Friday Fun in Kindergarten!

What a Fun Friday we had in Kindergarten this past week.  We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday all week with fun activities sponsored by the Northview Student Council.  Friday's theme was The Lorax and student council provided mustaches for all of us to wear.  They were funny to look at and did not last very long for some of us...but we did manage to get some photos for you!

   

   

   

You may have noticed lots of green in these photos.  That's because we also celebrated St. Patrick's Day since it is on Sunday and that is a stay home day.  We made leprechaun ears and did some shamrock sequencing in Math.

   

   

   

These kindergarten leprechauns worked hard and sure looked cute for our fun day.  Top O' the Morning, to you!

   

   

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!  

Paper and Water

This week we changed our focus in our Materials in Our World unit of study from wood to paper.  We observed several different types of paper which included newsprint, craft paper, chipboard, cardboard, corrugated paper, tagboard, construction paper, paper towel and a few others.  

We also added water to four different types of paper to see what would happen.  We chose newsprint, paper towel, chipboard and wax paper.  We made some predictions about what we thought would happen.  Then, using our eyedroppers and water, we placed five drops of water on each paper sample and observed what happened.

   

   

   

   

   

   

When we finished, we reported our observations.

We were surprised to discover that three of the types of paper...newsprint, chipboard and paper towel...we all very absorbent.  But the wax paper did not absorb the water.  It kept the water out, which means it repels water.  Repel was a new science word for us and now we know what that means!

Making Particleboard

Today was a very fun and messy day in Kindergarten.  We made particleboard.  We made a resin or glue out of water and cornstarch.  It felt kind of like play dough.  We worked with the resin to make it soft.  Then we added wood shavings and saw dust to the resin and created shapes.  We let them dry and were able to bring them home.  Now, they may not look like particleboard but this investigation helped us understand the process of how it is made.

   

   

   

    

    

   

Sometimes Science is messy.  It's OK.  Sometimes it has to get messy in order for us to learn something.  These scientists are amazing and they are learning so much!!

Changing Wood

On Friday, we wanted to find out how we could change wood.  We brainstormed lots of ideas how we could change wood.  Most of them weren't safe ideas because they involved saws and other tools that would be hard for kindergartners to use.  We decided to get our lab coats and safety glasses on and figure out a way to do this!

    

We gathered on the rug and each got a sample of basswood.  Basswood comes from linden trees.

    

We observed the samples carefully.  We soon learned about something we could use that would change wood and be safe for kindergartners to use...sandpaper!  We couldn't wait to get to work changing wood.

    

    

We quickly discovered that while sanding does change wood, it is hard work and it takes a long time to change the wood very much!

    

   

We also soon learned that all that sanding did not create very much sawdust.  We recorded our observations in our journals and gave our hands a rest.