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Inside the Classroom: Claire Anderson - Haslet Elementary

Inside the Classroom: Claire Anderson - Haslet Elementary

Inside the Classroom is a series that visits Northwest ISD campuses throughout the year and highlights the magical moments that happen between teachers and students each and every day across the entire 234 square miles of NISD.

Photo Album

Inside the Classroom: teacher pointing at her ears

“It smells like chocolate. Why does it smell like chocolate?”

This week’s edition of Inside the Classroom takes us inside Ms. Anderson’s first-grade class at Haslet Elementary where the Eagles are using senses like smell, touch and sight to make scientific observations.

Ms. Anderson is in her 16th year of teaching — three of which have been at Haslet — and as we visited for a Thursday morning science lesson, her students were gathered at the front of the classroom, eager to start.

Before jumping in, Ms. Anderson asked her students to place their hands on their stomach and take a big calming breath. The young scientists were now focused and ready to begin.

Ms. Anderson explained that students would start their investigation of the day by exploring an item in a bowl while blindfolded! She asked students what senses they might use to explore the item if they couldn’t see. Students immediately jumped in, answering touch, smell and possibly sound. Ms. Anderson stressed that taste would not be an option.

After the introduction, students headed to their desks and put on their blindfolds. Mrs. Anderson walked around and passed out the bowls with the mystery item, asking students to wait until everyone had their sample before investigating.

While blindfolded, students observed the mystery item in their bowl using their senses of touch and smell. Humorously, one student observed that the item smelled like chocolate. After a couple of minutes of observation, students made their guesses as to what could be in the bowl. 

Boy with blindfold on, touching soil in a bowl

Ms. Anderson asked students to remove their blindfolds and see if their guesses were correct, and most were! Their mystery item was soil.

Students then headed back to their dots at the front of the classroom where they shared with a partner and then with the group what they had observed about the soil. 

After the brief check-in, it was time for students to head back to their desks to observe two more items: sand and clay. This time, not blindfolded, students observed the three samples — soil, sand and clay — side by side and noted the different colors, textures and smells of the samples. 

Once students had thoroughly studied the samples, they grabbed their science notebooks to write down their observations. As a class, they discussed how each sample looked and felt, and recorded their answers. One student went above and beyond to draw his green plate and soil samples!

With their science notebooks completed, students traveled back to their dots at the front of the class to recap what they had learned about scientific observation.

Even as the lesson wrapped up, the classroom buzzed with excitement and curiosity. Undoubtedly, Ms. Anderson’s engaging lessons will continue to spark a love for learning in the young Eagles of Haslet Elementary!

Check back regularly all year as we continue to visit students and teachers throughout Northwest ISD and offer a rarely seen look Inside the Classroom.