Helping Hands for Hunger

Today was the end of our service learning project for the 2013-2014 school year.  Our project was called Helping Hands for Hunger.  Our students and staff collected food items, coins and grocery bags for The Eagan Pantry.  Our goal was to collect at least 100 items per classroom.  Each hand represents five items collected by Northview students and staff.

I wanted to make sure my kindergarten students had a part in this project.  We started by counting each of the 132 items collected by our class.  We organized the items and placed them in to groups of ten.  Then we counted them!

Next, we sorted the items we collected into five groups:  canned goods, boxed items, household goods, bathroom items and condiments.  After that, we packaged the items in to bags and boxes and transported them all down to the gym.

   

We spent the next part of our day writing about the service learning project and what it means to us.

   

We shared our stories with our reading buddies.

   

   

We had a great all school assembly to celebrate our accomplishment in the school gym.

 It was a great day.  And we learned that it feels really good to do something for others in need.

Fabric and Water

Our most recent Science investigation included us becoming fabric scientists…we had to investigate what happens when water gets on different fabrics!

We worked with three types of fabric samples:  terrycloth, satin and nylon.  We observed and discussed each sample and then decided to use eyedroppers to add water to each sample.  We could hardly believe our eyes!  The water absorbed into the terrycloth really fast.  We decided that must be why it is a good fabric for towels!

When we added water to the satin, we discovered that the fabric changed color…it became darker.  The satin also absorbed some water but some also soaked through it.

The nylon was the most surprising to us.  When we put the drops of water on the nylon, the drops just sat there!  We learned that the nylon repels water.  How cool is that??  Some of the water soaked in to the nylon eventually, but not all of it.  We decided this must be why nylon is used on snow pants, jackets and waterproof clothing.  

   

   

We love Science!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It was so good for me to be at Northview today with 23 of my most favorite people on one of my most favorite days of the year…St. Patrick's Day!!  There was green every where!  We read a story about a clever leprechaun, did a shamrock sequencing activity for Math, wrote about feeling lucky and painted rainbows.  Such a great day!  Thanks for cheering me up, kindergartners.

I feel lucky when...

   

Painting rainbows!

   

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Some of our shamrock dogs!

Fabric

We are continuing to learn about Materials in our World in Science.  Today we shifted our focus from paper to fabric.  We started by doing some nonfiction reading about fabric during our read aloud time this morning.

Next, we explored several different types of fabric samples.  The conversation in the classroom was so exciting!  The fabric included samples of corduroy, satin, nylon, terrycloth, denim and organza, just to name a few.  

   

We came up with a list of words to describe the fabric samples.

We are excited to learn even more about fabric.

We are also working hard in our Guided Reading groups.  It is so fun to see these children become such good little readers!

   

Paper and Water

Tuesday brought us back to the science lab to investigate what happens when water is placed on paper. We used five types of paper samples for our investigation:  newsprint, chipboard, waxed paper, paper towel and corrugated paper.  First, we made predictions about what would happen to the samples if we added water to them.  Then, we put drops of water on each of the paper samples using an eyedropper.  Finally, we waited and observed.  Wow!  The results were exciting!  The paper towel was the most absorbent and the waxed paper was the least absorbent.  Water made the color of some of the paper samples change.  It was a really fun activity.

   

   

   

  

   

Recycling Paper

Today we made our first trip to the Northview Science Lab.  We went there to make recycled paper.  We are studying paper in Science right now and since we were going to a lab, we had to wear a lab coat, just like real scientists do!

Recycling paper was really fun.  We put some paper inside a jar, added water, put the lid on and shook the jar for five minutes.  That was hard!

   

   

   

Liam shared what happens when too much water gets on paper!

Next we had to get the paper pulp out of the jar and on to the screen so the water could come out.  We placed another screen on top of the pulp and blotted it dry with a sponge.  Then we used the bottle as a rolling pin to squeeze out the rest of the water and make the recycled paper flat.

   

We carefully peeled the recycled paper off of the screen and placed it on some waxed paper so it could dry overnight.

Then we had to all help clean up the lab!  The kids were great.  Don't they all look like scientists?  There could be some future scientists in this group!

Mr. Chris Wong, Kai's dad, was our guest reader today.  We had a busy but great day in Kindergarten Plus!