What will happen to the pumpkin?

After exploring the pumpkin in Kindergarten Enrichment on Monday, we decided to place it in a sealed plastic container to find out what might happen to it. On Friday, the kindergarteners made their first observations of the pumpkin. The children drew what they noticed and made predictions about what might happen:

What do you think will happen to our pumpkin? 
Julian: I think it will stay alive but it will get rotten. Just like turn brown.
Evan: Get rotten and be dead.
Zack: If you keep it outside, rabbits or squirrels will eat it. Once I kept it outside and squirrel ate it.
Brett: It will turn brown and get expired. It's not good anymore, like I wanted to eat pudding, but it was expired and I couldn't eat it anymore.

While looking at the container the children noticed something:
Evan: It doesn't have holes to breathe.
Zack: It's not a person.
Evan: Plants breathe.
Brett: Apples in the fridge breathe.
Evan: And leaves breathe.

We will have to continue observing to see if any of our predictions will happen and think more about whether the pumpkin breathes or not. We will be observing the pumpkin over the next few weeks to find out what will happen, stay tuned!

Scientists play the Mystery Fruit Game

Ellen came to visit today and taught us a game.  Ellen began the Mystery Fruit Game by showing us a paper bag.  Then she told us a few things about what was inside: "It is a fruit.  It grows on a tree."  The kids didn't have any guesses yet.  Then she shared: "It is orange, it's round like a ball and it's juicy."  The guess came: "An Orange!!!!"  Ellen taught us how scientists learn about a new food: touch it, smell it, lick it, and eat it if you'd like.  The kids were brave about trying the fruit she shared with us: a Cara Cara orange, a pear,  a red pear, a lime, and lastly - a tomato!  You can see on the kids' faces what they thought of the sour flavor of the lime!

Science Talk...

Over the last several weeks the children have had multiple opportunities to openly explore how long it takes for beans to change and grow.  We have been closely observing the growth and development of the moist bean in a Ziploc bag.  Yesterday we planted some of the sprouted beans and apple seeds we saved from our group snack, in some fresh potting soil.   The children will continue to water and care for the plants and possibly observe the full life cycle.

During circle time we brought the children together passed around the celery and flowers that have been soaking in green and blue food coloring for over a week.  We talked about the changes they noticed in the in the leaves of the celery and the petals on the white flowers.  We asked the children...
"Do you remember how the celery and flowers looked before we soaked in them in the food coloring and water?"   "How did they change?"

  Most of the children noticed, before we placed the flowers and celery in the colored water, the celery was all green and the petals on the flowers were all white.  After the celery and flowers soaked in the colored water the leaves on the celery turned blue, and the white petals on the flowers where now white and green.

Stay tuned for more SCIENCE TALK...Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to explore a variety of fruits at our Tu B'Shevat Seder!

Science Talks...

 

Three-to five-year-olds have been exploring water all their lives, whether in the bath, at the sink, in the rain, or on the beach.  Ideally they have had regular opportunities to explore at the water table in the classroom too.  This open exploration of water builds on children's prior experiences by giving them plenty of time to explore water with materials selected to highlight water's movement and its ability to take the shape of its container.  In addition, open exploration introduces children to science talks with the whole class, which continue throughout open and focused explorations.  Science talks give children opportunities to reflect on their observations, experiences, questions, and theories, and they create a group sense of shared purpose and excitement.

During our morning circle we invited the children to fill up little cups of water , select an object in the classroom, and place it in the cup of water.   Then we asked them the following questions:
-What happens to water when you put it in the freezer?  Micah -"It freezes."
-Does water move when it's frozen?  Noah-"No it becomes hard."
-Will the water or toys change color?  Noah-"Yes it will turn brown because when my Mom put bananas in the freezer they turned brown." 
-How how does water freeze?  Adam- "Like this!"  Adam put his arms out to the side of his body and became still...Frozen!

