Happy Spring!
This past month has been a lot of fun in the science lab. Since we have had so much rain lately we decided to investigate how rain falls. We all enjoyed making our rain clouds and filling it with “rain” and seeing it fall out of the cloud! We had a great time learning about the solar system and enjoyed mixing and painting with our very special moon dust.
We then went on to our planting unit. We enjoyed examining the plants and were able to name the parts of the plant. We learned how some plants came from seeds and some could self-root. Since the weather was uncooperative we decided to plant indoors. I hope the vegetables your children planted are growing well and are almost ready to be planted outdoors!
For Earth Day we talked about recycling and learned the different ways we can help our environment. It was fun to recycle our tires (Cheerios) by condensing them into smaller pieces that we could use for roadways, parks and mulch. The children really seemed to understand how important reusing is and talked about how they recycle in their own homes. We then made a wonderful fizzy, foaming globe of the earth. Ask your child what ingredients made the globe fizz.
Since the sun has not been generous in making her presence known, we decided to take matters in our own hands and create some lovely yellow “sunshine” play doh. Using only 2 ingredients, hair conditioner and corn starch, we made the yummiest smelling play doh ever!!
We investigated bubble colors and pattern, using our hand held lenses. The children were able to see that the bubbles were mostly all octagons and were made up of many colors.
It was a fun day when we visited a farm and all took turns milking a cow during our farm animal unit. It was quite delightful to the children when they got to squirt me with our “milk” – there were many laughs and fun was had by all.
We were able to get outside a bit last week and we had fun with centrifugal force. The children thought it was magic that made the water stay in the cup, but I was able to help them understand centrifugal force was the same force that helps them stay on a roller coaster. We had a lot of fun practicing with legos before moving on to water.
During our last weeks of school we are looking forward to releasing our butterflies after watching them grow from caterpillars. We will make a water fountain and learn the science behind how it works, and will create an explosion in a soda bottle. We will make our very own homemade colored bubbles to use for our bubble/field day and create a foamy fountain. Finally, for our end of the year finale, we will make fireworks in a jar!!
As the school year begins to wind down and thoughts turn to pools and beaches, I want to take a moment to tell you how much I have enjoyed being with your children and watching them grow and learn. We had many laughs and so much fun in science. I will miss my friends that are moving on and look forward to seeing my friends that are continuing their Park Shore journey in the fall. I look forward to seeing you at the Graduation ceremonies and hope you have a truly amazing summer!! Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to spend the year with your children!
Fondly,
Miss Tina