Happy Halloween!

Here are some scenes from our Halloween Walk, 

October 31, 2013

The Week in Review

October 21 - 25, 2013

We provided the children with blocks, wooden slats, and marbles. We stacked the large wooden blocks like stairs. Then posed the question, how can we get the marble to travel from the top stair all the way to the bottom stair? The children came up with various strategies such as angling the slats between blocks, adjusting the slats so they align and adjusting the large blocks. At the beginning of the week we took pictures of the children’s work to capture their ideas. These pictures helped the children build on their ideas throughout the week.

                     

 Ms. Doris provoked the children’s ideas about transformation with sugar, yeast, warm water, and cold water. Ms. Doris and the children observed what happen when cold water was added to the sugar yeast mixture, and what happened when warm water was added to the sugar yeast mixture. The children noticed how the warm water created lots of little bubbles when it came in contact with the yeast. As time passed, the children noticed how the bubbles were multiplying and creeping up towards the top of the container. CJ stated, “Its rising.”

        

              

The children have been working on manipulating the flow of water. We provoked the children’s thinking with funnels, clear plastic tubing, a water table and a plastic peg board. The children experimented with the clear plastic tubing by weaving it in and out of the holes of the plastic pegboard. The children noticed how the tubing that was intricately woven in the pegboard, required a large amount of water in order for all the water to travel through the tubing.  The water easily flowed through the tubing that was looser. The children also manipulated the tubing to make the water flow more easily.

   

  

The Week in Review

October 7 - 11, 2013

The children are very interested in creating pathways for their balls to travel on. Last week, the children explored with the wooden moldings; they observed how easily the ball traveled from one molding to the other. We wanted to extend the children’s thinking about pathways by providing them with different type of molding. We provoked the children’s thinking by supplying them with Whipple balls and flat white planks that had several grooves. Right away, the children noticed how their Whipple balls would roll off before reaching the second plank. Several children used the white planks to create a wall, this helped their ball stay on the pathway. Later in the week, we provided the children with small marbles to see if a different sized ball impacted the distance traveled on the white planks.   

   

Mrs. Tyler and the children have been very interested in the idea of transformation. This week Mrs. Tyler provoked the children’s interest using sand and water. She placed dry sand and water on art trays. The children used an eye dropper to add water to the dry sand. At the beginning of their exploration, the children noticed how the sand became more and more pliable.  When more water was added to the sand, the children observed how it changed in texture, appearance, and consistency .

                        

The two liter jug, clear plastic tubing and the metal serving tray was a great way to provoke the children’s thinking about the fluidity of water. The children poured the water into the two liter jug, and watched as the water traveled down through the clear tubing into the metal serving tray. A few children tried collecting the water at the bottom of the clear tubing with their hands. When they cupped their hands, then observed how the water dripped through their fingers and the side of their hands. Adam used the small measuring cup to collect the water that was coming out of the tubing. He then poured the water that he collected back into the two liter jug.

                                         

                           

This week the children have been exploring and documenting the gourds. We began our exploration using our five senses to examine the gourds. After examining the gourds, we drew them in great detail. The teachers guided their drawings by pointing out the size, shape and texture of the gourds. The children then created their best drawing of the gourds using a black tip marker. Next week, we will focus on the various colors of the gourds. This will help us decide what colors we need in order to paint the gourds.