There are so many wonderful things happening in Kindergarten... I just don't know what to write about! I will start by congratulating Sophia and her family on their new addition! Sophia is so excited to have another little brother. We were so happy for Sophia and her family, that we decided to write a class book on advice we had for what  to do with a new baby. Being experts, the children were very excited to do this! Here were some of the children's ideas:

• Luke: Rock the baby
• Sophia: Care for it
• Sarah: Hold its head up and give it a pacifier 
• Gabriel: Don't forget to change its diaper!
• Aurora: Give the baby a nap
• Sam: Give the baby a bumbo
• Mackenzie: Give the baby a rattle 
• Riley: Feed it 

Our bridge project has really kept the children engaged in their learning. A couple of weeks ago, the children discovered that the triangle was the strongest shape because the weight is balanced when you press down on the point of it. This led us to wonder how we can make a square (or a cube) become as strong as a triangle? They explored with gumdrops and toothpicks and built squares and cubes. They then added triangles within their shapes to make the shapes stronger. It worked! The children were so excited. I let them do more exploring with the materials, and they loved creating sturdy sculptures.

Today, the children made bridges from cups and paper. They predicted how many pennies it would take to make the bridge collapse. Working collaboratively with a partner, the children tested their predictions. All 18 students found out that the unstable bridge could only hold 1 or 2 pennies. Shortly after, however, the children started to make some discoveries on their own. Luke discovered that if the paper is layed on the cups a certain way, that affects the stability of the bridge. Sam discovered that if you drop the penny rather then gently place the penny, the bridge is more likely to collapse. Most of the children also discovered that if they put the pennies on the edge of the bridge (on the bottom of the cups) and not in the middle, the bridge would not collapse. We came together as a group and shared our results. We talked about how when structures collapse, fall, melt, sway, etc... engineers need to problem solve and change the sculpture in some way.  Instead of using a flat piece of paper, the children folded a piece of paper accordion style. They put the folded paper on top of the cups as done before, but they discovered that the bridge never collapsed when they put the pennies in the creases! They were independent problem-solvers and had a blast during the process!

 I would also like to remind you about the 7th Annual Family Reading Festival will be held Saturday, February 8, from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the Main Library.  The library is excited this year to once again be headlining Jim Gill who will be joined on stage by members of the Akron Youth Symphony. Last year about 1,500 folks visited the event and enjoyed the many activities.  Please see the link below for all of the great activities available at the event.

http://www.seisummit.org/1family-reading-festival-annual-day-of-reading