Volcanoes

We have been loving our books from the library about volcanoes and we were inspired by one to create our own.  We followed the directions in a book.  It is fun to read non-fiction books and relate what we are reading to our lives.

We went out to gather sand from the sand area.  The kids had to gather the sand in trays.  When they were full they tried to bring them up the hill but quickly realized they were too heavy for one or even two to carry.  It took a few minutes to problem solve how to get they trays inside for our volcano.  They emptied the trays cup by cup until they were able to carry them up the hill. 

Once in the room the kids worked together to create our volcanoes. From our reading we know we were making a cone volcano.

We continued to build our volcanoes and follow the directions from the book.  We put baking soda, food coloring and dish soap into the bottles. Once those ingredients were together we added the vinegar and watched the explosions!

The kids loved touching the sand after the "lava" flow and relating it to the "hard rock" from our book reading.

Bridges and pumpkin seeds

Wow, the Birch friends have been so busy building and cooking at school! We began the morning by performing our usual routines. Our choices consisted of building with popsicle sticks and spools. Other students "cooked" with floam, made books, and created dragons out of the light table materials. 

Students built with blocks by dipping the blocks in paint and building on the paper with the shapes.

A group of students practiced sorting by using our tinker tray.

Later in the morning, students began to build a zoo for the animals. While building, they were communicating with one another about building an "underground tunnel for the animals" and how to "keep them all inside so they don't escape and get lost." 

A few students used chairs to continue adding to the top off the structure. After falling down, they decided to rebuild it while adding a bridge. They used our classroom bridge book as a reference as to what to include in their building.

The students decided to build a bridge from the green block carpet all the way to the back hallway of the classroom. Their bridges included an arch and two turns. They were so proud of their building that they decided to leave it up and come back later to continue adding to their building.

A group of students went to the kitchen to cook our pumpkin seeds! We prepared our seeds by mixing oil, salt and a little bit of vanilla into the bowl. The students helped spread out the seeds on the cookie sheet and we put them in the oven to cook. They were delicious! Way to go, Birch friends! We ended our morning by playing outside on this beautiful fall day. Have a great day!

Forest Noticings

Our forest day felt a little different than usual.  The air was cooler, the sun was behind the clouds and there was a chilly breeze.  As soon as we walked out onto the playscape to head to the forest the students noticed the changes in the leaves on the trees.  Many bent over to pick up the beautiful yellow/red "rainbow" leaves. 

Heading up the street the children noticed other trees where changing too.  One asked "why do leaves change colors?"  A peer answered: "Because they have been on the tree too long."  They also noticed these seed pods on the ground.  They said it was bacon! I asked if bacon grew on trees and this back-and-fourth conversation lasted until the forest.

"It's a bacon tree"

"Only apples grow on trees"

"Bacon comes from the store"

"This doesn't smell like bacon"

In the forest the kids noticed that the ground was a little more muddy than normal.  One said it was harder to climb the tree "It's slippery" 

"These are squish blueberries" 

"I'm a fire lady"