July 26, "Milk Products"

This class was devoted to farm animals again, cows mostly. We remembered the song “Old MacDonald had a Farm”. Then we talked about what cows give us. As we found out, cows give us milk. But how do we get milk? We have to milk the cow.

We then learned a song “Milk Your Cow” as the literacy activity:

Milk, milk, milk your cow,

Sitting on a stool:

Pulling, squirting, pulling, squirting,

Till the bucket’s full.

The hands-on activity for this class was making a butter and ice-cream.  For butter we used a container that can close tight. We put some marbles in and had to shake it to make it thick, like butter. For ice-cream we used special containers, “Ice-Cream Magic”. We had to put ice and salt on the bottom, whipping cream, with added drops of vanilla and sugar in the top container. We all shook al the containers taking turns. The product of our cooperation was then split into cups and shared. It was delicious!

Home practice: Make a flavored ice-cream. You can take heavy whipping cream and add vanilla or chocolate extract or powder and freeze it! Your scientist will love that!

July 22, "What is a farm?"

This class was the introductory class about animals.  We began by sharing what we already know about farm animals.  Then we sang a song “Old MacDonald had a Farm”. We then talked about the sounds that different animals make.

Our literacy activity was to portray an animal with sounds and mimicry and the rest had to guess the animal. The scientists loved it! They had to pick an animal puzzles pieces and mimic them. It was a lot of fun!

The hands-on activity for this class was making a paper bag puppet – a sheep. This took a little longer than expected, mostly because every child liked it so much that they wanted it to be perfect, so all needed “help” to some extent.

Home practice: I recommend to sing “Old MacDonald had a Farm”

July 19, "Helicopters"

This class was the last class about air and its properties.

As a round up, we reviewed everything we have learned about the air so far. We recollected that wind is air, wind is strong and can move things; and that we cannot see air. We also remembered our song about bubbles.

Then we learned an action poem "Helicopter" to see how a helicopter moves through the air.

Helicopter goes up,
Helicopter goes down,
Helicopter turns and turns around,
Helicopter goes left,
Helicopter goes right,
Helicopter goes up, up, and out of sight!
 

Then we went on to make our own paper helicopters. We had 3 designs: a fish, a  triangle and a rotor one. They were premade so all we had to do is tape them together. The we experimented with the models: we saw the patterns of how they move through the air and figured the best model.

Home practice:  I recommend you to make a paper airplane or a kite with your scientist and help him/her fly it to explore how things move through the air.

July 15, "Bubble prints"

This class we continued studying air. We started off by remembering properties of air. We "made wind" and recalled that birds use air to fly and trees sway in the wind. We also remembered that we cannot see air.

Then we talked about bubbles, that we see bubbles and they are full of air. We learned a song "10 little bubbles".

One little, two little, three little bubbles,
Four little, five little, six little bubbles,
Seven little, eight little, nine little bubbles,
Ten little bubbles go POP!
 

Then we watched how air can go through the straw in the water and make bubbles inside. Then we each added food coloring and dish washing soap to out containers. Out bubbles then became miracles! They started growing and growing! We pressed white paper against the bubbles to see the prints that they make. This was amazing! See for yourselves in the pictures! Our little scientists really learned and enjoyed themselves.

Home practice: I recommend for your littel scientist to find other things full of air, like balloons and keep practicing bubbles :-)

July 12, "Blowing paint"

This class we started a sub-topic of our theme "matter", air. This is a little difficult because we cannot see air, yet air has its characteristics.
We started out by making air: blowing on our hands. We felt it but we did not see it. Then we read the book "Wind"
http://www.amazon.com/Wind-Marion-Dane-Bauer/dp/0689854439/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373788221&sr=1-1&keywords=wind#_
And found out that air helps birds fly and wind makes trees sway.
Then we went to the experimental part. First we made objects move with air: by blowing we can move some things. If things are light, like a plastic cup, then little air is needed. If things are heavier, like markers, then we need to blow harder.
For the experiment we had to color the picture with the poem "Who sees the wind". The unusual way to color it was with blowing paint through the straw.
It was very interesting because little scientists learned how to take paint with the straws and then  try to make different shapes as they blow.

