Happy Cold Day!

It has been very busy in Kindergarten this January. The children have been transformed into engineers and are investigating bridges, which all developed when I brought out Popsicle sticks for the children to explore with. The first thing they did was make bridges, so I knew right away this could develop into a neat project. We went outside to observe and explore our own playground bridge. We were examining the materials it was made out of, how it was attached, and what was over and under the bridge. The students then investigated the different types of bridges and the shapes found in the structures. We wonder... "what is the strongest shape?" Many of the children predicted rectangles and squares to be the strongest, but there was only one way to find out! The children made three shapes out of toothpicks and marshmallows. They counted the sides, the number of marshmallows, and recorded what they saw. After they drew what they made, the children pressed down on the square and rectangle, and they both collapsed! However, when they pressed down on the triangle, it was strong and sturdy! The children discovered that structures were built with more triangles then they thought after close examination to different photographs that were taken from around the area. If you look at a truss bridge, you can see the triangles very clearly. Thank you to Mr. Chesnic for donating the beautiful photographs! Next investigation.... "what can we do to make squares and rectangles stronger?" Stay tuned to find out our results! The children have also been investigating bridges in our block center, through water colors, fairy tales, and songs. Again, if you have any model bridges in your home, such as from a toy set, we would love to borrow it!

The children have also been working hard on learning their color words, and knowing that a color has a name and they can read and write the names of the colors. They completed many matching activities, as well as learned similies using color words. They worked so hard, I thought it was important to celebrate all the wonderful learning happening in the classroom! The children put on their safety goggles, made their predictions, and observed what happens when dish soap and food coloring come into contact with eachother in a bowl of milk. The colors dance all around the milk! This experiment is very simple to do and the children loved it. Fill a pie pan up with whole milk. Place a few drops of food coloring in the middle of the pan. Dip a q-tip in dish soap, and then dab the soaked q-tip gently in the middle of the colors. The results are beautiful!

Above: Aurora, Avery, Sophia, Riley, and Charles are fascinated with the dancing colors!

In writing, the children have been using what they learned when writing informational books to now writing narratives (stories.) The most important thing an adult can do to support a child's literacy is to immerse the child in a culture of storytelling. The Common Core State Standards emphasize the importance of narrating a sequence of events and describing a reaction or feeling in response to the events of the story.  The children learned that the first step in writing narratives is to tell their story to a friend first. The second step is to plan out their pages of their booklets by pointing to each page. The third step is to start writing, illustrating, and adding DETAIL!  Narratives include characters who speak to each other, and any feelings that the character might have. The children have loved learning how to incorporate speech bubbles into their stories, just like the books in their library have! They are currently writing narratives about a time when they got hurt. They call them their "ouch" stories. I can't wait for you to see.

I am very excited for this Friday. The children will be making snowmen out of shaving cream, glue and recycled materials! The project is inspired by the book "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert. I am looking forward to it, and I know the children will have a snowball of a good time!