What does a Scientist do?
How are we connected to our Land? |
Thank you for all the memories and moments of wonder your children shared with me each and every day! Enjoy a summer full of exploration, discovery and fun! (maybe some relaxation in there every once in awhile) :D What a beautiful way to end our field studies for this 2017-2018 year! With the exception of our first 20 minutes out, we were blessed with gorgeous weather and the Ks enjoyed being in nature, learning about the plants and pond critters. A Big THANK YOU to our parent volunteers (Brent, Beth, Natalie, Elizabeth) for spending the whole day with us! The Cross Conservation area is 4800 acres of rolling foothills compromised of grasslands and aspen forest. The land was donated to the province of Alberta by Sandy Cross and his wife Ann, in 1987 and is dedicated to:
Talk to your child about what they liked best at Cross Conservation area. To help start the conversation, here are some questions: -What did the First Nations people use some of the plants for? -What kind of critters did you find in the pond? -What plant did you sketch in the forest? Today, the students and I reviewed the parts of a butterfly and talked about how each wing is an exact mirror image of the other. They were introduced to a new math term: symmetry. We discussed how, if we make line down the middle of the butterfly, one side is the exact copy the other.
Using this knowledge, the students drew their own butterfly on styrofoam plates and then used marker to colour them to their hearts desires. We then sprayed them lightly with water before flipping the plate over and pressing it onto paper. The result of their work is below: Ask you child about their art piece. Review what the word symmetry means and see if they remember the steps they took in order to complete their butterfly print. This week the students and I have been investigating patterns and making various kinds using colours, sounds, actual students, dance actions. The Ks were then given loose parts from our classroom to make their own pattern. They were challenged to label their pattern and try to come up with something more complex than ABAB. Ask your child about their pattern below. Have them try to make patterns at home with items around the house. Challenge them to create something other than our basic, ABABAB pattern. Today, we said goodbye to our butterflies and wished them a safe journey as they continue the cycle all over again. When I asked the students what kind of adventures they thought the butterflies got into, it created a string of ideas in the classroom, which they wrote about in their journals. Some creative stories were more fictional than others!
"the butterfly will try to lay eggs, but the egg will accidentally fall, but don't worry, a leaf catches it" "the butterflies will drink from flowers and make friends with other animals" "the butterflies will play with their parents, then go to school with their friends (worm, ladybug and bee)" "the butterfly will drink a special flower and turn into a rocket butterfly! it will be really fast!" tWhat a special day full of exploration and learning! The Kindergarten team set up many activities out front in our naturalization area, where the students were challenged to: - create a musical sound/instrument using found materials - use their imaginations in the "mud kitchen" - design small worlds using animals, nature and "little house/mushroom" structures - use sidewalk chalk in a different way These activities were extended over the next week, where the students spent the morning doing "outdoor exploration." It was wonderful to see students collaborating with others, as well as witness the inventiveness that stemmed from their elaborate imaginations! Unfortunately, one of our butterflies did not make it. Although the students and I were sad, it gave us an opportunity to observe the butterfly with our microscope and try to figure out all the parts.
Have a conversation with your child about all the parts they can see in the following pictures. Ask them what they know about each part - can they sing you the song we learned today? Last week, 3 butterflies emerged from their chrysalis and we now have a total of 10 fluttering about in our enclosure. The students have been observing them closely and asking questions about them:
Mikayla - how do they turn into butterflies? Soumyaa – how long does the caterpillar has to stay in the chrysalis until it turns into a butterfly? Juliette – I wonder how butterflies flap their wings? Rhys – I wonder why the chrysalis has bumps on it? I think so it has more room to grow Bryn – I wonder if I’ll be able to see them turn into a butterfly, seeing the chrysalis starting to open William – how did caterpillars get to earth? Wynn – how do butterflies get all those colours? Keaton – I want to know how they form a chrysalis? Layton – how do they get all of those shapes in the chrysalis? Axetin – how do they turn into a butterfly? Mason – how do butterflies lay eggs? Alex – the butterflies have to lay eggs on the leaf Emma – if a bird is looking for an egg, I know how to speak caterpillar and I just say... Aiden – the chrysalis can feel everything Devin – I think maybe caterpillars can turn into a moth The students worked hard to sketch like a scientist, outline their work in black sharpie and then use water colour paints to add the details. Check out their paintings: Exploration is such a large part of our day and really lends itself to extending the learning happening in our classroom. Today, Rhys took his superhero and sketched like a scientist to create a "twin" for his hero. This led us into our next activity, where we used the same skills Rhys practiced during Exploration time to sketch our chrysalis! Have a look at some other learning happening during exploration time!
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June 2018
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