A Visit From First Grade Researchers

On Friday morning, we had a visit from the first graders in Mrs. Anderson's class.  These first graders recently completed a unit of study on penguins.  During this unit, the first graders researched different types of penguins.  They each wrote and published a nonfiction book about penguins.  These researchers shared their work with our kindergarten class.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

This was such a great experience for our kindergartners and first graders.  The kindergartners got to see what first graders can do and the first graders had a chance to share their hard work.  It was also very fun for me to welcome a few of my former kindergartners back for a visit.  Well done, first grade researchers!

Soiling and Washing Fabric

The latest material that we are studying is fabric.  Earlier this week, we observed several different types of fabric.  We discovered that fabric comes from many sources...plants, animals, silkworm cocoons and even oil.  We learned how fabric is made by actually taking two different types of fabric (burlap and wool) apart.  The threads in fabric that run lengthwise are called the warp.  The threads that run crosswise  are called the woof.

Today we learned about soiling and washing fabric.  We started by soiling a piece of fabric with three different things...chocolate syrup, ketchup and mustard.  The scientists really enjoyed this part!

   

   

We met back on the rug to discuss how we could make these stains disappear.  Each table had a basin of water and some brushes.  We decided to try washing the stains off.

   

   

We gather back at the rub to talk about our observations.  While it seemed like the stains were lighter, they were not gone.  We needed to find a way to make them go away.  We decided to add some laundry detergent and try scrubbing them again.

   

   

This step seemed to help us be more successful.  We did observe that, for the most part, we were able to get the chocolate syrup and ketchup out of the fabric but the mustard was a bit more stubborn.  It was not gone.  We decided to let the fabric dry and we would observe it again.  Since we do not have a clothes dryer in our room, we had to dry our fabric the old fashioned way...on a clothesline!

   

What a great, hands on way to learn about soiling and washing fabric.  Great job, scientists!

Recycling Paper

On Monday morning, these kindergarten scientists got right to work recycling paper.  We successfully made new paper from old paper.

   

   

We tore some single ply toilet tissue into small pieces and put them into a small, plastic bottle.  Next we added water to the bottle and shook it up for 10 minutes.  This helped us make paper pulp.

   

Then we strained the pulp by pouring it through a screen.  The water went through and the pulp stayed on the screen.

   

After that, we squished the water out of the pulp using our fingers, another screen and a sponge.

   

   

Next we carefully peeled the new paper off of the screen and placed it on newspaper.  We used the plastic bottle as a roller to roll on the new paper to squeeze out even more water.  This worked well because newsprint is super absorbent!

   

Last, we placed the new paper on some wax paper and put it out to dry.  When we finished, it was time for these scientists to clean up.  They are amazing helpers!

   

Here is a sample of our finished product...

...we had fun while we learned about recycling paper!