Dissolving science lab

What would happen if the gingerbread man didn't have the fox's help to cross the river. Could he swim across safely? Today we worked on a dissolving science lab- we learned what dissolving means and we predicted what we thought would dissolve all the way, dissolve a little bit, and not dissolve at all. With our science buddy, we tested a sugar cube, drink powder, a skittle, and a piece of the gingerbread man. Some of our results surprised us! Mst of us thought that the sugar cube would not dissolve, but it eventually did! Ask your child what happened to the items we tested. 

Ahoy, matey!

Our dramatic play area has been turned into a pirate ship! Here are some things I heartfelt rom the play in this center:

"Captains don't dig!"

"Quartermasters get a share and a half, so I get more treasure."

"I spy land ahead from the crow's nest!"

"Swab the deck, it's chore time!"

"Sleep on your hammock, I will sleep on the floor next to the goat."

"The captain is the most special, so he gets his own cabin." 

Centers for this week

Here's a peek into some of our literacy centers this week-

Pirate maps

Dramatization

Gingerbread baby houses

Word searches

Word patterns

Here is our word pattern board of patterns we have done. Can you name any of the patterns? How many words can you make?

Week of 12/9/13

VvHere is a glimpse into some of our math centers this week...

Venger shape pirates

Bingo plus one

Pirate search and find

Make a tower- who has more? Who has less?

Pirate video

Pirates!

Here is a glimpse into some facts we have been learning about pirates!

Word building and write along

Each day we do a word building activity in which we learn new word patterns and make real words and silly words with those patterns. We practice reading them to our partner and even make silly sentences. "The school had a pool with water that was cool and built with many tools." "The boy who had a toy was filled with joy and his name was Roy." 

We also do a write along activity in which everyone writes a given sentence on whiteboards. We have started doing tongue twisters- these are tricky and easy to practice at home! 

"Busy bees are buzzing."

Building pyramids

.During this science lab, we built pyramids out of different materials- sugar cubes, unifix cubes, pattern blocks, and color tiles. Which was the easiest to use? The most difficult?

5 senses science lab

For science lab this week, we read a book called "My five senses." We thought about what senses we use the most, learning that our senses work together to help us navigate our world. We did 5 sense tests with our study buddy and recorded our answers. 

Touch test- reach inside the paper bag and feel the object without peeking. What did you feel?

Hearing test- shake the plastic egg. Way do you think is inside the egg?

Taste test- the color of 2 kinds of liquids were changed with food coloring. What do you think you tasted?

Smell test- smell two containers. What do you smell?

Sight test- look at 2 close up pictures of objects. What are the objects?

Mummies video clip

On Friday, we finished reading Mummies in the morning and made this video clip as a class. After each chapter, we draw a quick sketch to help us remember what happened. I photographed these sketches in random order, and then we worked together to put them in sequence. Now we can watch a video that tells the story through pictures! Ask your child to help you tell the story!


Mummies in the morning

Math centers

A peek into some of our math work this week...

Venger shapes

Pyramid building

Quick images

Turkey pattern pictures

Mayflower roll the dice game

Graphics practice

Graphics practice video

Here is a brief video showing how we do graphics practice at school. I hope this is helpful- sorry for the delay!

Welcome to our pyramid!

Math centers

This week, we are working on some new games for math centers- ask your child which ones he or she visited today. 

We have a tricky search and find Egyptian scene.

A jack-o-lantern find the missing number game- what number is missing here?

Stackers- one person is the architect describing a building, the other is the construction worker building the building, but the architect cannot see the builders project until it is completed. He has to give explicit directions according to his blueprint plans- "please put a red cube on the left side. Please put a blue cube on top of that." 

A counting game to fill up a haunted house. Who had more? Who had less?

And a venger shape trapezoid picture- what did we make?

Fifth grade buddies

We have started working with our fifth grade buddies. Each Friday afternoon, our buddies come and play games and read books with us. We hope to use our time together in many different ways this year- math games, science activities, etc. this week, we read our fact books about Egypt to our buddies.