Following our science talk a few children walked down to the Community Room kitchen and placed the small cups of water in the freezer.
Stay tuned for an update on our observations and explorations tomorrow morning!

It's Electric (Part II)

 

Last week we had a wonderful time under the parachute, watching our hair stand on end.  We decided to explore the topic of static electricty further, and today we used a balloon to make our hair rise again!  We guessed if the charge from rubbing our hair on the balloon was strong enough to pick up newspaper strips and it was (Eliana's balloon has newspaper hanging from it!)  We then guessed that we could pick up salt and we did!  We look forward to more "shocking" discoveries!

Ice is Nice.

Today in the Etzim classroom, we read a new book that was donated to our classroom, Ice Is Nice by Dr. Seuss. This book has lots of great science facts about how animals live in cold icy climates, the two poles, and other great winter weather facts.  The Etzim children love to explore water and ice in different ways, and back by popular demand we painted with ice!  The children explored mixing colors with the ice and talking about the new information they learned in the book.  It was a fun experiment for all.

Continuing our Scientific Investigation of our Menorah

Kohavim continued investigating that unique menorah today and made some interesting discoveries. Eliza and Hannah used hand lenses to take a closer look at the menorah and what is inside the small containers. They lifted a one of the small containers and tipped it over and discussed what was happening: 

Eliza: We know why it's (liquid) not coming out. 

Hannah: Cause there's no hole.

Eliza: Cause if there was a hole the oil might drop out. 

Hannah: Or whatever it (liquid) is. 

Eliza: I know it's oil. 

As Hannah left the table to make another choice, Ezra joined the conversation. 

Ezra: I know the secret. You need to take off the tops to light it. 

Eliza took the top off of the container and  spilled some liquid onto the table. Then she touched it. 

Eliza: It's liquidy. 

As Eliza left the table to make another choice, Sabrina joined Ezra in the investigation. 

Ezra: It's juice because juice is yellow. 

Jesse: How do you think we can find out if it is juice? 

Ezra: We should ask G-d if it's juice or oil. Or you can see it on the computer. 

Jesse: Is there an experiment we can conduct? 

Ezra: Find two candles. Put them on juice and on oil. Whichever one stays longer is better and that's what's in there. 

Jesse: Maybe we should get two candles. 

Ezra: Maybe we should touch it because juice is cold and oil is hot. 

Sabrina: (touches liquid) Hot! It's oil.

Ezra: It feels a bit normal. It's oil. We figured it out! 

Later, Lily discovered a book called Harvest of Light by Allison Ofanansky. While reading the book she noticed the menorah in the story was just like our menorah in our classroom. The book follows the process of harvesting olives and turning them into oil for the family's menorah. Lily explained that we must read this story with the whole class. 

At second meeting, we heard from Ezra about his experiment to feel the temperature of the liquid and read the book recommended by Lily. Together we concluded the liquid in our menorah is oil! After reading the book about how to make oil from olives, it became clear that we may have our next experiment!

Experimenting with color and making paint...

 

The Question of the day was, "Who would like to make paint and experiment with color?"  The entire group gathered around the long rectangular table eager to hear more.  We talked a little about some of our experiences experimenting with color, over the last several weeks. Then we talked about the materials on the table in front of us...salt, four, water and water colors.  The group was asked, "What colors can we mix together to make another color?"    Noah responded with, "Blue and red makes purple and red and yellow makes orange."   Then we looked at the water colors on the table, blue, orange, green and purple.   Unfortunately we did not have all the primary colors available to us today, so we worked and experimented with what we had.

First the children decided what ingredient they wanted to measure out and pour into the bowl.  Then we went to work.  It was amazing to see how well the children worked together waiting patiently for their turn.  Once we added the dry ingredients we added the water and water colors.  The children observed and watched the colored water  change the color of the white salt and flour.  Then we took turns mixing the two bowls of paint.  When we were done we had a bowl of sea green paint and gray paint.

