Friday, January 26, 2018

Who knew math could be so fun?

All it takes is a deck of cards,
and a couple of friends,
to play "War".  It's a fun way to work on number recognition
and less than and greater than. 

It was our turn to lead gathering, there was a presentation on popcorn, 
some finger plays,
and some singing.  They did an awesome job!

We ended the week with some parachute play! 

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Mentors



Swimming lessons are going well.  Lots of smiles and splashes!
We investigate some artificial snow.

It's a lot of fun!  And not as cold as the real thing.
Today's mentor challenge: 
create a ramp with elevation.  The second part of the challenge
was to try the ramp again, this time creating friction on the ramp to see
what happens to the object rolling down the ramp. 

The Ladybugs are loving their time with their mentors.  This week the challenge with our friends from the 3rd grade involved STEM cards and Legos.  We had some very creative thinking going on there!  When the 4/5th graders visited, the kids used planks, blocks, shelf liner (to create friction), cars, marbles, and wood cubes to demonstrate the properties of an incline and friction.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Water Beads

Our scientific investigation starts with safety glasses and petrie dishes. 
What are we looking at?  What color are they?  What shape?
Hard or soft?  Colorful or dull?  Rough or smooth?
Do they bounce?  Do they squish? 
After we added a little water.
After they had time to absorb the water-they have really expanded?
The Ladybugs are working on their observation skills.  Water beads are a perfect subject for the kids. They were able to use descriptive words to talk about the characteristics of the beads before we added water and after the water.  The beads constantly change depending on how much water is in the container giving us lots of opportunities for making observations!

Friday, January 5, 2018

Swimming 2018








We had our first swim lesson this week.  It was a rousing success!  Turns out most children love being in the water.  We'll be doing lessons twice a week for 4 weeks.  It's going to be fun!

The Science Lab

It's not at all a playground, it's a science lab!  The children helped pull shotweed, purple dead nettles, dandelions, and Californi...