Giraffes aren't really that tall, right?

Welcome to the savannah! We have a small giraffe in our dramatic play area, and a lot of kids were asking how tall a giraffe really is. So, we made an almost life sized giraffe, with 6 feet legs and an 18 inch tongue!

Surface tension

Last week for science lab, Bronwyn's mom came in and did a lesson about surface tension. Did you ever wonder how a water bug walks across the water? Surface tension! 

The first experiment involved pepper sprinkled into a cup of water. What happens if you dip your fingers into the pepper and water? Now, add a squirt of dish soap. What happens now? Ask your child what the results were!

For the next part, each partnership had a pie plate with milk in it, and we squirted 4 squirts of food coloring, one color in each corner. We then added a squirt of dish soap in the middle of the plate- what happened?

Tide pools!

As part of our tide pool trip preparation, we played "guess the seaweed" last week. Can you name the types of seaweed we learned about?

"This is so long! Here is the holdfast!" 

Bladder wrack- "this one has air bubbles so I know it has to be bladder wrack!" "What are the air bubbles for?"

Moss- "I wonder why it's brown." "Would manatees want to eat this kind?"

Mermaid's hair- "It really does look like hair!"

"This looks like a smile!"

We also observed some live clams.

"Here is the straw where it gets the food." 

"How does it move so quickly into the sand with only one foot?" "This one is slimy." 

Spring scavenger hunt

For science lab this week, we brainstormed a list of items that we could find on a spring scavenger hunt- tulips, green leaves, rocks, sticks, buds on trees, and dandelions. We wondered if acorns were a spring item, so we added it to the list and went on our way! Armed with clipboards, partners, a one brown paper bag, we headed out to see what we could find. 

When we returned, we shared what we discovered with other partnerships. No one found any acorns, so we decided that it must be a fall item from our fall scavenger hunt!

Welcome to the Wild West!

Centers

Making cowboys and cowgirls at the penmanship center.

Prop making

Listening to Alexander and the terrible, Horrible, no good, very bad day.

Experimenting with objects that sink and float

Shape pictures

Can you tell what we made with shapes?

A picture of the moon and a rocket.

A red ninja trading a carrot for a diamond.

A steam ship and a submarine in the midnight zone.

Riddles!

We are really getting to be riddle masters, and we are really thinking about words that have double meanings! Here is a riddle from this week:

What kind of fish is the most valuable?

A goldfish! 

Some children guessed sand dollar, too! How clever!

Echinoderms!

Last week we learned about mollusks- bivalves and univalves. This week we explored Echinoderms- starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars. We came up with a list of questions about these animals that we want to investigate further. Here are some of our many great questions:

How do sand dollars move?

Why do sea urchins have spikes?

How does a starfish grow its arm back?

Why do sand dollars have flower designs on them?

How do sand dollars eat?

What kind of predators might eat sea urchins?

What are the different kinds of starfish? 

What do starfish eat?

Why do some sea urchins have no spikes? 

Is there a difference between warm water and cold water sear urchins?

And many more! We also looked at different types of sand, and we sorted them into a section of sand that is "coarse" and sand that is "fine." Ask your child what the difference is!

Welcome to the ocean!

Apparently this never published- so sorry about that!

We are deep into our ocean adventure with Jack and Annie! Here are some things we have been working on:

Scuba divers

Ocean science stations

Exploring different kinds of shells

Sorting univalves and bivalves

Exploring various kinds of coral

Looking at tiny whelk shells from egg cases

Horse shoe crabs