The Three Sisters

During November as we learn about Native Americans, especially the Wampanoags, I like to stress how important they were to the survival of the Pilgrims after that first awful winter-another important lesson on working together to build a community.  It was the Wampanoags that introduced corn to the Pilgrims and taught them to best way to plant it.  The Three Sisters are what the Iroquois called corn, beans and squash because they grew well together in a small space.  Another lesson about how most things work better when they work together. 

I put corn, a small pumpkin and beans in the Science Tub for the kids to see, touch, listen to and smell.  I want them to engage all five senses but I'm not ready for them to taste yet!

In small groups, they have a chance to observe the Three Sisters and record their observations in their Science Journal.  I was able to fit this in to my reading block by putting these items in a literacy center. 

They are using magnifying glasses (Dollar Tree) and color word cards to help record their observations.

I wrote "I observe..." on the board.  They know that ... means finish. this. sentence. 

Science Journal entry.



I observe a pumpkin with stripes. 
I observe a bean.
I observe corn.
"I observe" is copied from the board, the rest of the sentence is sounded out.  I just look for a beginning, middle and ending sound.  This child worked independently but of course, many still need help with this process.



Another day we made our own lifesize version of the Three Sisters.  We rolled green butcher paper for  a corn stalk.

We practiced teamwork and waiting for our turn.

We made a beanstalk by twisting together pipe cleaners and then glued beans onto the stalk.

We rolled yellow construction paper to make the corn and just stuffed it into the top of the stalk.

Next, we rolled orange paper to make the pumpkins and tore the edges of green paper to make their leaves.  We will include this in our hall display.  I will have a photo of the finished project tomorrow!

The next day, we made our Three Sisters page for our Thanksgiving Book.

We use a die cut for Squanto, orange pompoms for the pumpkin, beans and kernels of corn.  We make sure that we color a fish in the soil since this was an important lesson the Pilgrims learned from their new friends.

Lots of glue and concentration.  They work very had to follow directions for this activity. It is a step by step process that requires careful listening.



We label the Three Sisters and include a script.


The last part of this lesson will include a taste test of the Three Sisters.  I will make bean soup, cornbread and bring in a pumpkin pie.  It is important to include all five senses in almost any study for the lesson to truly stick and stay in the five year old mind! 

Going Batty!

I decided at the last minute (last Sunday night) to add a short unit on bats and compare/contrast them with birds. I haven't finished all of our activities yet-most of which I got from www.kinderbykim.com but I wanted to share what we have done so far! 

We started by reading Stellaluna,
one of my favorites!

Then we made our own cave for both our bats AND our bear who was getting ready to hibernate.  Our Scott Foresman story for the week was A Bed for the Winter and we had already read Bear Snores On so the timing was just right.

Everyone tore a piece of brown paper and a piece of gray to cover the box with "rocks" to make it look like a cave.



Everyone helped and some got pretty enthusiastic with tearing the paper and with gluing! 





The next morning we made our own fruit bats and each child told me a Bat Fact as they came up to tape their bat inside the cave.  They love their new scientific word, echolocation!





Our colony of fruit bats!





Stellaluna follow-up sheets







After we read our non-fiction books about bats and birds we started to talk about their differences and similarities.




We made our first Venn Diagram.



Next we wrote in our Science Journals.

Of course, we also had to watch The Magic School Bus video, Going Batty!  We will still make Batty "at" families and write more about Stellaluna but that was my very brief Bats unit!

Liquids, Gas and Solids Lab Book

I LOVE this unit and I save it for the end of the year because it is so much fun! We talk about the world around us and how everything is made of matter.

We start by reading this book.

Then we chart what we think are liquids, gases and solids-this is usually pretty interesting and it isn't long before we have to deal with a bathroom joke followed by a reminder of good manners, staying focused, etc. you get the idea...

In order to demonstrate how molecules move within matter we spread out all over the room and move around freely without touching anyone else as we would if we were steam. Then we move a little closer -still, without touching as if we were water, moving a little more slowly. Last we squeeze in close to one another without moving at all as if we are ice. The kids love it!
To demonstrate this concept on paper, we use stickers and a tri-fold piece of construction paper so that we can chart how close together or far apart molecules are for each form of matter.

This is the first page of our Lab Book on LGS. I want to get white button down shirts from Goodwill-enough for the whole class-so that we may wear lab coats when we are conducting experiments or writing our lab reports. Fun!
Our first experiment is the Rubber Egg Experiment. We want to find out how one form of matter may or may not affect another form of matter and record our findings. We talk about how a good scientist observes the world around him/her and how one thing affects another. Hmmmm...
For this experiment each child gets a raw egg and a clear plastic cup filled halfway with white vinegar. Yes, I did say we were using raw eggs! For the two years that I have done this experiment with a class, I have not had one child break their egg. When I explain that they will only receive one egg and that is it-buddy, they don't fool around! We place the egg in the vinegar and each child takes a moment to observe what happens as their egg settles in the cup. Does it float? Are there bubbles? Do the bubbles go away? Then we talk about what we think will happen-we make predictions and chart them as a class. Next, we state our hypothesis and talk about how this is a very smart guess. They come up with some pretty insightful ideas-I am always surprised!

The next day, they are so excited when they come in that morning that they make a beeline for the tubs with the cups-they can't wait to see how their egg has changed. I give everyone their own cup back and we take a moment and observe the changes that have taken place and then we chart them on the board. I will have a lab report for each child and we complete this whole group. Most of their hypotheses were accurate. The egg does appear to change color-the yolk is more easily seen through the softened eggshell. The egg is larger and when touched it has a soft, rubbery feel. Cool!
So, the vinegar (a liquid) did change the egg (a solid) with some gas occurring when the egg meets the vinegar. Now we see if this is true with other LGS.
We bring a small rock in from the playground after recess one day and place it in a cup of water. We have added a solid to a liquid. Guess what? Nothing. It is just a rock in some water. So then we wonder about other solids and liquids. I ask what they think will happen if we add something to a soda since it is a liquid with a gas IN it. Hmmmm. What if we add candy to a soda? What?????? Are you kidding? This is the glory of Kindergarten. Most people have heard of or even tried this experiment themselves but most five year olds have yet to experience this.
So we go outside and after making predictions and a hypothesis we just do it. I add a roll of Mentos candy to a 2 liter bottle of cheap diet soda (less sticky) and stand back FAST. (Hence the goofy picture of me running backwards from the soda that you saw in my second post.) SPEWWWWW!!! I go ahead and repeat this two other times and then we vote on which bottle of soda spewed the highest. They LOVE this! I have got to bring a clean shirt next year...



We fill out our lab report with our findings and discover that when a certain solid meets a certain liquid with gas already present-stand back!

Okay, the very last phase of our LSG unit is our study of bubbles. We talk about how bubbles are a liquid that change shape when we add a gas (our breath) using a solid (a wand). We make wands out of pipe cleaners in different shapes because no matter what shape your wand is the bubble ALWAYS emerges as a sphere. We go outside and we make a mess! I have an assortment of dollar store bubble kits, wands, strawberry baskets, etc. for the children to experiment with in making bubbles. What fun.

All in the name of science...