Our PreSchool Blog

Our little scientists discovered what happens when when you try to mix oil and water.  Using scientific predictions, the boys and girls made a tally chart of who thought the two would mix, and who thought it wouldn’t mix.  We first poured in our water, ten food coloring, glitter and oil.  While the children were shaking the bottles, they thought it was mixing, but found that once it settled, they separated.  To best describe how oil and water separate, we used magnets and their poles (ie, north repels north, south repels south).  Feeling the force field between the two poles gave a more hands on, concrete explanation as to why oil and water don’t mix.  We then went back to our predictions and found that most of the children predicted that the oil and water would not mix.

The children were introduced to 3-D shapes this month:  Cube, cone, sphere, cylinder.  They reached into the mystery box and used their sense of touch to identify the attributes of the shape inside and ultimately the name of the shape.  They did a wonderful job!

SPHERE!

We started off our week on a healthy note!  These little chefs really got into the cooking mode while chopping and mixing a delicious Aussie Rice Salad.  It wouldn’t be complete without sampling a little taste of our ingredients along the way.  Using fresh red peppers, onions, cilantro, corn and peas, the children were able to add more or less of what they liked.  This is a recommended recipe to all!

Aussie Rice Salad

-3 cups jasmine rice, cooked

-1/2 cup peas

-1 onion, chopped

-1 small can corn

-1 red pepper, diced

-bacon bits

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon mayonaise

1 tablespoon allspice

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro or coriander

As we travel through The Great Barrier Reef this month, we will be discovering sea life of all kinds.  Today, the children put their fine motor skills to work while creating starfish and designing their own fish from The Great Barrier Reef.  Fingertips were in full gear while positioning glue and sand just right to make a star.  Next, the boys and girls practiced their pencil grip while uncovering color on their very own scratch fish.

Our little scientists geared up to learn about two of the three properties of water.  We started with measuring an ice snowman first thing in the morning.  By the time we were ready for small groups, our snowman shrunk!  Discussing temperature and how ice turns into water (and vice versa), the children discovered why the snowman was melting.  We also compared a glass of ice to a glass of water in height and weight.  The boys and girls did an excellent job of recording their findings.   What budding scientists!

At Creative Tots, the weather took a turn for the….tasty?!  The Arctic blast hasn’t stopped us from cookin’ up some yummy, seasonal snacks!  In Ms. Lori’s group, the boys and girls made and edible glacier.  Using Jell-O, wafers and Cool Whip, the children built the layers of their glacier while learning what a glacier is.  In Ms. Leslie’s group, the children made snowman biscuits.  We build the snowman by connecting three biscuits using toothpicks, drizzling on some honey to be sure that our “snow” (powdered sugar) stays put.  Next, we put on the finishing touches using raisins and pretzel sticks.  Miss Katelyn, our special helper and Ms. Manda’s daughter, taught the children about kayaks while making a celery kayak.  Using cream cheese, the children put raisins to represent the seat and pretzel sticks to represent the paddle(s).  In Ms. Courtney’s group, the boys and girls made snowflake sandwiches.  Folding and cutting tortillas was extra special!  Building a sandwich is easy, yummy and healthy!  The children enjoyed making (and snacking!) on our storm of food!

On our Arctic travels today, we discovered lots of new things!  In Ms, Lori’s group, the boys and girls learned about how polar bears stay warm.  With a little Crisco, plastic Ziploc bags and ice cold water, the children got to feel how important blubber is for Arctic animals.  In Ms. Courtney’s group, the children got in touch with their snowman building skills while rolling out some Playdoh to make the letters V, W and X.  The similarities in the “big lines” used to create all three letters helped the children remember how these particular letters are formed.  In Ms. Leslie’s group, the boys and girls created number twelve letter constellations.  Poking tiny holes into the paper made our “stars”.  The children were excited to turn the lights off and see their very own constellations.  We discussed what a constellation is, and the children got to see a very neat video on the Northern Lights!

The Cincinnati Zoo visited our classroom today and taught us how different animals survive in the winter.  She brought two visitors with her….

We had a ball on Thursday during small groups.  Ms. Lori let us create an arctic scene from Greenland with homemade puffy paint and homemade textured sand paint.  The kids enjoyed adding the puffy fur onto the Polar Bear to help keep it warm.  During reading groups, after reading our readers, we played a Cookie Crunch Sight Word game on the Smartboard to polish our sight word recognition.  Then, we used our white crayons on black paper to practice our letter formation and orientation of our current sight words.  Watch out Kindergarten….here we come!