Animal Tracks (in the snow)

Snow fall is great for learning about the animals that live in our school habitat and the stories their tracks tell.   We don't often see live animals because we are noisy and constantly on the move but the tracks left behind tell us a lot about who lives in our school habitat.

We start by learning about the different shapes of tracks and how to read the direction they lead and show what the animals were up to. 

We received these fabric track bandanas from the Jeffers Institute.  They have a field guide around the edge and a story in tracks in the middle. We use these before we go outside to learn how to read the scene.

We we do go outside to find tracks we talk a lot about where to step and how to preserve tracks.  It is amazing how many different tracks the kids find and how many exotic animals the kids believe have passed through out school forest.  We keep field guides on hand and journal about our finding.

Tracking Temperture

One of the ways I meet math and science standards it to track and compare daily temperatures.  I ask for donations of standard wall calendars so that each child has their own.  Each day we track and compare the temperature.  As we get better at writing numbers we include how many days we've been in school and how many eggs we collect that day.

Another way to track temperature is by filling out a small thermometer and making a thermometer line

like to a number line but with temperature..

This is a picture of my classroom thermometer.  We use the colors to help us determine how to dress for outside time.

 

Making rain/ Learning about the water cycle

This is a great activity to try during a weather unit. You need 2 liter soda bottles (or another type of plastic bottle). Cut the bottle in half. Put about and inch of warm water in the bottom of the bottle. It helps to color it blue (for the ocean). Invert the top half into the bottom half (with the cap on). Fill the top with ice. After a few minutes clouds will form and droplets of "rain" will form on the inverted top. It's raining!

I had to update this post as we have done so much more around the water cycle and weather since the original project in 2010.  Weather has been added to our standards and our outdoor program affords us all kinds of opportunities to explore the power of water!  This year (2023) we had a week of extremely warm weather following an extremely snowy winter!  Our Mount Snowmungeous melted so quickly we actually had a sink hole on our campus!  The following is our water story.  One of our K teachers  taught us this song about the water cycle 

The Water Cycle

(Tune of O My Darlin Clementine)

Evaporation! (float fingers up from waist level like rising water vapor)

Condensation! (make cloud shapes with hands overhead)

Precipitation on my mind, (rain fingers down and point to head)

And it's called the water cycle (trace circle in the air in front of your body)

And it happens all the time.

This is another way to do the "making rain" experiment.  I like this one better because it takes less space, doesn't require ice and can be ongoing and used to collect data.

Mount Snowmungeous (a small section)

We visited the sink hole and talked about what we notice and what we wonder.

We used this simple video to learn more

A few days later these workers came and filled the hole and we were able to talk to them about what they were doing.  I think they got a kick out of teaching Kindergarten for a little bit!

Along with our learning about sink holes we also noticed the flowing water and did an inquiry about snow melt.  We followed the path of the water flowing from the snow melt, to the gutters and cracks in the parking lot pavement as it flowed into a drain that creates a small stream that flows into our school pond!

Checking the storm drains.  Are they full?

The water flows!  What can float?  What stops the water?  We reclaimed the work dam as a wall that blocks water.

Exploring the stream that flows to our school pond.  We are so lucky to have these resources on our school campus!  Rain boots are on our yearly supply list.

The Science Lab

The Science lab is a dramatic play area created to encourage budding chemists by using simple tools  to mix common kitchen "chemicals" and observe the reactions.  I used clear plastic containers, spoons, eye droppers and dosing syringes to measure and mix vinegar, water, salt and baking powder.  I also included small vials of colored water.  I introduced this area with specific rules, spoons are for powders and mixing, eye droppers and dosing syringes are for liquids.  No Pouring!  This was enforced so that there would be enough compounds for a group of 4 to share and helped with fine motor development and self control.  It also managed materials so that they did not have to be replaced.  I had the center out for 3 weeks and used 1 box of baking soda but still have salt, baby oil and vinegar for other projects.  If a group ran out of a compound, it was not refilled.  I refilled them for the next group the next day.            

Students use small plastic containers, like from fruit cups, to mix chemicals and observe reactions.  Part of their job was to was out their containers to prepare the center for the next group of students.

I used clear plastic cups with lids and labeled them with painters tape.  The vials of colored water are clear, film canister sized containers.  The large bottles are "discovery bottles"  that have been glued closed.  These are ways to observe different liquids.  These are and idea from Dr. Jean at drjean.com

Fact Displays

I like to incorporate informational text in as many units as possible.  Studying animals is an easy way to make this happen because of the plentiful amount of resources available.  After reading and studying the animals, each student gets to dictate a fact that impressed them about the animal.  I found themed sticky notes at our local dollar store to add a special touch to the fact collection.

A cave of bat facts displayed on bat themed sticky notes.

A web of spider facts displayed on spider themed post it notes.

3-D pond diorama

I confess, I have a hard time letting go of containers.  I can't seem to send any of those lidded copy paper boxes to the recycling.  Only recently have I been able to stop collecting all manner of plastic food containers because my city  now recycles them.  I don't want to live in clutter.  My latest conundrum has been what to do with the containers birthday cake and cupcakes come in.  I was able to let go of most of them but I held onto one particularly cool one that I promised myself I would recycle at the end of the year if I haven't found a use for it.

Finally, it came to me.  I can use it to create an enclosed habitat diorama for the pond.
I have been working on creating a pond unit for most of the school year culminating in a field trip to study a nearby pond.

I wanted my students to create something they could identify with that would be a lasting reminder of this unit of study.

As a class we glued sand to the bottom and a small stick from the playground for a log.  We taped shredded green paper to the corners and then each student decided on a pond creature to add.  Each student painted a small stone and added paper legs, tails and heads.  We displayed our work prominently in the classroom and referred to it anytime we collected new learnings about the pond.

If you are a container person like I am I hope this give you a new way to think about containers.

Seeds

During our seed unit I like to have my students observe the entire growth process of bean seeds. I buy a bag of beans from the grocery store and soak several overnight. When they begin to sprout we start by taking one bean apart and noticing all the parts of the seed. Next we create clear view planters by using clear plastic cups and paper towel. We get the paper towels wet and spread them around the inside of the cup. Then each student places a few seeds between the towel and the cup. To help keep the seeds moist we place a sandwich baggie over the cup.I usually have the student plant about 4 seeds, halfway down the cup.

Each student can watch their seed grow roots and sprout! We usually plant ours in soil after most of the seeds have sprouted.