Science

 

Science demonstration FAIL.  We were talking about polluting water and how if we put some 'pollution' (food coloring) in the water, it would also get into the nearby trees.  Except our control, the one in the unpolluted water, looked the worst.  And see that nice leafy green celery stalk in the 2nd jar from the left?  It has the grossest water.   The leaves barely turned color.  Mostly the celery just died.

Moving on: we talked a little about composting, so we're going to watch this pepper rot.

And our other science/art project for this week was making paper!  First we tore up the paper and put the pieces in water to soak.

"Ew!  It feels goopy!"

Here is our torn-up paper (regular paper and some construction paper, all from the classroom recycling bin), ready to make paper the next day.  Sorry, no pictures from the actual process.  We were too busy!  Maybe I'll take some pictures of the dried/finished product tomorrow.

Here are some video clips of the tearing process, and then turning the soaked paper into pulp the next day.

Here is a link to a short video we watched showing plastic bottles being turned into clothing!

You are you.

Today for the letter Pp we wrote prayers. We started with Dear _____and talked about how God has different names. Then we wrote a descriptive word/praise. You are ______. We also finished the sentence Thank you for_______ and some children did the last sentence Please _____. Amen

The prayers are really sweet. The children actually came up with some good ideas for the 2nd part. God is awesome, cool, forgiving, nice, good. One child wrote You are you. That sums it up pretty well, doesn't it?

One child said they wanted to put the prayer paper by the nativity so they could read it every night. :)

I'll make sure they go home in the folders tomorrow.

"Best Day EVER!"

"Best day EVER!" One student proclaimed.
And others heartily (enthusiastically, noisily) agreed.
Why? You ask.
Because I got a big box in the mail.
And in the big box was a slightly-smaller-but-still-big box.
We read the word on top of the box that spelled MARKERS.
And the number on the side that said 200.
Of course we opened it right away.
Wow!
We are really excited to use these! Maybe tomorrow since today we were pretty busy with another art project. Also, I think it is great that they come with some extra lids. In case you were wondering why we got 200 new markers, I had entered a contest/drawing through Learning Magazine a while back. Whenever I see free contests etc., I try to enter - it just takes a little time, and you never know if you might win...

Okay, on to other news from this week. The reason we did not use our AWESOME new markers, was because we were trying out pendulum painting. This was something new to me (I found the idea on another teacher's blog this summer). Here is the set up from last night:
And this is what it looked like by the end of the day. The extra table cloth was turned into a walkway to the drying rack. (Hint: if you try this, do it outside if it's nice weather, or use disposable tablecloths underneath, not your nice splash mats that you have to clean after school!)
I have no pictures of children doing the project because my hands were getting rather black. Suffice it to say that everyone thought it was pretty cool. Some children let it swing one direction the whole time. Others tried a few different ways. Some came back to try again and then again :) I don't know how I survived without an art drying rack last year! Here are just 2 of the paintings which turned out really nice.
(We had available either large white paper, or smaller pink/purple - for the letter Pp, of course)
You can see that the paper got pretty wet from the paint below it on the mess mat, especially by the last few paintings. Also, the paint and water separate a bit as they dry; we'll see how they look tomorrow.

Earlier in the week we experimented with a larger pendulum. It was especially nice to have some new/exciting activities when we were cooped up inside all day due to all the rain.
And now you can say that your Kindergartener is participating in informal physics experiments!
Another rainy day treat was getting to play with the super fort.
"Look, Miss Vis! We made a cube! Come take a picture!"
I hope you have a BEST DAY EVER today or tomorrow. And then again after that. Experience life with the wonder and excitement of a child.

Kindergarten

Painting, playdoh, puppets... what's not to love?