September 28

Caterpillar

Fourth graders found this luna moth caterpillar during recess and couldn’t wait to show it to me. We returned it to a tree and were amazed at how quickly it was camouflaged by its surroundings.


Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 26

Sense of Touch

You have to finger paint when you are learning about the sense of touch! Objects are classified by their texture.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we finished using the cold, squishy, slimy finger paint, we took a print of our favorite design.


Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 19

Lab Animal News

All of my scientists look forward to observing our lab animals! It isn’t often that I catch all three frogs together. Yoda is usually hidden away during the day. As soon as I took this picture, he disappeared.

Jabba likes to go for a swim.


Uno, a Pekin duck, and Percy, a silver appleyard, live in the retention pond behind school. They were hatched in the lab and cannot fly. We had some visiting mallards last week. Our ducks were not very welcoming, and they didn’t stay long.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squirt loves to sunbathe- just one “toe” in the water!


Our tadpole’s front legs appeared last week. On Sunday, he still had a long tail, but today it turned black and has almost disappeared. He is also using his new lungs to breathe.




Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 19

Strange Sights

After we returned from our days off because of the hurricane, my youngest scientists discovered nearly perfect circles of “white dots” on the playground. They were very curious about what they might be and started thinking like scientists. Not certain, but I think it is lichen.


I saw these unusual mushrooms on the other side of the pond when I was feeding our ducks.

Our campus is like working in a nature center! We are very blessed to have such a beautiful place in which to learn and explore.

Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 11

Engineering Second Grade Style

First grade engineers enjoyed this challenge, so I decided to give the same challenge to my second grade engineers. They were tasked to build a structure using Popsicle sticks, tongue depressors, 3 x 5 cards, and clothespins that could stand on its own. This isn’t easy to accomplish and I was impressed with the variety of designs! While some students used symmetry to help balance their structures, many other structures were asymmetrical. Every time our structures fell, we used what we learned to improve our designs.

This young engineer placed one clothespin horizontally at the foundation which enabled her to balance the rest of her structure. She also had a very steady hand!

September 8

Mold Experiment

Although, we weren’t able to test our original hypothesis, my fourth grade biologists learned more about mold (a living organism) through this experiment. They were thinking like scientists as they made observations and thought of future testable questions about mold growth.

Stored in the Refrigerator

Stored in a Sunny Location

Stored in a Dark Cabinet

Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 8

Jabba and Luke

Jabba is a white dumpy tree frog (indigenous to Australia) and Luke is a Georgia green tree frog. It is not recommended to put different species of frogs together, but when these frogs were donated to my classroom, they were already in the same habitat and the best of friends!

Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 4

Water and Oil

PreK scientists continued their study of color. Through the investigation, they learned water and oil are both liquids, but they don’t mix! We practiced using a pipette by releasing drops of colored water into vegetable oil. This is also a fun way to practice self-control.



Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 1

Exploring Thermal Energy

Third grade scientists continued investigating thermal energy and matter in lab. This was such a fast paced lab, I wasn’t able to capture many pictures. The following demonstration was an impressive way to explore heat energy and air pressure concepts.  Click here to watch a video.



From our previous experiments, we learned that warm air or liquid rises and cool air or liquid falls. I placed hot water (red) on top of cold water (blue) and the colors remained separate. Then I reversed the procedure and the colors immediately mixed. Click here to learn more.

Category: Science | LEAVE A COMMENT