DISCOVERY DAY! and PEP RALLY!

Today our Discovery experiment involved our noses and using our sense of smell.  We read a story about the sense of smell; discussed good smells and bad smells; and then played a smelling game.  With eyes closed, children were provided with a different food item to smell.  After everyone had a smelling turn, children tried to identify the object they were smelling.  The items included cinnamon, coffee, vanilla, onion, lemon, chocolate, and orange.

 Pre-K's trip to the Pep Rally.  Go Vikes!

Neat Nachos!

Neat Nachos - create a slideshow

We made nachos today!  We were in either the group that:

1) cut the tortillas

2) cut the strawberries

3) cut the blueberries

or

4) made the orange zest

We baked our tortillas until they were nice and crispy and then we added all the yummy treats, 

nacho bar style!  

It was delicious!

1-24-12

DISCOVERY EXPERIMENT CONTINUED....

Last Thursday, we started an experiment that we followed-up with today.  Mrs. Spolter filled a styrofoam cup with water and asked the children to make predictions as to what would happen if the cup of water was put into the freezer.  Predictions made by the students included...

~It will turn from a liquid to a solid.

~It will get hard.

~It will freeze.

~It will turn to ice.

~It will be cold.

When the cups were taken out of the freezer today, the children observed and commented that the cups were broken.  We discussed many possibilities as to why the cups burst.  Then, Mrs. Spolter explained that when water freezes, it expands (or grows bigger).  We also discussed other things that expand such as a balloon when you put air into it.

 After we finished our discovery experiment, we headed to the Art Room to see Mr. Cicetti.  During today's Art Class, children could choose from the following activities....

...painting at the easel.

 ...making paper sculptures.

 ...making a turtle out of clay.

 ...doing texture drawings.

 ...using modeling clay.

 ...and glazing clay "pinch pots" made in last week's Art class.

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DISCOVERY DAY~ICE CUBE EXPERIMENTS~

In the photos below, children were encouraged to carefully and closely watch the ice cube put into a bowl of warm water.  After a few minutes, the ice cube flipped or turned.  The reason:  The bottom of the ice cube was melting in the warm water.  This made the top part of the ice cube more heavy, causing it to flip.

The experiment in the photos below show 3 different bowls, each with an ice cube.  Mrs. Spolter put different ingredients on the ice cubes.  Once ice cube was covered with sugar; another was covered with salt; and the last one was covered with brown sugar.  The students made predictions as to which one would melt the fastest.  We learned that the one covered with the salt melted the fastest.

Just a reminder...

Tomorrow is our first day back to the pool since break!

Please send in your child's suit if you haven't done so already!

Thanks!

Cooking... 1-17-12

Today we made Crunchy, Sweet, Snowflakes!

We had a great time cutting our tortillas into snowflakes,

painting them with a little oil, 

baking them,

and then sprinkling them with some colored sugar and powdered sugar!

But the best part was eating them!

DISCOVERY DAY 1-10-12

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 ARCTIC ANIMALS~To begin our Discovery activity, we read a story and looked at a poster about animals that live in the Arctic, where the weather is like Winter year-round.  We discussed how these animals keep warm in the Winter.  Student answers included fur, hair, and blubber!  Another child was able to explain what blubber is.

For students to understand how blubber keeps Arctic animals warm, we did an experiment using ice water in bowls and shortening in a plastic bag.  Children put on a plastic glove on one hand.   Each child took a turn putting one bare hand in a bowl of ice water and the hand with the glove in a bag filled with shortening and then putting it in another bowl of ice water.  Obviously, the bare hand was very cold, while the hand in the bag with shortening did not get cold.