Today we started our day with a review of the mung bean sprouts video we saw earlier in the year. We were getting ready to go to the Maryland Mobile Science Lab visit today by reviewing how seeds begin growing. We learned a 4 syllable word that means to begin to grow. Ask me to tell the word!
The mobile lab is a trailer that travels to different schools. The Kindergarten students got a 25 minute program about farming in Maryland. The watched a short video about farms in Montgomery County. There are 540 farms in our county! Ask me to tell you some of the things I found out are grown in our county. Today you will notice your child is coming home with a piece of yarn around their neck. It's actually a necklace and your child is an incubator for a seed. Your child will want you to guess what is in the ziplock bag that is on the necklace. There is a special gel in the bag that will keep the seed moist so the baby plant can open the seed. The gel was first some crystals that they put in their little bag. Ask me to tell you another thing the gel is used for besides providing water to the plant. Mr. Snyder, the teacher in the mobile lab, put water in each little bag. Over the next hour or two, we notice the crystals change into a gel. Over the next few days, your child will see the seed coat get soft and split open, then the baby plant will open the seed and begin to grow. The tiny ziplock bag needs to stay fairly warm, so that is why your child is wearing it. They do not need to wear it tomorrow, but they can if they like as long as they keep it under their shirt or sweater. If it warms up on the weekend, you could tape it to a window that gets sun to watch it sprout. I reminded the children to keep their seed necklace away from pets and younger children. I know it's tempting to play with, but the seeds will not grow if they are being squeezed and played with, so as soon as possible, it would be good to get them in a place that is warm and near light. You may want to plant the sprout in a cup with soil once it starts to grow. Have a nice afternoon! Juliet
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Today was Read Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday. We celebrated by reading Dr. Seuss books and doing a couple special activities. We read one of Dr. Seuss's most famous books, The Cat in the Hat. The children let the Cat in the Hat come in their house while their mother is away, and of course the cat makes a huge mess while having fun. He even brings in Thing One and Thing Two who make an even bigger mess. The story ends when they see their mother coming home. The cat cleans up the house and leaves. When the mother comes home, she asks the kids if they had fun that day. The story ends with a question asking if the children should tell their mom what happened that day. We took a survey to find out what our class thought. Here is what we thought before discussing as a group. We talked about why we answered the way we did. Ask me to tell you about what I thought!
We also worked on using strategies to decode some of the words found in Dr. Seuss books. Dr. Seuss liked to put silly made-up words in his stories. We covered up parts of the word to find parts we knew and figured out the whole word by blending together the rest of the word. We also practiced pointing to the first sound and sliding through the rest of the word saying the sounds as we went to figure out the new word. We enjoyed hearing the funny words. Today in math we reviewed naming and describing solid shapes. We are still working on remembering the math talk words we use to describe solid shapes. We practiced using the words face for the sides of the shape, edges and vertex or corner. We counted edges, faces and vertices, and watched to see which shapes will roll. We will continue to work on this the remainder of the week. We had a special time in the afternoon to read with our third grade Bear Buddies. We read Dr. Seuss books and other books the third graders brought. We also had our first Mystery Reader! It was fun to learn more about our reader and to listen to the story which had a great lesson. I am catching up on e-mail and will be contacting those of you who have volunteered to come in to talk about your job. It's not too late to sign up to be a Mystery Reader! Follow the link on the page on our website if you are interested in being a reader. Have a nice evening! Juliet |