Measuring with Different Materials

http://www.sesamestreet.org/play#media/game_1d5fc163-c225-42da-bb59-75e763ba038f

 

The above link goes to a game on sesamestreet.org. Murray is zookeeper and is measuring how tall and wide the animals are. The only problem is that he left his ruler at home and so he uses other materials to measure the animals. We played the game on the Smart Board in class. Then, we took materials that we had in the room and measured each other!

 

  

 Measuring how long with sticks!

Measuring how wide the easel is with 'ice' blocks!

 

 

 

 

Measuring how long the Word Wall is with blocks.

Science Experiment - Vinegar, Baking Soda, and a Balloon

We investigated vinegar and baking soda using our five senses. We talked about how the vinegar is a liquid and the baking soda is a solid. We poured vinegar into a water bottle and used a funnel to put baking soda inside a balloon. We made predicitons about what we thought might happen when we put the balloon on the water bottle. When the baking soda dropped into the vinegar, the gas omitted filled the balloon with gas and inflated. We talked about how it was a gas that was inflating the balloon. Then, the students passed the balloon to each other while waiting for dismissal.

 

 

Graphing

      We have been learning about the different types of tools that community helpers use to help them complete their jobs. Last week, each student got a picture of a tool. Pictures of four different community helpers were posted around the room. The students had to stand next to the community helper that matched the tool picture that they had. When everyone had sorted themselves, we tried to determine which group had more/fewer people. It was a little confusing to count, so we lined up and made a "people graph", using the squares on the carpet. The next day we took the pictures and then made a floor graph. We duplicated the floor graph on paper and talked about the graph in terms of more/fewer/same.

 

The kids sorting themselves on the carpet.

Making a "people graph"!

Making a floor graph, and duplicating it onto paper together.

Our Plants

We did an experiment where we put a white carnation in water and added green food dye... the kids were excited to watch it soak up the green color!

 

And here is our paperwhite bulb in full bloom! The kids aren't quite sure if they like the aroma... but they are very interested in the flower and are so excited that we planted it! :) They wrote about it and drew a picture of the final bloom...  so each child will have a book complete with before/during/after photos, pictures, and words of our paperwhite experience! I am going to bind them so that they are 'real' books; the kids can't wait to see them! :)

Cinnoman Scented Necklaces

We have been reviewing our five senses in science this past week. For one lesson, each student got to choose a die cut sandpaper shape. We talked about how it felt rough. Then, we passed cinnoman sticks around the circle and talked about what they smelled like. Then we used the cinnoman sticks like crayons to rub onto the sandpaper shapes. We used string and beads to make necklaces, and strung our cinnoman-sandpaper shapes onto our necklaces.

 

 

Checking in on our Paperwhite

A few weeks ago, we read the book Paperwhite by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace and planted our own paperwhite bulb. We checked in on our paperwhite and here it is! We talked about how it is growing and looked at the roots (quite visible through the glass). We wrote and drew about how it had changed. We will check in on it again next week!

Our Neighborhood Bulletin Board

We have been talking about places in our neighborhood. We transformed one of our bulletin boards into a neighborhood, adding one component at a time. We added class writings/projects to each area of our neighborhood (grocery store, doctor, train station, school, and post office) and read a book that related to each area. Below are close up photos of each specific area. The kids love it... they are proud to talk about the neighborhood that they made!

This is our train station. We read Freight Train by Donald Crews and sorted pictures by color onto our freight train. Then we used interactive writing to label each picture.

This is our post office, and below, a close up of the photos displayed. We read Bear At Work, by Stella Blackstone, and transformed our writing center into a post office. The students picked names out of a bucket and wrote letters to the person that they picked. At the end of the day the letters were delievered. They had a blast opening their letters and discovering who had written to them.

This is our doctor's office. We read Going to the Doctor, by Anne Civardi, and talked about our own personal experiences at the doctor's office. I wrote down quotes from the children and posted them around the doctor's office. They enjoyed sharing their experiences, probably more than they enjoyed the actual experience itself! :)

 

This is our school and playground/park area. We read Preschool Day Hooray! by LInda Leopold Strauss, and completed a shared writing on a pencil about what we do at school.

