Pre-K Explores the world of Plants!

Pre-K's enthusiasm all started in the fall when we planted apple seeds.  Nothing happened!  We discovered that new apple trees usually are grown from grafted trees and not a seed!  So we moved on....

What is this?

 After reading a book by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, we figured out that this might be the same bulb they planted in the story: a paperwhite bulb.

We drew the bulb.

We planted the bulb in pebbles.

We gave the paperwhite bulb lots of water!

We waited and waited and then....

look how tall our paperwhite bulb grew!  But....where is the white flower? Maybe this bulb wasn't healthy.

So....we decided to plant some bean seeds!!

We gave it water.

And now we have to wait and see what will happen with our bean seeds!

Kindergarten Goes to the Environmental Study Center!

What fun we had learning about Fantastic Frogs!! The Environmental Study Center in Brooklyn was fabulous!  We were greeted at the door by a ...

A beautiful boa constructor

We were lead into a room that had a vast tank with an American Eel and a Toad Stonefish.

The eel came right up to the top of the tank to look at us!

The Stone Toadfish stayed hidden in the shell the whole time!

Then came the fun part!!  We observed fire bellied toads! We learned that although they look poisonous with their bright orange tummy, they actually aren't poisonous at all!  It's called mimicry!

And the best of all...we got to hold them!!

They feel bumpy!

And oh so squishy, slimy!

We also got to touch a corn snake!

There were fish to look at...

A chatty Cockatoo!

Two of the biggest turkeys we're ever seen!

Even a very sleepy hedgehog!

We had such a great time today!  And when we got back to school, what should be waiting for us?

Our Tadpoles!!!

Exploring Liquids!

1st grade has been shaking, rolling, tipping and describing different liquids.  We learned that all liquids have properties that can help us describe and sort them.

The corn syrup is translucent.

This one rolls strangely.

The soap is bubbly and foamy.

The cooking oil is bubbly and transparent.

We also have been looking at liquid levels and liquids in containers.  We measured one small vial of water into four different containers.  When we looked at all the levels of water in the containers, some looked like they had more water than the others because of the shape of the container!

Playing liquid memory game!

Kindergarten Explores Paper!

Over the past month, kindergartners have been investigating eight different types of paper!  They have drawn on the papers with pencil, crayon and marker. They have folded the papers as many times as they can.  And lastly, they have used droppers to put water on the papers.  All the while, we were wondering...what happens?

Some of the papers we are exploring!

It is so hard to draw a circle on this paper!

When you try to write on the paper towel it gets a hole!

You can't see the crayon on the wax paper at all!

 We learned how paper is made from trees.  We remembered that a long time ago, some people used birch bark for paper.  We tried writing on it too!

Crayon works best!

This pile is paper that is hard to write on.

The corrugated cardboard is NOT easy to fold!

Look how I can fold it again!

We can build with paper too!

 

The paper rips when it gets wet!

I can see through the paper towel.

You can push the water around on the wax paper.