Fun With Science - Magic Milk Experiment ELP

Magic Milk Experiment - Exploring Science and Colour

A few weeks ago, we decided to add a science experiment to our learning centre activities. Ms. Switzer took the students in small groups to try the "Magic Milk" experiment.

What we used:

- a plate

- 2% milk (enough to cover the bottom of the plate)

- food colouring

- dish soap

- dropper (for the dish soap)

What we did:

1. pour some milk on the plate

2. drop some food colouring in the milk in spots

3. put some dish soap in the dropper

4. drop the soap onto the food colouring spots

5. watch what happens!

  

When you add the soap to the food colouring, a chemical reaction happens causing the colours to spread away from the dishwashing liquid, creating swirls. It actually carried on for quite some time!

Student Observations:

"looks like a star."

"I see fireworks."

"The colours are mixing up."

"The colour runs away."

"The soap chases the colours."

Going to the Doctor - Learning Measurement Through Play ELP

What Does the Doctor Do? - Fun With Measurement

After Christmas, Ms. Switzer and I wanted to change the drama centre so we asked the children what they would be interested in switching it to so we took a survey. The students came up with a list of choices such as: a post office, a vet centre, a hospital/doctor's office and a bakery.  After we asked everyone, the results indicated that we should have a doctor's office/hospital.

As educators, we are usually looking for ways to incorporate student learning into our play so we decided to have a knowledge building session about "what happens at the doctor?" using the "I See, I Think, I Wonder" model. Ms. Switzer took small groups of students to the doctor centre and she asked them what they know about the doctor.  She got many responses:

"I was sick at the hospital"

"He checks how tall you are. It's called measuring."

"The doctor is checking my hearing."

The children also told Ms. Switzer that when they go to the doctor, they get checked, weighed and measured.  We brought in a scale and Ms. Switzer measured and weighed each of the children. Ms. Switzer fastened some measuring sticks to the wall and left it. We began to notice that students were building creations and using the measuring sticks to measure them!

Playing With Words and Literacy in the Pumpkin Patch ELP

At the beginning of October, before Thanksgiving Ms. Switzer went up to her family cottage. On the way, she picked up a bale of hay and a bunch of pumpkins from a roadside stand. Together with the children, we set up a pumpkin/vegetable stand in the dramatic centre.

We asked the children how they would like to make it their own and they responded by asking to decorate using pictures and words.

We gave the children a piece of brown butcher paper, pencils, and markers.

Check out the final sign!

The children enjoyed  playing in their vegetable/pumpkin stand.

This activity supports the Big Idea of the FDK curriculum: "Children are effective communicators."

Overall Expectations:

4.1: Demonstrate an interest in writing.

4.2: Demonstrate an awareness that writing can convey ideas or messages.

4.3: Write simple messages.

4.4: Begin to use classroom resources to support their writing.

4.5: Experiment with a variety of simple writing forms for different purposes.

(Taken from the Full-Day Kindergarten Program pg. 88-90; 2010-11 Ministry of Education)

The students have also been experimenting with writing in other ways:

At the inquiry table:

At the writing centre:

And stencils!

Writing is happening everyday in all sorts of ways!

Putting our Lookers on in Search of Nature - A Great Idea to ReuseThose 3D Glasses ELP

The past few weeks have been very busy for the children. The JK's have been learning how to follow classroom routines and have also been exploring what Kindergarten is all about. The SK's have been getting reacquainted with school life as well. Needless to say, Ms. Switzer and I have also been very busy; hence this late post!

"Looking" for Nature:

Last year, we had so much fun with outdoor learning. We wanted to get the children excited about the outdoors so we decided to try an idea that I got from Pinterest (Teach Preschool). We read the books: The Looking Book (P.K. Hallinan) and The Listening Walk (Paul Showers)

The Looking Book is about a mother who wants to get her children outside instead of hanging around inside so she gives them a pair of "lookers" (plain glasses) to go outside and find things in nature. I had a bag of old 3D glasses so I decided to punch out the lenses and call them "lookers". After reading the book, I asked the children what they think "nature" is (I Think). Some responses were:

Trees, ladybugs, birds, squirrels, dogs, ants, snails, and butterflies.

The Listening Walk is about what sounds we hear when we go outside. I asked the children what they expect to hear when they get outside. Some responses were:

Cars, firetrucks, bees, birds, people,  and dogs.

