Weekly Newsletter

May 7 – 11, 2012

Ms. Emory & Ms. Nancy’s Class Room 208

Travel by Land…

As we discussed ways to travel by land, we focused on cars and trains. The children enjoyed our “ramp science” activity where we covered wooden ramps with bubble wrap, aluminum foil, and wax paper. First we looked through a non-fiction book called CARS, and then we used our matchbox cars to test the ramps. When we put a car on the bubble wrap ramp, it didn’t move, and then it went very slowly down the ramp. One child said, “it’s bumpy!” Another child said, “it needs bigger tires like the cars from the book that drive on rocks.” When we put cars on the aluminum foil and wax paper ramps, they went very fast! We could not decide which one was the fastest; one child said, “why don’t we vote?” We made a small graph and listed each child’s name under the ramp they thought was fastest; 2 thought the bubble wrap ramp was fastest, 2 thought the aluminum foil ramp was fastest, and 12 thought the wax paper ramp was fastest. Our “train cargo snack” was a big hit! A round train track was drawn on the table, and there were 3 different stations of goldfish, raisins, and animal crackers. The children used egg cartons cut into three’s as their trains, drove their trains on the track, and stopped at the stations to fill their trains with “cargo.” We practiced our hand-eye coordination as we used spoons to scoop and pour our own snack. When their train was full of cargo, they sat down at the table to eat the snack. The children enjoyed incorporating the word “cargo” into their vocabularies as they played!

Travel by Water…

This week we made our own boats by painting and gluing ropes onto Styrofoam trays. We then tested our boats in the water. The children were so excited to see that their boats floated! Later the children began filling their boats with water to see if they would sink. As the boats were submerged in the water, the paint began to disappear. We took the opportunity to discuss the difference between washable and non-washable paint; the children loved scrubbing all the paint off their boats and watching the paint flakes float in the water. Unexpected teachable moments are always the most fun! We read The Boat Book and looked at awesome pictures of real boats; we learned that boats can use paddles, oars, sails, motors, or steam to move. After reading the book, we conducted a sink or float experiment. We put different classroom materials into a clear bucket to see what happened, and we made a list of whether each item floated or sunk in the water. We then added rocks onto a Styrofoam tray to see how many rocks it would take to sink the boat; it took 39 rocks! Then a child said, “now let’s take rocks away and see if it will float again.” After taking away 11 rocks, the boat floated back to the top. What an amazing learning experience! We certainly practiced our early math skills this week.

Mother’s Day…

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful room 208 mommies! This week we discussed Mother’s Day, why we love our mommies, and how we can show our mommies that we love them. We read Baby Bears Sees Blue by Ashley Wolff, a story about a mommy and baby bear who discover colors as they wander through nature. We also read Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman, a class favorite about a baby bird who is searching for his mom.