Home practice: I recommend for your little scientists to practice watching the wind in the trees or flags as they blow. I also suggest to practice doing pictures with blowing paint.

July 8, "Sink or Float"

This class we investigated what sinks and what floats.
We started by recalling what we are studing right now. Littel scientists remembered that we are studing liquids, water to be exact.
Then we went on tot he topic of the class. Everybody has noticed already the poem. Since the poems have words and pictures, everyone is attracted, reading and learning. Our poem was "Sink and Float".

Rocks in the river,

Ice in a drink,

Some things float,

Some things sink!

(Before this class some children did not hear these wrods, some knew only "sink" as a spot where you wash your hands. )
Then we went on tot he experimental part. We recorded our observations in the journals.
Each scientist glued a picture of the glass. Then, after the experiment, they had to glue pictures to either bottom, if they sank, or top, if they swam.

We have figured out in the course of the experiment that a ball of playdough, a marble, a penny and an orange would sink, while an apple, a leaf and a pine cone will float. As you can see, one group of scientists have also figured out that playdough will dissolve in the water hence the dark color of the water in the container :-)
 Homepractice: I recommend to explore, while letting your little scientist prepare his fruit and vegetables, which will sink and which will float!

 

July 5, "Moving Liquids"

This class we investigated "thickness" of different liquids.

First, we started off by reviewing what we have learned about liquids. We sand our 2 songs and remembered that water makes us wet. Then we remembered that some things take in, or absorb, water, whereas other things do not. We had to start off with an experiment which results we would get only by the end of the class! We poured some water in cups and dropped in colorful capsules. I told the scientists that something will grow out of them by the end of the class.

After that we went on to investigate "thickness" of liquids. We took water bottles and poured in oil on top of the water. Then each scientist picked a color (red, blue, green or yellow) for their bottle. We observed how the food coloring drops move through the water. Then we added some baking soda tablets, closed the bottle and watched... It was very exciting to see all the fizzing and bubbling going on! Then our scientists decided to shake the bottle to make foam, watch how it happens and see what happens next.

After this was done, it was time to check on the capsules. It turned out; the capsules absorbed the water and turned into different animals. It was so much fun to see what animals we got!

I am sure this class was by far the most memorable about the liquids :-)

Home practice: You can repeat the same experiment. The bonus is that you can save the bottle. This bottle can serve as a calm-down instrument when your little scientist needs a break!

July 1, "Absorption"

This class we focused on the other feature of liquids - getting absorbed into things.

First we went over what we have already learned about liquids: kids of liquids, their shapes, smell, and color. Then we recalled that water can get you wet. We then learned a song

"She waded in the water and she got her feet all wet".

This class we mainly focused on journaling. We pasted a piece of construction paper and a piece of the wax paper into the journals and then wet them. As it turned out, the piece of construction paper got soaked and the piece of the wax paper repelled water altogether.

Then we tried to experiment: what takes water in and what doesn't. We took cotton balls, pieces of fabric and plastic buttons. Then we watched which changed the shape. As it turned out, it is hard to tell by touch solely because everything did get wet. Then we looked at the shape and color. Little scientists found out that color and shape changed for cotton balls and fabric; buttons, however, stayed the same. Therefore we concluded that buttons do not take in, or absorb, water and cotton balls and fabric do.

Homepractice: See with your scientist what does take in water and waht doesn't.
(I apologize, my camera did not save pictures again :-( )

June 28, "What is Liquid?"

This was the introductory class for the new form of matter - liquid.

First we reviewed what we knew about solids: they are like statues and have shape. Their shape does not change. Then I told the children that we will learn a new word today: "liquid". Everyone got very excited because this is a really fresh word but no one knew what it is. So we looked at 3 liquids I brought in for the class: milk, oil, syrup. We figured that they all have different smell and color.

We then discovered that water is liquid too and it comes in many form: tap water, rain, ocean, lake. We learned/refreshed the nursery song “Rain, Rain, Go Away!”

