Young Scientists and All About Me.
We have been busy with some of the unit activities -
Young Scientists and All About Me.
Exploring sounds. The kids made a number of shakers using empty water bottles and various materials such as beads, rice, cotton, feathers, beans, flour, paper etc. Next, the kids made a prediction whether the material will make a sound or not, will it be loud or soft; and then they experimented.
Exploring pipes. We wondered what can we do with the pipes? How can we connect pipes? What could we do if there are pipes and marbles, tubes and water?
Using scooters and parachute is a fun way to develop the gross motor skills... and simply HAVE FUN:)
Independant reading time after snack became one of the kids' favorite activities. They like to read and share their reading with a friend or in a small group. The kids' storytelling skills have improved significantly from the beginning of March.
Our Sharing The Planet unit is coming to the end. The Busy Bees have been doing their final reflections on the unit - what they understand under the central idea of the unit and what kind of connections they can make when they think about sharing our planet with the other living creatures. The kids have been working really hard during this unit and we are proud to share with you their thinking and art work based on their observations, knowledge and experience. Be amazed how original and creative are the students in PreK3.
The second swim session is on!
The Busy Bees are demonstrating that they are Risk-takers in every single swim class by overcoming their fears while trying out new skills or practicing in the big pool.
Usually, our swim teacher, mr. Swapan starts class with some warm up excersises in the splash pool, then all kids move to the platform for collecting the rings as a fun activity for their smooth transition into the big pool. Chaka-chaka-choo-choo song (ask your child about this song) helps everyone to move away from the platform and start practising walking on tippitoes in the water; jumping in and climbing out the pool. Swimming with noodles is always a great fun to end the class.
What an exciting day!
The Busy Bees happily shared what they have been learning at school, and most of all, they were extremely proud to show their e-portfolios using computers. Interesting converations, questions, reflections and many laughs happened during the sharings, playing games or working with playdough.
Thank You, dear parents for being so supportive and positive (and fun!) during the conferences. We hope you had enjoyable time at PreK3!
Collaborative learning and group work
Playing and learning in a small or big group settings is fun and engaging, but it is also challenging enough for kids to be able to apply their social and communication skills. Working together involves problem solving skills; and it is the best way for developing their language skills and gaining new knowledge.
Take a moment and look how does learning happen in our class.
Making carrot cupcakes to celebrate March Birthday boys: Henry, Joe and Eish.
Busy Bees learning and applying their skills through Art Project throughout the unit.
The kids have started the art project "Sharing the planet". They have been given a choice to create either an ocean life, a jungle or a garden based on their interest. At first, the kids have beeing making background for their art work using blue food color and water painting for the sky and fingerpainting for greenery. Next, the kids can choose their own choice of art media in creating their piece. The project should be finished by the end of the unit.
Bengali New Year Celebration at AISD
The Busy Bees have been actively engaged with various inquiries about living creatures. Where the animals live, what do they eat, how many legs do they have, with what other animals do they share the environment, how are we similar and how are we different - these are only some of the leading questions that motivate the kids into their inquiries.
We have been reading books, watching short video clips about the animals in order to gain new information, but the best learning happens when the kids are engaged in a play. During making a farm, sorting insects, playing with big plastic animals, modelling with play dough or playing a memory game, the kids share with each other their knowledge about the animals and build up intersting conversations about the topic. Here are few thoughts that was said during the play:
All animals have babies – Taya
Tiger is my favorite animal. Tigers live in jungle. – Ibrahim
Spiders live in the web because they like climbing. – Eish
This green parrot lives in Bangladesh. – Ihsan
Snakes are very dangerous; they have poison in their tongue. – Ibrahim
Snakes are yucky, they are smelly… I don’t like snakes. – Ihsan
Sharks live in the water. – Dayan
Sharks have sharp teeth. – Eish
Bear eats fish. What this turtle eats?... I don’t know, maybe small butterfly? – Ihsan
Lizard looks like crocodile. They have the same kind of tale. – Joe
Tigers and snakes cannot be friends because snakes do not have legs to run fast. – Bo
Lions, tigers, leopards, zebras, they all look the same. – Francesca.
