What We Are Discovering In...
Pre-Kindergarten
Fourth Quarter
Current Labs: The students wrapped up the year first by jumping into the pond study and then zooming into space! They learned about frog metamorphosis as well as frog eating habits, creating their very own sticky tongues with which to capture insects!
Then, they created their own planets and made rocket straws for blasting off into space! These young scientists have done a super job this year learning about all things science! |
Previous Labs: The students had a fun time pollinating some flowers in Science Lab with some handheld bees. Then, they pretended to sip some nectar like a hummingbird, using a pipette that resembled a long slender bill.
The botanists created palettes from nature, exploring all the wonderful colors that surround us in the natural world. The young students are welcoming in Spring by learning about the growth of a seed (a lima bean to be exact). They are using CD cases to germinate their seeds so that they can then watch them through the plastic. We have never tried this in the St. Timothy's Science Lab, so it is a true experiment! Keep your fingers crossed. The Pre-K students said good-bye to March by creating some colorful wind-streaming hats after discussing how lighter objects move easier than heavier objects in moving air. Then they created a rather loud thunderstorm in the lab, with raindrops, thunder, and flashing lights! |
Kindergarten
Fourth Quarter
Current Labs: From bees and birds, the kindergarteners moved on to dinosaurs and sharks (as well as other ocean critters). They had fun making flying pterodactyls (powered by their own lung power). Then they learned that shark skin is so rough that carpenters used it for sandpaper long ago! They also were able to see the rows and rows of shark teeth on a couple of real jaws. Yikes!
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Previous Labs: On to learning about birds, beginning with the variety of nests that different birds make. The students are building an extra large bird nest in the lab, and they also created some colorful nests to take home.
On to learning about birds, beginning with the variety of nests that different birds make. The students are building an extra large bird nest in the lab, and they also created some colorful nests to take home. To coordinate with the classroom discussion, the kindergarteners are learning about insects in Science Lab. They learned a song to help them remember an insect's body parts, and they also created an edible butterfly to further instill those parts. Yum! Next, a lesson on bees, which included a fun waggle dance in the lab. Bees communicate with the dance, letting other hive workers know where the pollen can be found. Finally, the students looked through "compound eyes," although they learned that bees and other insects don't really see multiple images as one thought. And a bee actually has 3 additional eyes on the top of its head that are sensitive to light. Pretty amazing little critters. The kids had fun tossing cotton ball "bees" into a spider web. Just like humans, insects run into sticky webs! The kindergarteners wrapped up the third quarter by making their own April showers, with a little water, food dye, and shaving cream! What started out as a nice drizzle turned into quite a tornado! April showers are followed by lovely flowers and lots of green leaves. The young students sorted through various bean seeds, and then dissected a lima bean. They learned that some seeds have a seed coat for protection, seed leaves for food and energy to grow, and a baby plant or embryo. |