Rain rain go away

Come again some other day

Little children want to play

Rain rain go away

 

and went on to explore the properties of water.

As we read the book "I get wet" by Vicki Cobb http://books.google.com/books?id=Vg4aD9Zcpo8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, we figured out that water makes us wet as well as cools us down and makes us clean. Then we got different shapes and filled them with water. As it turned out, water did not have a shape of its own! It merely had the shape of the container it was in.

We then figured out that besides getting us wet, water can make stuff stick. Our hairs, if we wet them, get stuck to each other. The hairs on the paintbrush, when wet, get stuck to each other.

Next class we will continue to explore the properties of water!

June 24, "Making an Igloo"

This time, as we rounded up our exploration of solids, we explored ice and what shapes can we make out of it. We started with reviewing eveything we learned about the solids so far: all our chants and concepts learned. Then we went on to learn a new chant about igloo.

Nice ice keeps a solid shape,
Nice ice an agloo makes!

 Then we examined pictures of chidlren making igloo.

We talked about how salt will help put together a shape out of ice and keep it that way.

Our little scientists were very curious if it was freezing inside the igloos because ice is very cold.
The actual process of building the igloo was a little messy becaus of salt and slippery ice but we tried!

Home practice: I recommend freezing ice in containers different shapes and buiding an igloo step-by-step with freezing it over after each layer!

June 21, "Snack Mix"

Today we kept exploring the properties of solid matter. We reviewed Sculptures from last class: they are "frozen", and have a shape. We reviewed our chant "Solid, shape, sculpture".
Then we went on to discover what shapes and textures of solids we can use every day. The goal of the class was to find shapes all around us and practice a skill of following steps of the recipe.
We learned a chant:

Crunch, crunch,

We munch our lunch!
 

We learned what "munch" means and who are munchkins. Then we went on to making snack mix. We read the recipe all together and tried to follow it. We had to prepare the mix by combining and measuring the ingredients:  pretzel sticks, mini strawberry spooners, vanilla wafers and raisins.

We talked about different color and shape. I was really proud of our little scientists sharing bowls with the ingredients and using spoons to meausre them out into their snack bags.
(I apologize, something went wrong and my camera did not save any pictures with our children :-(
and here is the picture of the mix they made. That is if you did not see it and it was all gone by the time you picked up your scientist ;-) )

Home practice: I recommend to give your scientist a chance to make his/her own snack mix: figure out what ingredients to use and how to measure them!

June 17 "Solid, Shape, Sculpture"

This class we learned about solids as we continue to discover the properties of the matter. Since "solid" is a very foreign word for our little precious minds, I have decided to talk about sculptures first. We started with reviewing shapes. We examined the pictures of different sculptures and saw that each of them has a unique shape: a girl, a dog, a soccer player etc.

Then we played freeze game to explore what a sculpture does. When we are "frozen" like a sculpture, we cannot move, cannot talk, not even giggle because that's what sculptures do.
We then made a record in the journals by pasting a picture of a statue in and learned a chant:

Solid, Shape, Sculpture

And then we tried to make a sculpture of our own from air-dry clay. Due to our young age, we cannot really express everything we want to with our hands and fingers, but it was worth a try!

Home practice: I recommend to have your scientist's eyes peeled for sculptures and try to make one at home.

 

 

 

June 14, "Making Ice Cream"

Propeties of the matter theme is based on LiteraSci, Properties of the Matter Month; University of Rochester and LMK Early Childhood Enterprises, Ltd.
This time we started exploring the properties of matter. The concept that children had to learn is that liquid changes into solid when it is frozen. We were to learn this by making ice cream. In this class little sciencetists learned another notion: a recipe. I made a recipe with pictuires of how to make ice cream and we had to follow the steps of the recipe. Here is the recipe.

How to make ice cream:

You will need:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tbsp vanilla
Ice
6 tbsp rock salt (Also called Ice Cream salt)
1 small ziplock bag
1 gallon sized ziplock bag

 Directions:

1. Put cream, sugar and vanilla into small ziplock bag.
2. Seal the bag and squish it gently to mix.
3. Put ice and salt into the big ziploc bag.
4. Put the small bag into the big bag.
5. Seal the bag and shake for 5-10 minutes.
6. Take out the small bag.
7. Enjoy!

