Pre-K Are Hunting for Fossils!

Pre-K has been exploring fossils!  We have been looking closely at the fossils and then trying to identify them in our fossil book.  We found some fossils that looked like snails, shells and plants.

Drawing what we see in our own fossil book!

We used dinosaur cookie cutters on our play dough.

We started to use some of the tools that a paleontologist uses when looking for fossils: goggles and brushes.

We even made some fossil rubbings!

We put together dinosaur bone puzzles too!

Our Silkworm Moth Laid Eggs!

What a surprise!  Our one female Silkworm moth has laid eggs! She seems to rarely move except to lay her eggs!

In three days the eggs will turn black if they are fertile, white if they are infertile.  They will hatch in about two weeks after being being subjected to "winter" in the refrigerator.  I read that they can live in the fridge for up to five years!

Three Silkworm Moths Have Emerged!

The silkworm moths - Bombyx mori - have emerged from their cocoons! First graders have been waiting patiently for the moths to arrive!  Finally after about two weeks, three have hatched!

The first one too hatch!

The domesticated moth only lives for 7 to 10 days.  They no longer are able to fly - their bodies are too heavy for their wing span and they don't eat. Their sole job is to mate and lay eggs.

The darker moth is a female (larger),
the other two are males.

Screening River Rocks in 2nd Grade!

We have begun looking at a river rock mixture.  These rocks are found at the river bank - where the river and land meet.  

After looking at the mixture, we noticed there were different sizes and colors of rocks.  We even found small pieces of mica and pyrite (fool's gold) in the mixture.

After learning that some people use this mixture to make roads, sidewalks and other structures, we experimented with three different sized mesh screens to see what happened when the mixture was poured over them.

The large rocks stay on the large screen,
the medium sized rocks stay on the medium screen,
the small rocks stay on the small screen,
and the teeny rocks fall through all three screens!

The mixture that fell through the screen is more colorful
than the rocks that stayed on the screen.

The sand is so soft.

We tried putting the mixture through all three screens at once.
It worked!

Sometimes you have to shake the screen so the smaller rocks
can get through.

Kindergarten and the Flower Experiment!

Kindergarten has looked at all the parts of the tree and know how each part helps the tree to survive.  We were curious to know if the water really does go from the roots of the plant all the way up to the top!

We decided to put food coloring in a jar of water with a daisy in it and see what the flower looked like the next science class.

We looked closely at the flower before we drew it.

One class voted for red water.

Everyone drew the flower in the vase as it looked -
the water was very dark.

The bottom of the stem started to change color right away.

One class decided to split the stem and put one half in plain
water and the other half in blue water.

We made predictions about what we thought the flower would look like the next science class: the petals will be blue (or red or rainbow depending on the food coloring used), the stem will be the color of the water, the flower will grow, the water is going to disappear.

One week later...the flower petals turned blue!

The flower in the water with the red food
coloring didn't turn very red.  It was pink.

The underside of the petals have red lines on them.

The flower is so droopy!

This flower was a surprise!  The class put in red, blue, green
and yellow food coloring into the water.  The petals show all the
colors but in different locations on the petals!

Another droopy flower, but the side of the flower with the stem
 in plain water remained white, while the side of the flower with the
 stem in the blue water turned blue!