Both books helped us to identify the senses of touch, sight, and hearing. 

I introduced the 3D glasses and called them "lookers". We put them on our inquiry table along with other interesting materials.

Then we stepped back and waited...

The children had fun trying them out at the inquiry table. Then we diced to take them outside! (I See..)

Armed with our iPad, Ms. Switzer and I followed the children and asked them what the found with their lookers...

They started by looking around.

They called me to capture their findings.

They collected stuff.

We brought some in to add to our inquiry table (some of the ants crawled away in the middle of the night).

Our next step is to ask the students what nature is and to collect their ideas. We will then ask if they have any wonderings; this will serve as the "I wonder" portion of our inquiry. We hope it will lead to the topic(s) for our focused inquiry.

This activity supports the Big Idea of the FDK Curriculum: 

"Children are curious and connect prior knowledge to new contexts in order to understand the world around them."

Overall Expectations:

1. demonstrate an awareness of the natural and built environment through

hands-on investigations, observations, questions, and representations of 

their findings;

2. conduct simple investigations through free exploration, focused exploration,

and guided activity, using inquiry skills (questioning, planning, predicting,

observing, communicating);

3. demonstrate an understanding of the natural world and the need to care for

and respect the environment;

(Taken from The Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten Program p. 114; 2010-11, Ontario Ministry of Education)

You can help us at home! The next time you go outside, ask your child what kind of nature they see. You can even send in interesting artifacts that you find for our inquiry table.

Welcome to Ms. Hennessey's and Ms. Switzer's Kindergarten 2014

Welcome Back to our Returning SK Students and a Big Warm Welcome to our New JK Students! We can't wait to spend our days with you!

Our days will be very busy, filled with both indoor and outdoor learning and play.

Even though we are very excited to meet and spend time with your JK child, he/she may be experiencing anxiety about entering a new setting.  You as a parent may also have questions about how to ease the transition to school for the first time. Check out this article by Today's Parent on How to Prepare for the First Day of School:

How to Prepare for the First Day of Kindergarten - Today's Parent

Ms. Switzer and I will be busy setting up our classroom and preparing for our first week of school at the end of August.  In the meantime, you may want to check out our blog page: "Upcoming Dates and Information for Parents" (just click the tab at the top of the page).

Please enjoy these last precious weeks of summer vacation.  We are asking that all students bring in a rock from their summer vacation during their first week of school.  We will take time to discuss where your child found it.  We will also use our collected rocks to help with friendship building activities as well as attendance.

Colour Mixing With Snap Cube Beyblades ELP

The children are constantly using snap cubes to make a version of their favourite toy, "The Beyblade". While Ms. Switzer and I often question their motives for making Beyblades (they like to fight each other with them), we figure that it takes a lot of mathematical problem solving to ensure that they are constructed so that they spin, so we let them go at it.

Today, Ms. Switzer was hanging out with a group of students to see exactly how it all works when something wonderful happened.  She noticed that the children were looking for particular colour combinations. "Let's try red and blue" said one child...Ms. Switzer listened and watched as she spun her Beyblade. "It makes purple!" said another child; Ms. Switzer could not believe her eyes!!! "Come here Ms. Hennessey and see what they are doing!", she said.

Before we knew it, the children were testing their colour mixing theories. They mixed white and black, blue and yellow (which didn't work as well so they tried different combinations of each colour) and red and yellow.  For the most part, it worked! This lead to questions and curiosity about colour mixing. 

I'm sure that this could lead to all kind of fun stuff like paint mixing, coloured water bottles, food colouring mixtures, great books...the possibilities are endless! Only now there's about 5 days left of school. 

It kind of makes me sad, really. Gives us something to think about over the summer.

This is the stuff that makes us remember what play-based learning is all about! 

Planting Vegetables and Using Salad Spinners for Art ELP

Since our last blog post, we have been having fun exploring plants and vegetables.  The children made a plan to show what they wanted to plant: carrots, cucumbers, yellow beans or radishes.

We planted our own plants and watched them grow.  We measured our plants a few times to see how much they grew.

We carefully watched our plants to see if they grew.  We measured to find out if they did using cubes lined up from bottom to top.

We also used salad spinners to create flowers!

We glued the flowers, a stem and leaves on.  Then we drew roots and labeled them with words. We know the parts of a plant!