Feather (Arman and James)

On Friday morning, Arman found a feather and gave it to James who wanted to identify to which animal the feather belonged.  He also wanted to do a Science experiment with it.  We decided to have the children answer the question  "What will touch the ground first, the feather or a tissue paper?" Most of the children thought the feather would touch the ground first.  Ella explained that the feather was smaller so it would touch the ground first.  We did the experience twice and both times the tissue was first to touch the carpet.  James explained it was because the tissue paper was heavier than the feather.

 

 

Today, we used Google to search images of feathers that matched Arman and James feather. The feather they found is from a Ringneck Hen Pheasant.  These feathers have color tones in brown, cream, gray, and black.

Scientists in School

On Thursday the children participated in the workshop "No Place Like Home". They learned about animals' homes.  The children had lots of fun participating in the many activities provided by our Scientists in School presenter Cynthia. Here are photos and a short description of each activity.

The children listened to riddles to identify the home of different animals that live in a tree

The children made a nest of mud and straw.

The children learned that the shape of a beak determines what a bird can eat. 

The children learned that sea animals can live in fresh and salted water. They sorted
animals that live in water and on earth. They compared their physical characteristics.



The children learned that some animals carry their home with them and it helps keep them safe.

They identified shells that the Hermit crab could use as a home. They got to use a magnifying glass

to observe the texture and physical apparence of shells.

The children created a diorama of a beaver habitat.

The children observed the teeth marks made by a beaver.

 

 

The children learned to identify animal tracks and made a picture using the rubbing technique.

 

The children made hand prints.

 

They also learned to identify different animal prints.

 

 The children learned that some animals live or sleep underground such as the chipmuck,

 the worm and the polar bear.

They had fun building a tunnel and moving a mouse using a magnet.

 

 

 

                                                  Other animals that live underground or in trees are the porcapine, the hare and the squirrel



Comments from some children about what they enjoyed the most about the Scientists in School workshop:

- I liked when I was with Miss Ninna, learning about animals. (Giuliana G.)
- I liked all of it. (Hannah)
- I leaked the beaver one (Sean)
- The nest. I liked the part where we were putting on the bark. (Ben)

Ninjago (James)

 

During our gym class the children played "Ninjago" a game invented by James. The goal of the game was to capture the ''bad guys'' by having the ninjas touch them. The ''bad guys'' had to try to reach the other side of the gym without being touched by a ninja. If a bad guy was touched he would turn into a ninja and help capture the other ''bad guys.'' The new ninja could choose their power by choosing a red, yellow, green or blue pinny. James explained that the Blue Ninjago has water power, the Green or Yellow Ninjago has all the powers and the Red Ninjago has fire power. The game ended when there wasn't any  ''bad guys' left' to capture.

Iceberg Challenge

In this activity, the children were asked to build an iceberg using recycled materials that would float and carry up to 4 penguins. Some icebergs floated on our ocean and others sank in the water. The children observed that the icebergs made of paper and cardboard sank and those made of plastic or Styrofoam (or at least the base of the iceberg) floated. Brandon also noticed that his juice box could float so we added that to the materials available to build an iceberg. We explained to the children that some materials absorb water and other materials are waterproof. They also noticed that the water was all white because the glue did not keep the materials together. We decided to use skewer sticks, fasteners and pins to keep the materials together as the glue dissolved in the water.

 

See our Penguin Inquiry under the tab Our Inquiries. You can read about some of our activities on penguins under the tab Classroom Activities. You can also listen to Fouad, Ivy and Nahisha reading Tracks in the Snow.