Kindergarteners happened to be returning from art when they were invited into Mr. Hubbard's class to meet a visiting service dog.  The excited report I received was that they met Mudge!

Enjoy the long weekend!

This week children engaged in a science exploration centered on bird beaks.  Our focus question was "Which beak works best for different kinds of food?"  We began by looking at pictures of various birds, describing their beaks, and contemplating what kind of food each beak might be suited for eating.  Children were then given a variety of bird foods and asked to use their imaginations a bit (pirate booty as crunchy grasshoppers, mini marshmallows as caterpillars).  Using five different "beaks" they tested each food, deciding which beak worked best for each food.  In our follow up discussion children noted that the best beak is really dependent on the kind of food- a straw like beak is great for nectar, but not much else, and spoon like beaks were challenging for us, but birds like pelicans use these beaks to scoop fish from water where they probably work quite well.

This week during ECO we had a "Roxaboxen" theme.  We began by reading  the book "Roxaboxen" by Alice McLerran, a story about a group of children and the imaginary town they create using what they find in the desert environment:  "There across the road, it looked like any rocky hill--nothing but sand and rocks, some old wooden boxes, cactus and greasewood and thorny ocotillo--but it was a special place..."  We made connections between the special space in the story and our space in the forest, despite the different environments.  Children were then invited to create their own Roxaboxen using what was around them and lots of imagination!  This theme has carried over to the playground during After School and recess as well.

This week we continued exploring motion and how things move.  We spent time discussing what good scientists do, beginning by asking a question.  Once they have a question they make a prediction.  Then they do several tests to see if their predictions are correct.  It's okay if the prediction is wrong!  Next, good scientists study their results and see if they can learn something from them.  Often this will lead to more questions.

We went through this process with the question "Which ball will go down the slide fastest?" We all made predictions and then tested each ball 3 times, using a timer to see how fast each ball traveled.  Our results were surprising and all of our predictions were wrong!  We looked carefully at the balls and somebody noticed the biggest ball seemed to be the fastest, while the smallest was the slowest.  As we were contemplating this, another child astutely observed that the fastest ball was also the heaviest.  We decided we have some more testing to do to determine whether it is weight or size that makes the faster ball! (Alas, I was too busy managing timers and balls to take any pictures of this, but below are some pictures of children exploring motion in other ways.)