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!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Evaporation and Condensation

We had a blast exploring condensation and evaporation with chemistry students from L.S.U.  Evaporation and condensation are two processes by which matter changes from one state to another.  We loved creating vapor clouds and shrinking balloons in liquid nitrogen.  It was interesting to observe the amount of liquid present inside the balloons once they had been in contact with the liquid nitrogen. Several of my friends concluded that they would like to become a chemist when they grow up. What a great day filled with so much learning and fun investigating in K!

Learning about Biodegradable Products

     Before our Thanksgiving break, we brainstormed materials used in packing the gifts that so many of us ship and look forward to receiving from family and friends during the holidays.  We discussed the packing peanuts (Styrofoam) as one type of packaging material.   We conducted a simple experiment to test and see if Styrofoam is good for the environment.  I for one have been guilty of throwing the packing materials out immediately upon taking the gift out of the box.  We predicted what we thought would happen  if we added H20 to the peanuts.  We used regular Styrofoam peanuts and compared and contrasted them to starch peanuts.  When immersed in water (H20), as my friends like to call it, the starch peanuts (Starch Tech), immediately began breaking down and dissolving.  After, observing and attempting to break down the Styrofoam peanuts with H20 and other materials we had on hand, such as vinegar and alcohol, we concluded that the Styrofoam peanuts did not dissolve or disintegrate which means that they wouldn't be a "friend" to the environment.  We came to the conclusion that we can help the environment if we use the starch peanuts, when we have a choice.  I introduced the word "biodegradable" to my friends.  I will continue to build upon this and we will continue discussing what products will biodegrade, when we return from break.
     I have discovered that when I immerse my friends in science for an entire year, they develop a love of it, as well as becoming excellent problem solvers and critical thinkers; this in turn greatly enhances their reading and math abilities.  Until next time, wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!