During the month of March our science focus has been on weather. We have talked about different components of weather including clouds, wind, temperature, and precipitation. We have also talked about seasonal shifts in weather, especially changes we expect to see with the transition from winter to spring. During Number Corner we learned about the old saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." We talked about characteristics that we might see with a lion or lamb day and we have kept a graph of lion and lamb days for the month, along with weather journals. Kindergarteners are quite hearty, so it doesn't take much for them to decide it's a lamb day!
While weather is always a central part of ECO, for the past few weeks we have focused on the seasonal change and the warming trend we expect to see. Several weeks ago when there was still snow, children were challenged to stop the melt. We made giant snowballs and used a variety of materials to try to protect them from the heat of the sun. While some of the snowballs lasted longer than others, the very mild temperatures and direct sunlight proved to be too much and they were all completely gone within two days.
This week, we learned about wood frogs and a trick they have for surviving in winter. They have special chemicals that act like antifreeze. When cold weather comes, they bury themselves in the mud and become frozen for the winter, thawing out in spring when the earth warms up. We played a tag game in which children were ribbiting frogs and the tagger was the cold winter and we heard a funny frog story. For our exploration time children were each given an ice cube frog to build a winter home for. We will check on these next week to see if it has been warm enough for frogs to thaw!
