with backbones are called vertebrates."

We've got lizard, frogs, snake.

Lizard, snakes and frogs have backbones and skeletons.

Backbone.

Koala skeleton.

"All the bones in the koala's body make up the koala skeleton.

Some vertebrates are huge, some are small, and some are medium-sized.

Some walk and run, some swim, some climb, and some fly.

The body structure of these animals help them move and stay alive.

Elephants are huge.

Mice are small.

Both are mammals.

Mammals are vertebrates with some hair or fur on their bodies.

Fish are vertebrates that live in water.

Birds are vertebrates with wings and feathers.

Most birds can fly.

People are vertebrates too."

We have backbones and skeletons inside our body.

That's a costume, right?

"No backbones.

Most of the animals on earth have no backbones.

Animals without backbones are called invertebrates."

Notice that prefix in- which means not.

"There are millions of kinds of invertebrates with different bodies.

The animals shown on these two pages are all invertebrates.

Beetle.

Insects have no backbones.

They have exoskeleton.

There's another prefix exo- which also means outside on their body.

Exoskeleton are hard coverings.

Insects have six legs that bend.

Many ocean animals are invertebrates.

This sea slug has no backbone.

Worms have soft bodies.

They have no arms or legs.

This worm is an earthworm.

Spiders have eight legs.

Octopuses are the biggest smallest invertebrates.

They have large brains.

They touch, smell and taste with their suckers.

Suckers are like suction cups on their arms.

How does it look?

Animals have different patterns on their bodies.

Patterns or shapes and colors that repeat.

Stripes and spots are patterns.

Leopard, geckos have spots.

Tigers have stripes.

What other animals have spots or stripes?"

A zebra, a cheetah.

"Many animals have identical parts.

Identical means exactly the same.

When parts look the same, they have symmetry.

Butterflies have symmetry.

When their four wings are open you can see two identical sides.

The wings also have identical shapes and patterns.

The wings of this butterfly have two identical sides.

The butterfly has symmetry.

Made by animals.

Many animals build structures.

Some of these natural structures are homes for animal babies.

Nests are made by birds, mice, squirrels, and ants.

Ant nests are in the ground under anthills.

Tunnels connect the nests.

Bees and wasps build hives.

Thousands of ants live in this anthill.

This weaver bird is building a nest."

Look at this shape.

It's a hexagon.

"Many wasps work together to make a hive.

Each part of a hive is a hexagon.

How many sides does a hexagon have?"

Let's check.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

So that's six sides.

The prefix, hex- means six.

"Earth's landforms.

Landforms are the different shapes of land on earth.

Landforms are natural structures.

Mountains are tall, steep landforms.

Low areas between mountains are called valleys.

Land with water all around it is called an island.

There are many kinds of landforms on earth.

These pictures show just a few."

Mountain.

Valley.

"Canyons are deep areas of land.

Many have rivers running through them.

Caves are structures under the ground or inside rocks that look like rooms.

Hot liquid rock shoots from volcanoes.

This small island has water all around it.

Copying nature.

People built all kinds of structures.

They often copy natural structures.

These human made structures were copied from natural beside them.

Long ago, some people tried to fly with wings.

People copied the bodies of birds to make airplanes.

Here's a natural bridge and a man-made bridge.

The bridges people build look like natural bridges.

Ladybug.

This car is called a beetle or bug.

It looks like a ladybug.

This bird is called a crane.

This machine is also called a crane.

Should it be called a giraffe instead?"

What is a structure?

So a structure is made up of different parts which means it needs to have more than one thing that makes it function.

But each part has a purpose.

Types of structures.

There's two main parts or two main types of structure.

Sorry.

Man-made ones, which is not so much what the book was about but it did tell us a couple like buildings, cars, airplanes, and bridges.

So all those things that are not in nature but those really important things that we use every day.

Stop and take a look around you where you are.

I bet you almost everything in your room in your living room is a man-made, made by somebody.

Your cell phone.

What your sitting on, your couch, your TV all of those were made by people, right?

But their structure, they have a purpose.

