Capers

Happy capering day! Wow, the students have been really interested in building!

Be sure to look at the other blogs to see all of the action happening in the other classrooms!

Spruce: http://afcspruce.blogspot.com/

Maple: http://afcmaple.blogspot.com/

This morning, the students built structures in front of the projector. They built several bridges and used thick tree blocks for support on either side.

They were very proud of their work and decided to leave it up for other students to add their ideas during capers. 

Other friends designed at the light table and created books!

Capering...

What an exciting day for capering! In the Birch room, the students discovered what happens when baking soda and vinegar mix together. Students were creating colorful soup, cotton candy, and explosions! 

Other students drew paintings of flowers using watercolor pencils. 

Back at the building area, the students decided to add to their bridge building.

"This is a special camera that watches for bad guys."

"This is a secret hideout."

"These are stairs that go across the building."

Notice how the materials are purposefully placed and show a lot of detail in their building! They sure have very creative minds!

Have a great evening!

Bread and Chemical Reactions

Friendly reminder that we do not have school tomorrow.

What an exciting day! The Birch friends began the morning by singing our morning greeting song and made choices in the classroom. One building question read, "How can you make your own bread machine with classroom materials?" The students created one big bread machine and used the keyboards to "tell the machine what to do."

 

As the morning continued, some friends went with Ms. Katie to continue making our bread! They worked very hard in the kitchen and made sure to clean up after themselves. Two students even cleaned ALL of the dishes in the kitchen...way to be great helpers!

Back in the classroom, students experimented with vinegar and baking soda. The children made several observations about the chemical reactions happening right in front of their eyes!

"It makes noise! It is bubbling!"

"It's exploding!"

"It smells like vinegar."

"Woah, it's exploding!"

"This one looks like candy. It feels squishy. It's going to explode!"

"It's a snow maker!"

"I'm making a snow angel. Look, bubbles!"

"I'm making lava and snow!"

Other friends built with materials in front of a projector. They were given the question "How can you build on or against the wall?" A few students tried to lean blocks to build up the wall. Others built on the projector or on the carpet.

We ended the morning by playing on the playscape. Enjoy this wonderful weather and we will see you on Thursday!

Building Tall

Today some kiddos gave themselves a building challenge to build a building as tall as the ceiling.  This is a popular challenge that has yet to be complete, but everytime the kids get closer and closer.

 

Notice how the students are standing on the chairs and eventually the table.  I think this is part of their excitement.  They themselves want to be "big and tall." I think they like the new perspective they have on the room as well as their building. 

This challenge continued into our small group time with multiple attempts to build as tall as the ceiling. The kids brought over yard sticks to their building.  They know they can reach the ceiling if they stand on the table and reach the yard stick up.  They measured themselves against their buildings and the yardsticks. 

We also spent some time outside enjoying the lovely weather! Before lunch we took a walk down to the construction site that caused our strage drop off this morning.