Which Container Holds More?

During one of the circles the children were shown 3 containers of different sizes. We had plastic eggs to put inside of the containers. They were asked to guess which container would hold the least, more and most. They thought that the tallest container would hold the most! Time to test it out! First we estimated how many eggs would fit in the smallest. They came up with 2, 4 and 3. The actual number was 8. Next, we had to estimate a higher number for the black container. They guessed 14, 16 and 15. It actually held 31 eggs. The tallest container only held 16 eggs. Wow the shortest container held the most eggs!

At Home Connection: Place different sized containers in the bathtub during bath time and have your child pour water from each container to see which holds more or less.

Awesome Possum! Or is it Opossum?

While discussing activities that we did on March Break, Cole shared with us that his Grandpa told him about Opossums.  This lead to the reading of the story Possum Magic.  We also did some research on possums.  We discovered that in the Australia, where Possum Magic takes place, the animals are possums.  In North America, the animal is called opposum, although many people simply call them possums, either is correrct. We also looked at a world map to see how far Australia is.  Next week we will do more research.


Below, you can link to the Youtube reading of Possum Magic:

Possum Magic on Youtube

Cole illustrated a picture of a possum hanging by it's tail and one "playing possum", or pretending to be dead to avoid predators.

The book Possum Magic, by Mem Fox

Our Grandma Poss and Hush.

Mmmm Pizza!

Our house centre has recently been tranformed into a Pizza Restaurant.  The children are having fun acting as chefs, servers and customers.  They love acting as grown ups!

Cole' Survey!

Cole wanted to find out if his friends at school thought a slushy would dissolve or not!

Palaeontologists and archeologists!

Some of our friends are searching for dinosaur bones, fossils and rocks at the sand table. Nathan
and Steven found a long neck and a pterydact fossil!

Ashley's Survey!

Ashley brought in a survey from home. Will a straw sink or float? Lots of friends have signed it.

Loud or Soft?

Our survey this morning asked if they thought the bottle of buttons would be louder than the bottle if rice when they were shook. Everyone thought yes. We tested it out and everyone was right! Our science table is busy as our friends are listening to many instruments to sort them as being louder or softer.

Surveys!

Cole created a survey at home and brought it to school to ask his classmates if they thought a kiwi would float or sink. We are leaving it out today to have the kids sign it. Mrs. Hawkins happens to have a kiwi in her lunch today! We will use it later to observe what happens!

Can you create a survey at home during the break? Bring it to school after the break to share with us!

Cole's survey.

The kiwi in the pail of water.

We discovered that the kiwi sank to the bottom of the pail. Most people guessed that it would sink!

Graphing!

Today the children created a graph of what kind of stuffed animals they brought in.  They found that the largest group was dogs (8), followed by bears (5), then lions (2) and cartoon creatures (2). Then there were single giraffes, elephants, hampsters, mice and rabbits.  We demonstrated that when the animals are all laying in a pile, you could not easily tell how many of each kind there were.  However, when we organize them by type of animal and display them on a grid, it is easy to count and record how many of each type there were.  The children had fun spending the day with their stuffed animals and wearing their pj's.  Have a great March Break!

Shaking Instruments!

We had a variety of containers with different materials in each one. The children had to listen as we shook each container to guess what was inside. They were off to work at the art centre creating their own shaking instrument. Thank you to all of the parents who donated items for our instruments. There has been a lot of excitement in the classroom this week!

Sink or Float?

Yesterday during circle time we discussed objects that sink and float. The children chose an object and we guessed what we thought the object would do. Sink or float! We tested the object to see if we were right! Today we put objects out at the science centre for the children to guess and test on their own!

New centre!

Straws and Connectors are out today. Nathan made a "tv thing." He was thinking of an antenna. Logan made a windmill!

If You Give a Pig a Pancake!

Today we read the story If You Give a Pig a Pancake written by Laura Numeroff. The children created their own stories at the writing centre. Here is the story that Braelin came up with. If you give a pig a pickle he's going to want hot sauce to go with it. Then he'll need water but the water spilled. Then he needs a napkin to wipe up the water. Nothing else happens. The end!

Our Band!

With our home-made instruments!

Percussion instruments!

Today we discussed that a percussion instrument is an instrument that you hit or tap to make noise. We had to choose a percussion instrument and we played them to some music. During activity time materials were left out to create their own percussion instrument. They were busy!
Carter made cymbals to bang together! Logan made a "hitter/tapper" instrument with 2 cups!

At the end of the day we used our home-made instruments and we played them to some music! What a great band!

Lincoln Logs

This week we brought out some Lincoln logs for the children to play with.  Logan and Carter built a cabin, Kody and Steven built a tower and Trentin made an obstacle course.  Lincoln Logs are a true classic, they were invented in 1916, by John Lloyd Wright, son of  the world famous architecht, Frank Lloyd Wright. Lincoln Logs were named after US President Abraham Lincoln, who was born in a log cabin.

Out Taste Test!

Today, as a follow up to our scent smelling, we had a taste test.  We tasted lemon, cinammon, mint, banana, coconut, vanilla and chocolate.  The overwhelming favourite was chocolate with 16 children choosing chocolate as their favourite. Then we compared our scent graph with our taste test graph.  The children were surprised to see that chocolate took over first place, when it didn't receive any votes in the scent test.

Representing Numbers

We have been practising making numbers and representing them in different ways. First, we pick a number off the calendar and we begin:

Number Line: I add the chosen number on the number line with a few other numbers. The children have to figure out which numbers are missing. I leave blank spaces before and after the chosen number.

Number: We practise making the numbers using number rhymes. The rhymes will be coming home soon for you to practise at home.

Picture: We draw a picture to represent the amount. Here Zander drew 8 pools. We discuss the importance of leaving space when drawing so it makes it easier to count. We also talk about how important it is to draw small and easy things when we have to draw a lot of them.

Tally Marks: The children are getting good with tallying. We try to incorporate in their play during activity time to record things.

Ten Frame: Before we mark off the boxes on the 10 frame we try to guess how many blank boxes we will have left.

Practise this activity at home!