Eagle lives in America. – Henry
I have seen eagle fly in Bangladesh, outside my house. – Ihsan
Outside of the classroom, working collaboratively with the other preK3 class, we created a water world using the kids art work; placing sand, rocks and shells in the tubs; poaring water and placing the right animals into the water - blue water for ocean fish and green for pond creatures.
In this unit, the children have been given a chance to present their creative art work - animals made from play dough. The presentation is one of the most awaited activities in the classroom - the kids are so proud to show what animals they have made and share their knowledge. During the presentation, the other kids can ask questions, add more information or give positive feedback.
In PE classes we have been practicing yoga by doing fun animal poses and moving around and making sounds as animals.
As the Pet visit activity, Cat Mud, farm rooster and guinea pig Ud-Ud were the visitors this time. Thank You Bo, Dayan and Ms. Farhana for sharing your pets.
Morning Meeting without a written message
From now on, the Morning Message has been changed into Morning Meeting when a Special Helper of the Day has certain responsibilities and the kids can be actively engaged in the various activities. So what do we do during the Morning Meeting?
1. Singing a Good Morning song - Special Helper chooses rhythmical movement (clapping or tapping) or musical instrument to play.
2. Singing a Days of the Week song and Special Helper will move the star on 'today's place'. Class will think out of any words that start with the same sound as a day such as Wonder for Wednesday or Taya for Tuesday. Special Helper will choose one from the list of words and we all sing "Today is ...." song.
3. Special Helper shows on the board what number is a school day and moves a busy bee clip to the correct number while the others buzz as the bees.
4. Special Helper chooses from different shapes and colors his very special Pattern of the Day and starts it on the board. Then he/she asks any students to continue his/her pattern. Others show their agreement or disagreement with the special hand movement - shaking hands for yes and rolling hands for no.
5. Special Helper will count how many kids are at school today and puts a right number on the board. He/she will choose the other student who will check the counting by counting the heads again.
6. Special Helper will choose two songs to sing together from our song book.
7. Special Helper will be the first to line up and leads the line.
We share our environment with the other living creatures.
· What are the different creatures all around us?
· What do they need?
To find out what other living creatures are sharing the community with us, we went to explore the wild life around the school.
Pet visits give the Busy Bees an excellent opportunity to observe and make connections between different animals. Do we and pets share any common needs?
Our first visitors were cat Nibbler, two fresh water tortoises and puppy Pony.
Various activities has been designed to support the kids curiousity and to motivate their further inquiries about living creatures. Reading books, sorting photos of animals, creating environmental centers using art and craft are only few of these activities.
This week our Busy Bees took part of two big events at school: Opening ceremony of SAISA Basketball Tournament and meeting two visiting poets Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger.
"I see a pair of green gloves"
" I see a glass box"
" I see a few holes"
"I think this is a fish tank"
"I think the gloves are to feed the fish"
"I think we could fill in water to the box"
We are scientist and we need to be safe while we do our experiments. We are communicating and we are making connections. We made ooblick and many of the Busy Bees said that it looked like cake batter. We talked about the texture and the way it moves from a solid to a liquid.
The Busy Bees spent an entire morning painting the things that they see out in the garden. The observed the thing that they need to paint very carefully spent a great deal of time on perfecting their drawing. We did a gallery walk and made sure we listen to all our friends while they explained their masterpiece.
What did I learn as a scientist??
What is sink??? Does the object really stay at the bottom??
We experimented with ramps and found out that some objects rolled down the ramp faster than others. The conversations round the table really helped the Busy Bees to have a better understanding about how they need to set up the ramp, and the objects they need to roll down the ramp.
Why do I hear a strange sound??
Can I grade the shells in order of size??
Can the shell make an impression on the sand??
Our very own compost bin
The Busy Bees had many questions about the compost bin and they have recorded their observations. They will use the compost to grow their own plants.
Watching seeds grow
The young sceintist planted the seeds themselves and they made sure that they watered the plants everyday.
Sorting seeds in the science center helped our students with their fine-motor skills as well as their observation skills. They were given a mixed bowl of seeds which they had to seperate in to four small bowls.
What is a microcope??