- articles of clothing made from different materials (raincoats, rain boots, pajamas, bathing suit, towel, etc.)
- chart paper
- container of water
- marker
- two large empty plastic containers
- absorb
MA Standards:
Writing/W.PK.MA.3: Use a combination of dictating and drawing to tell a real or imagined story.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Uses scribbles, shapes, pictures, and letters to represent objects, stories, experiences, or ideas.
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving: Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
Science Knowledge/Scientific Skills and Method: Observes and discusses common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Composition 16: Use their own words or illustrations to describe their experiences, tell imaginative stories, or communicate information about a topic of interest.
Science and Technology/Inquiry Skills 2: Make predictions about changes in materials or objects based on past experience.
Draw and Write Together: What Clothes Absorb Water?
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Some surfaces absorb water, some don’t
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Compare and Contrast, Sorting and Classifying, Math, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Make a two-column grid on the floor with masking tape and place one of the plastic bins in each column. Label the columns “Absorbs water” and “Does not absorb water.” Prepare a similar grid on chart paper to display and record responses. Title the chart “What Absorbs Water?”
Display the articles of clothing and discuss each one. Ask children if they have ever seen them or worn them before and ask children to describe where or when they might wear each article of clothing.
- Then review how some materials absorb water and others do not. Ask children to predict which pieces of clothing will absorb water and which ones will not. Hold up each article of clothing one at a time and place it on the grid as children predict whether or not it absorbs water.
- Once all articles of clothing are on the grid have volunteers test children’s predictions by one at a time dipping an article of clothing in the water to determine whether or not it absorbs water. Have the volunteer place the article of clothing in the correct column (container) on the grid. Record the results on the chart paper with the title “What Absorbs Water?”
- Then discuss why it makes sense to make raincoats, rain boots, and bathing suits out of materials that don’t absorb water.
- Finally, have children draw a picture of one of the articles of clothing that absorbs water and dictate or write a caption, such as:
A <raincoat> does not absorb water.