This week we have had tadpole guests in our classroom! Our students have been very excited about this and it has sparked inquiry about tadpoles, frogs, toads and pond habitats. This has also been a wonderful literacy link as students research and write about what they have learned about tadpoles. We had an amazing adventure at the aquarium! This is the first half of the pictures. There are more to come. The Azzanos generously donated hot chocolate for our classroom and this week we discussed how we dissolve the powder which is a solid into the liquid and how we can increase the rate of saturation. We explored how when we stir the powder with water or increase the heat, the powder dissolves faster and how marshmallows are changed when we put them into the hot liquid. We are also currently exploring whether this is a reversible or irreversible change. During our exploration we also added in some mathematics as we counted the cups we would need for all of the students and educators, we measured the powder into the cups and we figured out how to fairly distribute marshmallows. This was so much fun and so much learning happened from this activity. We have begun to read this series of children's books about STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) and this week we read about Rosie Revere the Engineer who created all sorts of inventions. We discussed why it's so important to tinker and try new things and how our Makerspace and other ICE Time activities allow students to invent and create. We begun a design challenge this week to create boats that float on water and can hold some bear passengers. We also explored how we can move these boats by blowing on them. We also read Iggy Peck Architect later on in the week and will continue to construct buildings in our classroom. We have been exploring the relationship between two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional solids. At this point in their learning journey, students do not need to know the names of the common three-dimensional solids but we hope that through exposure and repeated discussion that some of that vocabulary sticks with them when they leave Kindergarten. What is most important to us is that students gain a deeper understanding of what a three-dimensional solid is and how it is made up of two-dimensional shapes. We discussed two-dimensional as being like a picture in a book, whereas most things in our world are three dimensional. We also will continue to explore properties of three dimensional objects such as how they balance when building and whether they roll or slide.
During our Morning Meeting on Friday, students were shown a net and asked to guess which three dimensional solid they thought it would create. Then J.J., our meeting leader showed students how the six squares folded together to form a cube. A way that you can extend this learning at home is by using the same vocabulary we are using at school to describe common three-dimensional solids; cube, rectangular prism, sphere, cylinder and cone. One of our students loves cheeseburgers so we decided to create a Burger Restaurant. The students flocked to this centre this week and were so excited to take orders and then create burgers for others. The educators were thrilled with this because this type of play not only allows children to engage in pretend play which helps to develop vocabulary and learn to problem solving during play but it helps to develop their math and language skills. When students are reading and interpreting the order forms they are learning to read and understand non-book materials. When they are filling orders they are learning to match the information on the form to the burger they create. As an educators I am always so excited by the rich learning that happens when children are engaged in play and it gives me great joy that children can learn in a way that is fun and child-motivated. This work Mrs.Duchesne planted seeds with our students and talked about biodegradable materials, and ways to reduce, reuse and recycle to take care of the earth. This sparked the discussion about why we should reduce our garbage output and where do those bags or garbage go? We did a demonstration on the carpet of how land and animals are affected by landfills. The students were very upset as the landfill site grew and started to negatively affect the wetland and animals surrounding it. We discussed how we can reduce our waste output by recycling and using re-usable containers. The interesting thing was that when I left the demonstration materials out for the students to play with, they got rid of the landfill site within minutes. Nobody wanted to play near the "garbage". One of the girls said, "Ms. Tsumura! I put the garbage in the recycle bin!"
Over the next weeks we will continue to explore how we can take care of the earth and to appreciate the importance of plants, animals, rocks, soils and everything "earth-related". Leading up to Earth Day we are looking at ways we can reduce our environmental footprint. We are using shredded paper from the office mixed with water for sensory play. This centre has been a hit this week!!!
As a spinoff from our Arctic inquiry, we have been looking at texts with wolves in them such as fairy tales and examining how wolves are depicted and whether or not that image is true. This has also sparked discussion about fiction and non-fiction texts. Our students have been super into making masks so many created masks at our Makerspace. |
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May 2019
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