We talked about our favorite flavors and colors of ice cream and about the ingredients.
We also learned a chant:

I scream, You scream, We all scream for Ice Cream!

We figured that both letters I and C are for Ice Cream.

As we were shaking hte cream, we could see it geting frozen and it was amazing! However, our experiment did not go so well... We had a major spill because one of the bags broke so we did not get a chance to fully finish our experiment. I think I should have gotten some tiny containers that lock so I am looking for them currently and hopefully we can finish this experiment one day with success.

Home practice: I recommend top make ice-cream with the recipe above.


 

Scientific base for this class

I did my research paper and here it us for those who are eager to read through it. :-)
Science In Preschool Research paper

To have a student yield high academic achievement learning experiences should start
early. Children in preschool age learn such fundamentals as walking, talking , writing and communication with each other. Science instruction at early age has been overlooked for many years. The current paper has shown that already at this age children are able to start learning science as learning about their everyday world. If science is hands-on and inquiry based then it echoes the natural curiosity if children. All children without any regard to gender are eager to learn science.

This research has shown that even at an early age children are interested in science and have a general positive attitude towards it.

Two sampling groups were selected from two different preschools. Both preschools are affluent with one focusing more on Language Arts and the other having Science included in the curriculum. The selected children are ages 4.5 -5.5. All children have been interviewed and were asked to show a happy face sign, an upset face sign or a neutral face sign to show their attitude towards the question asked. The results show a general positive apprehension of science as well as reminiscence. However, a lot of children report no previous experience in doing science. Results of teachers’ interviews at both schools show a lack of preparedness to teach science in preschool.

 

Later on I will be using LiteraSci curriculum. Here is an excerpt from the description of the curriculum.

Teaching Science with LiteraSci

Language, literacy and mathematics flow naturally from hands-on science, which is the activity of learning about the everyday world. Learning about the everyday world is as fundamental to the early childhood years as learning to walk, talk, and interact with others. With LiteraSci, children build a rich knowledge-base that supports further learning and higher-order skills like classification and drawing inferences. Language, literacy, and mathematics are basic tools for learning that develop as children engage in LiteraSci inquiry activities and share their questions and observations with others.

Preschool children have the abilities to do science.

In fact, “doing science” fits the ways children learn: by exploring, repeating and communicating hands-on, multi-sensory activities. It is crucial that children carry out the activities themselves and that they have opportunities to repeat and vary the activities and to talk about what they are doing and finding out. The goals of science learning in early childhood are to explore, build concepts, and build vocabulary to communicate these concepts. There is an emphasis on trial and error rather than on “right answers” and so teachers do not need to “know all the answers.” Teachers do need to help children ask questions and discover for themselves.

A 4-Step Science Cycle supports systematic guided inquiry, helping children “learn to learn.”

Because learning and doing science relies on children’s firsthand experience, it is always meaningful and provides a motivating context for learning language, literacy, and mathematics.

Hands-on inquiry science fosters a classroom community that easily includes all children.

Because LiteraSci activities can be done in many ways, they engage children who have different learning styles and are at different developmental levels. As teachers observe children doing science activities, they can respond to individuals’ strengths and needs. Because inquiry science emphasizes exploration and trial and error as important ways to learn, children focus on learning rather than on avoiding mistakes.

Copyright © 2011 by University of
Rochester and LMK Early Childhood
Enterprises, Ltd.
All rights reserved.

Intro

Quite recently I started a PreSchool Science Club for children 3+ at my son's daycare.I am an elementary teacher (BS in TESOL, AS in Math, some graduate work done for Elementary). This project was a project for research in my graduate class. I was disappointed that within the school framework I cannot implement it and it has to stay only a project on my paper. I felt very passionate about it and I promised to myself that one day I will bring it to life. The motivation is more that ever - my son. This is a class for him and his buddies!
 Here is the 3-fold flyer as my ad! The parents in the school speak 2 languages hence the bilingual flyer.