September 27, 2011

Diggin' for Dinos!

Dinosaurs may be extinct from the face of the planet, but they are alive and well in our imaginations. ~Steve Miller
 On letter D day we became Paleontologists, got our hands dirty, and started digging for dinosaurs! 

 We made all sorts of discoveries!  
 Volcanoes, ravines, rivers, and "little houses" were made for the dinosaurs.
Some of us took a break from the digging and played some dinosaur games...
 We sang a song about a Disco Dancing Dinosaur and used our fine motor skills to cut and glue dots on our dancing dinosaur!
 In our Science Observation Journal, we made predictions on how fossils were made.
 We made our own fossils in play-dough and recorded our observations

 The kids found all sorts of ways to create fossils using different parts of the dinosaur.... the head, the tail, the backbone, the feet, etc. We decided it would be fun to be a real Paleontologist and discover which part of a dinosaur's body was fossilized into real rocks!
Learning the difference between plant-eating and meat-eating dinosaurs was LOTS of fun and very yummy! We used our snack-time to help us decide if we would be a Herbivore or a Carnivore or even an Omnivore!

 We also used the letters in our name to help give the Stegosaurus his spiky backbone:

Who knew you could have so much fun with dinosaurs!

September 26, 2011

Fred the Classroom Caterpillar

We just finished talking about the life cycle of a butterfly.......

And then Fred came along....

See him starting to build his chrysalis...
 After watching him crawl around and munch the leaves like "The Hungry Little Caterpillar," he finally made himself a cozy cocoon.

We can't wait to find out what happens next!!!

September 16, 2011

All things B!!!
Bubble Art! 
 
 Bubble Art Solution: 
1/2 C Water
1 TBL Dish Soap
3 TBLS Tempra Paint

Gummy Bear Graphing!
One-to-one correspondence is a math skill that will build a foundation for preschoolers.  Using our gummy bear graph, we were able to answer the following questions:
What colors do I have?
How many of each color do I have?
Do I have more or less of one color?
How many more do I have of one color than the other?
How many less do I have of one color than the other?
How many do I have compared to my friend?

 TIME FOR OUR TEDDY BEAR PICNIC!!
 

BUBBLE BLOWING!
     
 I'm a little bubble, shiny and round.

I gently float down to the ground.

  

 We made time to settle down and read our favorite snuggly friends a story!


How exciting to find bees buzzing in the flowers during our teddy bear picnic!

The only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you're a bee...The only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey....and the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it. 

~ Winnie the Pooh

The wind lifts me up and then I drop.
Down to the dry ground where I pop

September 13, 2011

How do I Change my Apple into Applesauce?

We became Scientists today!
Our question was: "How do I change my apple into applesauce?"

We had so many predictions
"Take it to the store!"
"SMASH it"
"Use Magic!"
"Put it in a blender!" 

Since none of us had any magic tricks up our sleeves, we first decided we should cut the skin off the apple and cut it into pieces..... This was MORE FUN than we could EVER imagine!

Oh NO!!! This apple did NOT want to work! I loved the facial expressions!

Everyone got a turn to peel and core the apples. But it was still not applesauce yet! 

We tried some of our predictions, but the apples still were not soft enough!

Putting our heads together, we figured out a solution
We discovered that heat changes things! It changes an ice-cube, so why not an apple?!
After heating our apples on the stove with a little water, the apples became soft and "SMASH-ABLE!"

It never felt so good to SMASH something!!!

We had to use our BIG STRONG muscles to mash these apples! 
 
 With everyone's help, we finally did it!! We finally CHANGED our APPLES into APPLESAUCE!!! 

And it made for a YUMMY snack! Especially when we added a little cinnamon to it!!

We also discovered this was an IRREVERSIBLE CHANGE. Sometimes you can change things back to the way things started, but this time... their SMASHING got in the way!!

What a FUN (and delicious) discovery!!! Well done Scientists! Now go draw your observations in your Science Journal!!

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. 
~Edwin Powell Hubble

September 7, 2011

A GREAT FIRST DAY!


My hair is washed, my sneakers squeak,
I'm so excited, I can hardly speak!
New things to do, new friends to meet--
Hooray! It's the first day of school!
By:   Leslie Kimmelman


We had such a FUN day in preschool today! We followed clues around the classroom and learned about Red Rooster's Rules! Building puzzles, singing songs, and meeting new friends made time fly SO fast! Crayons, glue, and pencils helped us to create fun projects, and we even made time for some dramatic play!


What are the letters in my name?

Look at those FINE MOTOR SKILLS!! 
Coordination between hand and eye is one of the basic skills a child needs to master --- good thing it's a WHOLE lot of fun!! 


 Everything is more fun with a friend! 


Our Lemonade Stand! 
That must be some GOOD lemonade! Just look at that line!!