Mouse Paint

We read the book Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh. The kids love the book! After we read the book, each student received a paint bag. In each bag were two different colors of paint (not yet mixed). The kids got to work squishing the different colors of paint together in their bags to see what new color they would make. They loved it! Afterwards, they recorded what they discovered and we reviewed the results as a class. We discovered that yellow and blue make green, red and blue make purple, and red and yellow make orange. They still go back to the Mouse Paint book each day and talk about how they discovered paint colors like the mice did.

 

 

 

Who are the people in our neighborhood?

This week we will be talking about the different places in the neighborhood. At the closing of each day, we will be watching some clips of the classic Sesame Street song, Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood. We will come back and revisit these clips (and more) in a few more weeks when we really focus on jobs and community helpers. This week, we are viewing these clips while talking about the different places that are in our neighborhood that we frequent (grocery store, school, doctor, etc.).



On Monday, we will read Bear at Work, about a bear who is a mail carrier and travels throughout his neighborhood.


On Tuesday, we will watch the e-book, Bebe Goes Shopping and talk about how a grocery store is in a neighborhood. We will read and talk about visiting the doctor's office in our neighborhood on Wednesday. The above clip covers both a grocer and a doctor.


On Thursday, we will talk about how a school is a part of a neighborhood. The above clip is about how a teacher is a person in the neighborhood.


On Friday, we will sing 'Pat-a-Cake', read A Cake for Me, and talk about how a bakery is in a neighborhood. One of the characters in the above clip is a baker.

Planting a Paperwhite

We read the book, Paperwhite, by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. In the book, Lucy the bunny visits her neighbor throughout the cold winter months. Together, they 'make a little bit of spring' by planting an indoor paperwhite bulb and watching it grow. After reading the book, we passed around a paperwhite bulb (below) and talked about it using our five senses (although we agreed that we did not need to taste it :) ).

 

After passing around the bulb, we took turns putting rocks into the glass jar like Lucy (from the book) did. We talked about the noise that it made and used our ears to listen to each rock clink into the jar.

 

We used a measuring cup to pour water into the jar, and settled the bulb on top of the rock nest, just like in the book.

 

We drew pictures of what the bulb in the jar looked like. We will draw a picture each week and observe how our bulb changes over time.

 

Here is the picture of the inquiry chart that we completed. We talked about how scientists 'notice' and 'wonder' about things. All of the sentences were dictated by the children. I thought it was neat that they thought the bulb "smelled like perfume" and "smelled like fresh". I also was very happy that all of the children, after planting the bulb, had something that they wondered about. They are very anxious to see what happens to the bulb and how long it will take to "open up". :) Stay tuned... I will post pictures as it blooms!

 

 

Measuring with Unifix Cubes and Rulers

We read the book, Bumbling Building Bugs about some building bugs who measured wooden planks to build a bridge for their construction trucks. We worked in pairs, using rulers, 'inchworm' rulers, and unifix cubes to measure different pictures of transportation vehicles. We talked about which pictures were longer and which pictures were shorter. They had a blast and were all happily talking to their partners about what they were doing.

We sent copies of the 'inchworm' rulers home today... have your child measure items around the house!

Problem solving

   We have done a lot of problem solving lately... where I sit back and watch the kids talk to each other and figure things out. The top picture is of the students graphing toy bugs. First, they graphed by color. Then, they graphed by bug type. After graphing we talked about which column had more/fewer or the same.

   The bottom picture is of the students working in partners to sort pictures of fruit. I didn't tell them what the pictures were of, or what to do with the pictures. The fruit pictures were in black/white ink, which threw them off for a moment as they are used to sorting by color first. They were talking to each other and comparing charts and very interested, and then sorted by fruit type. After counting the different fruits, they realized that it was the fruit from the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (one apple, four strawberries, etc.).

   Just this week they were graphing fruit erasers and I asked them if I had helped them. They looked at each other and got really quiet... their eyes lit up and then they got very excited. "We did it by ourselves!" I told them that made them mathematicians and they were very excited. :)

A Few Center Pictures

Literacy Center -students are reading the big books, copying letters/words fro the word wall onto dry erase boards, and reading the morning message.

Literacy table - Malik has matched pictures of animals to their habits. :) 

Art Center - Students are painting circles which we later cut out and made into caterpillars!

Our field trip to the VASC!

We had a great time on our field trip to the VASC!