I have a couch or a chair to sit on.

The TV is made to entertain me, to show me television shows, to show me videos.

My cell phone, the purpose of it is to make phone calls or texts but I can also do a whole bunch of other things.

Natural things.

Plants, animals, landforms.

Those are our three major things that we read about, plant, animals, landforms.

Look around your room.

What is a natural structure?

Where you are.

Yourself, that's right.

You, you are a natural structure.

Is there somebody sitting there with you?

They are a natural structure.

Do you have a pet in the room?

Your pet is a natural structure.

Are you gonna find a landform in your house?

Not so much.

Now, if you are in Missouri and in St. Louis, just like me, there aren't so many landforms just right outside our door.

We have to go looking for them.

But the Mississippi River that runs right next to St. Louis, that's a really good example of a natural landform because it's a big river.

We have lots of little hills and we have lots of prairies too.

So ways you would describe a structure.

Remember, we always want to describe something and be specific.

We don't wanna say, it's cute.

We don't wanna say, it's small or it's big.

We wanna give lots of details.

Even if we're just noticing and wondering.

Its shape, its color, its texture, how it feels.

We talked about that kitten.

You can't call it fuzzy because I don't know how fuzzy feels.

Size, pattern.

And then remember that final one that we're really focused on.

Use your senses.

So thinking about all of those things describing how it feels, the shape, the color, the texture thinking about types of structure, man-made and natural.

I bet you could identify all the different ones.

If you stepped outside right now could you find me three different natural structures?

I bet you could.

Could you find me three different man-made structures?

So let me show you what I did when I went outside real quick and I found three man-made structures and three natural structure.

So my three man-made structures.

I saw a school building, a playground, and a blacktop.

The gravel that's underneath, where you play basketball where your cars drive, that is not natural.

My natural structures.

Trees, the birds in the sky, and the plants in our garden.

So part of our ways to describe those things and are wondering.

Let's think about these things.

I'm gonna move that.

And I would like for you to think about how could I wonder about these things?

Let's start with my school building.

My school building is really, really old.

It's all made out of brick.

And I know for a fact, that the architect, an architect is the person who designed the school made it to look like it was like a castle.

You remember the picture that we looked at in here?

Like a castle?

So my school does not have these, the cone-shaped or the cylinder shape but my school does kind of look like this part.

So my wondering is, why does the school look like a castle?

Was it necessary?

Is there a reason?

I don't know.

That's a really great wondering.

It may not be a wondering that I could observe like a scientist or it's definitely not a testable question but it is something that I could go research and look up.

Next one.

The playground.

A wondering I might have about the playground.

Easy.

I wonder why there aren't any swings.

I love swings.

A wondering about the blacktop.

By looking at the blacktop, any blacktop could you describe it's shape, color, texture, size, patterns?

I bet there's plenty of patterns that you see in that blacktop.

I wonder why there are so many cracks.

I wonder when was the last time it was fixed.

All of those things.

Now let's think about those natural structures.

The trees, the birds, and the plants.

First up is the trees.

We could talk specifically about one individual tree or all the trees.

I wonder how long these trees have been here.

I wonder specifically about a tree.

I wonder why it grows at an angle.

Going back to that video of my trip outside.

We could talk about a tree.

I wonder where its leaves went.

I wonder if it's alive.

All of those questions.

Birds in the sky.

That could be a really good one.

Where are they going?

Where are the birds going?

Do you think they know where they're going ahead of time?

Do they have a reason, a point of destination?

I hope that you have learned something about noticing and wondering, but I also hope that you really learn something about those natural structures that we talked about today.

Remember, those natural structures are plants, animals and landforms.

And we really kind of talked so much more about plants, specifically.

And I really hope you're paying specific attention to those ways to describe it because those ways we describe it are really helping us with those noticings and wonderings.

That is all I have for you today.

I hope that you have had a wonderful time.

(upbeat playful music) - [Narrator] Teaching in Room 9 is made possible with support of Bank of America, Dana Brown Charitable trust, Emerson, and viewers like you.