Then the children decided to paint with q-tips.  When they were done painting they brought their art work over to the other table near the window and were asked to write their name.  Josie, asked the teacher to make a J for her.  Elias walked over and said, "Joise I can make a J for you!"   Micah R asked the teacher to make a C and Josie offered to make C for Micah.  Writing their names became a  collaborative team effort!

Tomorrow the children expressed their preference to paint at the easel with the sea green and gray paint, with "the big brushes."

Look! There’s Cantaloupe inside the Pumpkin!!

Elias was excited when he opened a pumpkin today only to see that there was cantaloupe inside! Cantaloupe? Really? Well, the color was the same, but does the inside of the pumpkin feel like cantaloupe? Well there was one way to find out….get a cantaloupe!

Elias and I went on a cantaloupe hunt and we were so excited that we were in luck that there were two cantaloupes in the upstairs fridge. We excitedly brought one downstairs and then Micah Rosin, Zach and Elias eagerly used plastic knives to cut up the cantaloupe into many manageable pieces. I was amazed at the focus and the dedication that all three boys used to cut the cantaloupe. We then brought the cantaloupe over to the pumpkins and examined the inside color, outside color, texture, seeds and taste of both the pumpkin and the cantaloupe. We found out that they are indeed very different and that pumpkin doesn’t taste very yummy unless it’s cooked! We took out the cantaloupe seeds and examined them and added some to the tray with the pumpkin seeds to so tomorrow we will see what they taste like!

It was so neat to watch how Elias’ connection of seeing orange in the inside of a large round plant led many children into an in depth comparison between cantaloupes and pumpkins. After we were done the three boys cut up the cantaloupe and handed bits out for all the Tel Aviv class to eat. As you can see, it was quite delicious!!

Last One to the Top is a Rotten Egg

Our conversation about the harvest lead us to discussing what you can do with corn after it has been picked which lead us to making cornbread today!   One of the ingredients in cornbread is an egg.  We found some eggs in our fridge with different expiration dates which provided us with the perfect opportunity for an experiment.  We formed a HYPOTHESIS (the older eggs will do something different in the bowl than the fresher eggs), we did an EXPERIMENT (put the eggs in a bowl with water), we GATHERED AND ANALYZED DATA (the older eggs with an expired date floated to the top and the newer eggs sunk to the bottom of the bowl), and came to a CONCLUSION (Fresher eggs sink to the bottom of the bowl - use these!)  We'll learn why this happened tomorrow!  On a sidenote, the cornbread was a hit!

Water Wall Report!

The children were very busy today drilling holes in plastic containers and mixing the water colors as they experimented with color! Throughout the day a small group of children shared the basters to fill the clear tube, as they observed the water flow into the bucket below.

Neon Play Dough!

"Who wants to make neon play dough?" "Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me and me!" The children decided on fuchsia. One drop of blue and six drops of light pink. We all measured and mixed the ingredients together and we came up with neon purple play dough. Check it out!

Make Your Own Project!

This week, to continue with our science experiments, the Haifa class came in to see several different optical illusions on the table. We studied them carefully and tried to find different ways to look at the same picture. We had a lot of fun trying to see if everyone else could see what we were looking at.

Ryan really enjoyed these activities. He liked looking at them in different ways and seeing if people could see what he did. He liked it so much, he decided to make his own! We worked very hard to make his own  to take home! He was very proud of his work, and it was so great to see his dedication and focus on something he cared about!

-Alison and Sauci

Shake Shake Shake!

Yesterday the Haifa children worked very hard to prepare for Shavuot. We are going to be having a dairy treat on Friday, and with our new study of science experiments, what better way to combine the two than by...making butter? The Haifa children were initially skeptical of how we could turn liquid heavy cream into creamy, fluffy butter. But as we shook and shook and shook [or churned, the REAL term], we were amazed! It really had turned to butter! We are going to have our newly homemade butter tomorrow on our challah to make our Shabbat that much more special.

