Marvelous Magnets

Here are two activities, easy to create and guaranteed to delight your little learners.  Most of the items can be found at home or in a classroom setting. We sourced our magnets, canvas and dinosaurs from a local Dollar Store.

These are Science based activities so we begin with a discussion about Magnet Safety.  Adult Supervision Required!

Another talented teacher created this “favourite” activity~  The Dinosaur Maze.

... take a dino for a walk

… take a dino for a walk

You’ll need-

• a small canvas- Dollar Store

• permanent felt marker to draw a maze* onto the canvas

-* the maze can be simple or difficult

• two plastic dinosaurs

2 round medium sized magnets

-attach a round magnet (use a glue gun to secure the magnet to the dino) to the base of each dinosaur

• horseshoe magnet or strong magnet wand

Take the dino for a walk along the maze!

The Discovery Bottle

You’ll need-

1 two litre clear plastic bottle

lid- I taped the lid with washi tape.

pipe cleaners cut into pieces- the glittery, the better

bolts, nuts, large sized paper clips

pom poms

a powerful horseshoe magnet or bar magnet

Place the above items into the clear bottle.  Tighten the lid!

Let the children use the bar magnet to discover which items can be pulled within the bottle!

Discovery Bottle

Leaf Man

The Leafman- Lois Ehlert
“Do you know where the Leafman goes when the wind blows?”

by Lois Ehlert is the lovely tale of a leaf’s journey about the land.  When you pick up a leaf do you ever imagine where it’s come from, where it’s going to?  Leaf Man allows children to imagine and visualize the journeys of a beautiful autumn leaf.  The language is poetic and the illustrations/photographs, evocative!

“Where does a Leaf Man go when the wind blows?  Do you know?”

Extension Activities

• take an autumn walk and observe the leaves, collect a sampling of leaves

• sort the leaves by attributes- ie: colour, edges, shape

• create a leaf rubbing- place a paper over the leaf, rub over the leaf with crayons

• have an adult press the leaves between two pieces of wax paper, iron on a low setting, trim the edges, and hang the leaf banner

Venus is Moving

and will pass in between the sun and the earth this afternoon.  Venus will appear as a tiny black dot in front of the sun.  Remember that the light can be very bright.  Do not look directly into the sun as you could damage your eye sight.  Venus in Transit will not happen again until 2117!  Better not miss it!

http://old.transitofvenus.org/sarah.htm

 

 

Now It’s All About Butterflies!

Our larvae are "eating machines!"

The little Entomologists are excited to be caring for five Painted Lady Butterfly larvae!  Mrs. Brancati “gifted” five larvae for us to watch transition through the stages of metamorphosis.  Our wiggly larvae are “eating machines,” munching and crunching their way through a nutrient meal!  Already, they have doubled in size, growing bigger and fatter!  We even observed another change- little “spikes” growing onto the bodies!  In approximately six more days, our larvae will stop eating and will change shape again, becoming a chrysalis!  We can’t wait!

We “love” PBL!

or, Project Based Learning!  Particle Pete has inspired us to choose insects to research!  We chose our insects, met in small groups to read and share out our discoveries, and we decided how to represent our knowledge.  Some children chose to illustrate and label a diagram, some made a poster, one child chose to measure and illustrate a life size praying mantis!  Liza told us that there is a ” very huge spider the size of our rocking chair!”  We shivered at that news! Have a look at our representations!   We are amazing Entomologists!  I think that Particle Pete would be proud of us!

What is your favourite insect?

Little Entomologists

 

Little Entomologists!

Particle Pete came to visit us today!  Pete is an engaging scientist with the,”High Touch High Tech- Science Experiments That Come To You,” group.  The children learned how scientists use their powers of observation to study creatures.  They classified plastic insects into groups, learned a song that taught the three Insect body parts- “Head and Thorax, Abdomen.  Abdomen. Abdomen. Head and Thorax, Abdomen.  I’m an Insect!” We wiggled and giggled like insects at the end of the song!  We made gluey spider webs, learned about arachnids, and even trapped a plastic insect!  Here’s an amazing fact!  The common housefly has compound eyes enabling it to see 4,000 “yous!We used “looking glasses” to view the room with our newly discovered compound eye! Pete brought some of his favourite insect friends.  Milly the Millipede was adorable, curled up in her earthen bed with bits of lettuce to feast on!  Charlie the Madagascar Cockroach was a popular insect! Cockroaches are resilient and this one was massive!  It was an exciting science event and as emerging scientists, we are now ready to use our powers of observation and classification to sleuth out insects in our neighbourhoods!  Thank you to our families for supporting this exciting and stimulating learning event!

 

• View a video clip about “arthropods-” the Cockroach! 

The Cockroach

 

Check out the High Touch High Tech site and consider signing up for some summerscience fun!  http://www.sciencemadefunbc.net/birthday.cfm

 

“The creatures that inhabit this earth–be they human beings or animals–are here to contribute, each in its own particular way, to the beauty and prosperity of the world.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

 

 

It’s coming…

Reindeer Facts, Fun, and Games

Christmas, that is!  Let this tune (underneath my “post”) help you bring the magic and spirit of the season to life!

Jingle!  Jingle!  I just received an email from Santa and he wants you to know that he is fattening up his reindeer for their long journey around the world!

Do you know which reindeer this is?  Donner?   Blitzen?

“Someday at Christmas”– Justin Bieber

15 Someday At Christmas

 

 

Fall Back!

Nasa Kids explains why we have time zones

Good morning!  Did you, “Fall Back” to sleep? Did you remember to change the time on your clock?  We are entering “standard” time and we turn the clock back one hour.  We will stay on standard time until March 11, 2012.  What is standard time?  Why do we turn the clock back one hour on the first Sunday of November? There are 24 time zones in the world and we live in one of the zones. Many years ago, standard time was started to help people in a large zone of the world, forecast weather and plan their travel by train. The first Sunday of November was chosen so that everyone that lives in our time zone would turn back their clocks on the same day (because we wouldn’t want to be late for school)!  When you woke up this morning did you feel wide awake or sleepy?