Time

  

In math we are starting to explore clocks and time.

Along with learning the names of the hands on the clock and figuring out where the numbers are placed, we have also been experiencing how time can be relative.  The way we did this today was to experience a minute while doing different things.  First, everyone marched around the room for 1 minute.  Next, we tried to be completely still and quiet for a minute.  Most of the children thought that the minute seemed much longer when one is trying to be quiet.  Last, we tried to jump up and down for a minute.  Within 30 seconds everyone was sitting on a chair.  It is hard to sustain some activities even for a minute.

All this week, we will be practicing telling time. The children who already know how to tell time will be my helpers.  We will start by learning how to recognize the hour or "o'clock" times.  

On Wednesday, I would like your child to find something from home that can be used to tell time.  It can be anything from a watch, to an egg timer, to a sun dial.  

Happy Earth Day

Every year we try to think of a meaningful way for the children at Summers-Knoll to participate in the Earth Day celebration.


This year the children decorated colorful 
re-usable bags with Earth Day images and slogans.  The bags were made to give away to unsuspecting  shoppers.  Kroger's on Maple graciously said we could give bags to people outside their store.  

Today, the children in our class and Renata's buddied up and drove to the store.


Each child gave away 2 bags:  the bag they made and one made by a child in Mrs. Carpenter's class.

It took quite a while to give away all our bags.  Amazing to us not everyone wanted a beautiful, free bag.  But many people received the a bag with excitement and enthusiasm.  One man asked if he could have several bags because he was helping some senior citizens with their shopping and he knew they would really appreciate such lovely bags.  A benefit of it taking an extensive time give away all the bags, is that we got to watch many people proudly carrying their groceries out with in our bags.  

Thank you Kroger's for being a strong supporter of local community projects.

Milk and Soap

This month's Kitchen Science Unit started on Friday with an experiment using milk and soap.  Well, actually, it started with water and food coloring, and built up to the grand finale of milk, food coloring, and soap.

We quasi followed the scientific method.
First, I explained what we were going to do.  Each child would get a plate with some water on it.  I would put 4 drops of food coloring in the water.  Then they would dip a Q-tip in the water.
What do you think will happen?
The children hypothesized: "the colors will mix in the water", "the Q-tip will get the color on it", "nothing will happen"...

Then we did the experiment.  Each child had a plate of water with four different color drops of food coloring.  They dipped a dry Q-tip in the water.  Next, they dipped a Q-tip with liquid soap on it in the water.

Since this was a highly "controlled" experiment, when each child announced their findings, there was a wide variety of response.  For some the color started mixing with the water right away; for others the colors didn't move until the soapy Q-tip was placed in the water.  But everyone noticed that the colors drew slightly towards the soapy Q-tip.

The plates were cleaned and it was time for the second half of the experiment.  Milk was placed on the plates.  Together we discussed differences between milk and water.  Children said: "It comes from a cow", "Milk is healthier than water","It has vitamins", "It has calcium".  I explained that milk also has fat in it.  The milk I brought in was whole milk so it had more fat than 2% or skim milk.

With a bit of knowledge from the water part of the experiment, the children made hypothesis about what they thought would happen to the colors in milk:
"the same thing", "I have no idea", "The milk is thicker so the color won't mix as much".

Four drops of color were added to the milk.  The colors barely dispersed.  The children dipped a dry Q-tip into the milk.  There was no change.  The soapy Q-tip was dipped into the plate and there were squeals of delight.  The color rushed away from the Q-tip like an "explosion".  After watching, stirring, and a few spills, we cleaned up the experiment and discussed our observations and conclusions.

What happened?: "The milk turned light purple", "The water turned black but the milk turned purple", "The colors moved a lot when you put the soap in the milk."...

After many excited descriptions, I asked the children if they had ever hear of molecules.  Many children had, and they shared their knowledge with the rest of the class.  Then I tried to give a simple explanation of what had happened with the soap and the milk.  The soap molecules attract the fat molecules in the milk.

Here is a link with the description of the experiment if you want to try it again at home.  It might be interesting to see what happens with other liquids.

Exclamations!

It is a challenge to find writing projects for young children in which all the children in the room can enjoy and find success.  This activity hit the mark.  Both goals were achieved. 

In the morning I read Yikes by Robert Florczakto.  The story is told only using exclamations.  Later in the morning, the children brainstormed as many of the exclamations from the book they could remember.  I wrote them on the board. Next the children drew their own drawings to go with an exclamation.  Here are a few example.  You can view the rest of the exclamations are on the bulletin board in our room.

  

Math=fun

Sometimes we are having so much fun, it takes a minute to realize that what we are doing is math.

Friday one child asked me:

"Are we going to do math today? 

Before I could answer, he answered his own question:

"Oh, we did; I know why this is math, because we had to figure out how many to use and figure out the pattern."

This week we worked with patterns and calculating:

Monday, I wrote this on the board:

1 green

1 yellow

2 greens

1 yellow

3 greens

1 yellow

4 greens

1 yellow

5 greens

1 yellow

6 greens

I asked if this was a pattern.  At first, I heard "no" 

but quickly the children saw it was indeed a pattern.

Tuesday, we used the pattern to make a necklace. 

Wednesday, the children had to calculate how many greens and yellows they used to make the necklace.  They could draw a picture, count, add, any means to figure out the problem.

The children also wanted to make necklaces using their own pattern so I made a chart on the board listing 6 color choices and the children got to put an X by two colors. The top 4 choices would be the color choices for the next time we made necklaces.

Thursday, the children helped me dye the pasta.  One tablespoon rubbing alcohol with a few drops of food coloring, mix, and lay out to dry. (Evidence of this activity was probably still on your child's fingers when they came home Thursday night.)

Friday, the children had to create a pattern on paper.  Then they used the colored pasta to make necklaces (or snakes). No two designs were the same.  Fun was had by all.

New Chapter Book

.

Today it was time to start a new chapter book.  Instead of me choosing the book, I gave the children the choice of 4 books.  I read the first couple pages for each book:

• Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
• Abel's Island by William Steig
• Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

The winner with 5 votes was Mr. Popper's Penguins.

I mentioned to the class, if the book they voted for was not chosen, they might want to get it out of the library to read with their family.

Snack schedule

Here is the snack schedule for the remainder of the year:


April 18-22... Andrew
April 25-29...Eli
May 2-6...Nilay
May 9-13...Arwyn
May 16-19...Arnav
May 23-27...Varvara
May 31-June 3...Kit
June 6-9...Gabriel




Reminder: 
-bring healthy snacks
- no nut or eggs.


Thank you

FestiFools

Thank you to Ruth, the children, 

and the FestiFools crew

 for the amazing puppets

Another year, another bunch of Fools in Downtown Ann Arbor. 


And what a day it was. 

The weather was not as beautiful as last year but that did not damper the enthusiasm.  

Over 20 SK families braved the wet and cold to help maneuver the puppets through the parade and participate in the foolishness.

 

Puppets, costumes, drumming and dancing in the street. 

The puppets and people were a bit damp in the end but no one had lost 

their smiles!