-Alison and Sauci

Want to do an Experiment?

Today marked the end of the Haifa art unit. While it was sad to see such an amazing unit go, we have quickly moved to a topic that the students chose: science! This morning during choice time the students noticed a table filled with a drying rack, black construction paper, and a bowl of water. After putting a drop of clear nail polish (base coat works just as well, that's what we used!), you can see Leo dipping his paper into the water carefully.

As he pulled out the paper, the paper changed from being plain black paper to rainbow paper! The nail polish made some sort of film, and the paper became filled with color!

Alli liked the experiment so much she asked me to write down the ingredients for our experiment so she could show her parents.

We're hoping to have a lot more fun science moments in the weeks to come!

-Alison and Sauci

What do a flower and a straw have in common?

Since the Kohavim children are so interested in Science, we are often doing different kinds of experiments with them. Today we had three white carnations, each in a container of water. We talked about what flowers need to live, and asked the children what they thought would happen if we added different food coloring to each container. Mia thought that: " the water would go all the way up to the flowers. If it's in purple water, the flower will turn purple." With equal conviction, Teddy Fox said: "The water will get colored but not the flower." The rest of the class was divided in their opinions. When asked how long they thought it would take to see something, answers ranged from "five minutes" to "100 years." We will check in with the experiment tomorrow and share our findings and some photos. Sorry, no photos today.

Bean and plant!

Last week we placed bean seeds in a wet paper towel , placed them in a plastic bag and put them on the windowsill in our classroom. Each day we moistened the paper towel. On Monday we noticed a tiny root growing out of the seeds. Today most of the children planted a few of their bean seeds in soil and will continue to observe their bean plants.

We placed them back in the windowsill and will water them everyday! Stay tuned for a bean plant update!

A Root Experiment

Yesterday at our first circle we read How a Seed Grows. We talked about how a seed is a little plant that has not started to grow and the roots hold a plant in the soil. They soak up water and minerals from the soil. The seeds roots are like straws.

Then we all took part in a bean experiment. We soaked a paper towel with water, placed lima beans on the towel rolled up the beans and placed them in a plastic bag, sprayed them a few more times with the spray bottle, zipped them up and taped them on the window. Our plan is to water the beans everyday (moisten the paper towel). We will observe how the roots grow (Which way do they grow? Do they all grow in the same direction? Did they grow fast or slow?). Stay tuned for a update on the roots of a lima bean!

Will it sink or will it float?

The Lunch Bunch children had a super fun day! First we enjoyed a quite lunch together. Peace-out time was spent building with the magnetiles. Then we made some yummy popcorn and everyone took part in the "Will it sink or float?" experiment. We gathered a few items we found in the classroom and then took a guess as to whether we thought the object would be a "floater" or a "sinker". Finally, we placed the items in the tub of water and we found the answers we were looking for!

Fun With Shaving Cream

Today, the Rainbows enjoyed exploring with shaving cream. Jack announced, "I used shaving cream in the bath last night." Rose, Josh, and Grayden got right into it. They rubbed their hands all over the table and completely immersed themselves in the fragrant substance. It was very interesting to see the different ways that the kids used the shaving cream. Rose put her hands in and made fingerprints, Josh spread his hands and arms out using a windshield wiper-like motion, while Grayden covered his hands letting the shaving cream drip down onto the table. When they were done, Josh and Grayden decided to rinse off in the sensory table which happened to be filled with water. They quickly noticed that the water turned cloudy and white. Josh exclaimed, "We're doing a science experiment" and Grayden said very excitedly, "it looks like snow." This excitement led them to do the experiment about six more times going back to the shaving cream, covering their hands, and then rinsing off continually noticing how the water was getting increasingly cloudier. They continued to play with the water for a while longer, moving their hands around while observing and enjoying their new experiment.