Wonderful Worms

We ended this wonderful week of learning with an integrated science lesson with our friends from Mrs. Fennell's 1st grade class investigating earth worms, paying close attention to their defining characteristics. We used color paddles & lights to see how the worms reacted & compared length using standard & nonstandard units of measurement. It was such a fun learning experience.  It's going to "bee" a great year!

The Value in Unexpected Lessons

Mrs. Lejeune is as sweet as honey! She presented me with a jar of yummy mountain honey with the honeycomb inside from a recent trip she took to Tennessee. Before I brought this amazing product home to enjoy for myself, I decided it would be a wonderful learning experience to share with my friends. The honey with comb inside provided us an awesome opportunity to observe, question, explore, taste and much more.  My friends agreed the honey tasted sweet and was so delicious. They loved exploring the comb with different magnifying glasses.  We learned that a honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by honeybees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.  We concluded by writing about this awesome experience.  This gift supplied wonderful writings, vocabulary expansion, experimentation, questioning, etc...  "Higher-order” thinking questions require my friends to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information instead of simply recalling facts.  I am a planner, but I've learned to stop and take time for unexpected learning experiences.  They can be the best!  Until next time enjoy your kindergartners. I sure am enjoying mine!

                                      

Matter "Matters"

We had a fun two weeks exploring the states of matter! Some investigations we enjoyed:

Orange Soda - from orange juice. 

Jell-O - Representing the 3 states. 

Balloons – Vinegar and baking soda react, forming carbon dioxide, a gas, which fills the balloons.

Dancing Raisins - Carbonated beverages are filled with a dissolved gas called carbon dioxide. Bubbles accumulate on raisins making them  light enough to float up on a “bubble elevator.” 

Root Beer Floats -Representing the 3 states of matter. 

OUR BAT HOUSE

What a beautiful day for exploring and investigating our "Bat House".  I love the bat house. It is an amazing tool for observation and investigation for my friends.  This morning, we took a walk to observe and explore our bat house. We were thrilled to discover that it appears it may have inhabitants. We concluded our investigation on this gorgeous autumn morning with donuts and returned to class to write and read about bats. Bats are an important part of our ecosystem and bat houses are a real bonus for bats and my friends, as well!  Project-based learning offers my friends important opportunities for critical thinking, problem-solving, self-discipline, communication and teamwork. I love exploring and investigating this fascinating world with my friends!  I am thankful my friend Weston built our bat house years ago.  His gift of learning continues and I am sure will continue for years to come.

 

 

Hatching Time!

This month, my friends hatched chicks!
I love giving my friends experiences with life science while integrating language arts and mathematics throughout these real world experiences. It was so fascinating to watch the chicks emerge!  We loved listening to them call out; we called this singing. I hope my friends will remember this amazing experience for many years to come. I know I will! 

LASM Field Trip

      

I love taking my friends to the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum.  We participated in the Bugs, Beetles and Butterfly class, attended "The Little Star that Could" planetarium show and had so much fun exploring in the Discovery Depot.  We concluded our day with a yummy meal at McDonald's. Such a "bee"utiful day filled with many new discoveries and so much fun!

Chemical Reactions

My Busy Bees enjoyed creating “Elephant's Toothpaste” this week.  We've discussed chemical reactions for weeks and even composed a song about chemical reactions. We've had so much fun learning about and exploring different chemical reactions! Elephant's toothpaste is the result of a chemical reaction that creates a rapid expansion of foam.  It looks like a volcano of foam that produces so much foam an elephant could use it as toothpaste! Chemical reactions are always so much fun to create and fascinating for children to observe!