There are two things we LOVE in our classroom. Science experiments and iPads!! We love using the school iPads to help us write/publish our stories in Writer's Workshop & to help us learn and practice our sight words.
The bag competition was a HUGE SUCCESS for our school. We didn't win for our class (although I am shocked considering how many bags my class brought in!!) but we did win for all of the schools in our area! The class was pumped & we even got to incorporate math (making groups of TENs) into the project. It took a while to count all of our bags but the class stuck with it! We discussed what would be the easiest way to keep track of our bags and how to show this data. The class decided it would be easiest to put them into groups of TEN (to make it easier to recount later on) & then they decided we should use tally marks to keep track of how many altogether. So proud of them!
The class became experts on pumpkins back at the end of October. They were living like scientists in the classroom & learning how to investigate something that they were interested in. Everyone at The Atlanta Academy knows that October is one of our FAVORITE months of the year. We (Mrs. McKenzie & myself) love love LOVE Halloween & all of the things that come with the month of October. We love to incorporate it into our daily teachings as well. Who doesn't love pumpkins?!?
To be a true scientist you have to really study whatever it is you want to learn about. We discussed with the class how you can't just glance at an object - you have to really investigate all parts of that object. We got out magnifying glasses & went to work! We used our scientist eyes & noticed all of the lines on the pumpkin. Some of us even pointed out that there were bruises or interesting bumps on our pumpkins! We didn't just look at one part of the pumpkin. We looked at all parts. That meant the stem too! We used our 5 senses & discussed with our patterns what the pumpkin looked like, smelled like, felt like, sounded like, etc. We learned how to use our adjective or describing words so that our partner really understood what we meant. We even incorporated some of our math lessons into our investigation! The class got to measure the pumpkins using non-standard units and then they compared the two measurements with their classmates. We discussed non-standard vs. standard & watched a Sid the Science Kid video on it as well! Their favorite part of the whole day was when we got to see if each pumpkin would sink or float. Well, a very candid & teachable moment happened during this part. We first put the smallest pumpkin in & decided if our predictions were correct or incorrect. Then.. we put the larger pumpkin in. Well, the bucket wasn't large enough to hold the water AND the pumpkin therefore I got all wet and spilled water all over the classroom which made the class erupt in laughter! They had a blast. AND we got to discuss capacity and volume because of it!! A win-win! |
AuthorKindergarten teacher to 12 incredible students. I love photography, traveling, coffee, & board games. Archives
February 2016
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