Another Close Look at Ice

We spent time with ice experts this week!  Early in the week, we watched as holes were drilled into ice and found out that the ice on our pond is 7 inches thick.

Our other Ice Experts were hockey players! We saw all the equipment that a hockey player needs to wear and talked about playing games with a PreK4 alum, his sister,  and his dad.

And, finally, we had time with icebergs for one last time in the classroom!

We looked at animal tracks in the snow this week as well, and experimented with painting prints by walking classroom animals in paint and then printing on paper.

Scenes from the classroom:

Until Next Time,

                                                                           Michele

Snow, and then NO!

We had a very quick week of snow and did get outside in it for a bit. Our study of ice and snow has continued with story time readings of books about winter, and the addition of a thermometer in our window to  talk about warm and cold.
The children's block play continues to be a community activity, with cooperative turn taking, stories, and ramps and cars.

We are getting better and better at dressing ourselves to go outside. It's rare that someone forgets that snow pants go on first!

When we are stuck inside, we have some fun music and movement songs that we follow along with, including "bean bag alphabet rag."

We have added a new sensory material, "slime", this week. It's been very popular as we pound and shape it and poke it with pegs!

Until Next Time,
Michele

Ice and Snow, Continued....

We are hoping for snow, and have talked about where snow comes from. This week  we conducted an experiment  wherein we looked at  jars of snow,  ice, and  wateras sthey melted, and predicted which jar would have more water. Many of us were surprised when the jar of snow had less water!

We had a visit from the lower school science teacher, and we learned about thermometers, measuring temperature, and that ICE is colder than plain water. We've decided that we need to add "temperature" to our weather person's job, and are looking for an outdoor thermometer that will help us to decide if it's warm or cold outside.

Finally, we got to experience ice in real time when we went outdoors and scooted around on a very frozen pond on the property, staying on the shallow edges and watching the PreK 3 teacher skate!

we predicted which jar would have more water!

Our art projects this week have continued in the colors and feelings of winter; we painted on glass and then printed our paintings onto paper, collaged shiny and colorful bits and pieces, and printed snowflake shapes and painted and folded paper.  

Block play in the room continues to be an important part of our morning. The children share blocks, ideas, and take turns together, sometimes with support, to keep the block rug active and engaging. We were very interested in ramps this week, and knocking things down......

Until Next Time,

Michele