Freeze & Melt

Our science focus for the month is temperature. 

Today we explored it through the freezing and melting properties of water/ice.  

Oh no! Look! Yellow and Red Bears are frozen in the ice!

How did they get there?

How will we get them out?

We remembered that ice starts out as water that gets super cold
so the bears must have been put in the water before it froze.

We brainstormed lots of ways to get them out.
The most popular involved some sort of busting-up action :) 

Hit them with a hammer! 

Throw them at the wall! 

Throw them on the floor super hard! 

My personal favorite: Put them on the track of a speeding train--it will smash the ice and turn it back into water! 

Then we remembered that for the water to turn to ice, it had to get super cold--

so we could warm them up! 

We brainstormed ways to do this too-- 

Put them in the oven! 

Put them in the microwave! 

Put them out in the sun! 

Feed them to the baby! :)

We tried an experiment.  

Ms Tamra covered one of the ice-cubes with salt (lowers the melting temperature) 

and pretty soon yellow bear looked like it was in a pile of snow instead of ice.

We played a game passing ice-cubes around to the music 

while we waiting for the salt to do it's magic . . .

The heat from our hands warmed the ice-cube and it started to melt (we could feel the water!) 

and the coldness of the ice-cube made our hands colder!

Brr! Cold hands! 

Getting smaller!

and smaller . . . 

Almost gone!

Then like magic--the ice was gone! 

Nothing was left of it but our cold wet hands.

And look! 

Because of the salt, yellow bear is out of his ice-cube, 

while red bear still has lots of it on his back.

  

Wow! It's temperature magic!!

President's Day

Because it was raining outside,  we played one of our favorite games . . . 

Singing "Rain is falling all around" while being squirted with a water bottle :)

In honor of president's day, today we started learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two of our very important American presidents (easily confused by this group with President Monson :) ). 

Here's a catchy intro video . . .

These presidents are on coins . . . so we had fun sorting 

and learning about money using penny's and quarter's.

 

Ms Tamra's Bookbag

Here's another fantastic book to enjoy with your preschooler .  . .

It's time for a long winter nap and baby bear just can't fall asleep! 

I love how sensitive and loving Momma bear is as she comes up 

with different solutions to help her little bear. 

The book has such a peaceful, loving feel and rhythm to it

that it also makes a great snuggling or bedtime book. 

Could be used to lead into discussions about 

Bears, Caves, The Moon, or even Mom's! 

C is for color

We started off today's exploration of both color and Jazz Music with this fun book . . . 

I got this at a music teachers convention two years ago--
but you can get it online.
I LOVE  it and the kids do too!

After reading the story, we listened to the accompanying CD and drew pictures of whatever the music sounded like in the color we heard. 

Everyone heard something different--

 We had a pink dancing princess, a big brown bear,  

and even a green trumpet!

 Then we ended up with an impromptu dance--

the kids LOVED the Jazz music!

One of our gross motor activities for the day used these simple plastic lids with flashcards taped on the bottom.  

We put them upside down on the floor and marched around listening to our new favorite Jazz music.  

When the music stopped, we ran to put our toes next to a circle, then got to flip it over and name what was on the bottom.
We'll use this game throughout the year with letters, and numbers.

Did you know that some colors are made by mixing other colors?  

Ms Tamra used a green marker to draw a big green dot on this coffee filter then she used a straw to drip a little water on it. 

When it dried, we could see that the green had yellow and blue it in!

We also did this with orange and purple.

 We'll do more with mixing color magic on Friday :)

Finally, here's a picture of Ms Munching Mouth . . . 

She LOVES to eat letters!  

During our one-on-one assessments this week, the kids named letters as they fed them to her.  

There were lots and lots of giggles as she almost nibbled little fingers :)

See you Friday!

M is for Moose & Mail

Here's the M book for the day . . .

This book also helped us review counting and numbers. The kids enjoyed it because we had used the Mouse Paint book a few weeks ago with our color unit and so they remembered their mice friends :). (morning class did not read this book, because we read a show and tell book)

We talked about mail and practiced mailing stuff . . .

and made these Moose pictures . . .

and in close of our M week . . . here's a movie for our favorite M word . . MOM!

Magic Secrets REVEALED!

We had a blast at our Mom's and Muffins Party! We ate muffins, drank milk, read this book . . .  

and, what I think was the kiddos most favorite . . . experienced Marvelous MAGIC!

Because . . .
there is nothing as rewarding as the look of awe and excitement on a 4 year-old's face when watching magic,
and because I love you all so dearly and want YOU to be able to experience that.  . .

AND MOSTLY BECAUSE M is for Magic . . . 

And . . . 

Although a good magician NEVER reveals her secrets . . . 

I am NOT a good magician . . . 

SOOO . . .  here are some magic tricks to awe the preschoolers in your life :)

Turn Water into ICE!

Supplies:

Cup/Mug (one that CANNOT be seen through!)

Sponge

a little bit of water (1/8 cup-ish)

Ice (I used a regular cube . . . but I think small cubed ice might have a better effect)

Set-up:

Squish the sponge into the bottom of the cup and wet your ice-cube
(Something I didn't do . . . so it stuck to the sponge a little :) ). 

Put ice in cup.

For your Audience:

"My breath is so magically cold, it can turn water into ice!"

Pour the 1/8 C of water into the cup . . . 

Blow on it and say the magic words (while the water soaks into the sponge)

Turn cup upside down and

watch in amazement as only ice comes out!

Penny in the Neck

Supplies:

A penny

Set-up:

None

For your Audience:

"I will take this penny, push it through the skin in the back of my neck and have it come out my mouth!"

Let kids check out the back of your neck to see if they can see the magic hole and look in your mouth to make sure you aren't hiding anything.

What you do:

Reach both arms back behind your head, with at least one elbow hidden from the audience by your head.  While you act like you are pushing the penny through your skin, hide it in V-part of your arm made by folding your elbow (I don't know what that is called or how to describe that!)

Show the audience your empty hands (while keeping your elbow folded and hiding the penny).  

Act like you are pulling the penny out of your mouth while flinging your arm open so the penny goes flying through the air. 

(That probably only makes sense to those of you who have seen the trick . . . sorry!)

Disappearing Quarter
The easiest way to explain this one is the Youtube video that taught me :)

Exploding Water
How it works:

1) Fill several clear containers (I used plastic drinking cups) with about 3/4 cup water and 1/3 cup vinegar. (the ratio can be varied, but more vinegar= more fiz= more fun! PLACE CONTAINERS on a BAKING SHEET, as this WILL MAKE A MESS!!!!

2) place one small drop of food coloring on a metal spoon (don't use clear, since you can see the color on the other side), then place a heaping teaspoon of baking soda on top, or enough to make sure the food coloring is covered.

3) Have a child come up and pick a spoon to stir in a cup of "water".

It will fiz like crazy and remain clear while fizzing, so make sure they keep stirring.

Once the fiz has settled down, the color will show up.

I will be using 6 different colors. red, green, yellow, blue, orange (one drop yellow and one drop red), and purple (one drop red and one drop blue)

(notice the water on the bottom of the baking sheet? It WILL bubble over and make a mess. Paper towels would be a good idea to bring...)

I have a few more tricks that didn't come out this time . . . i'll have to find another time to use them :)  


Happy Magic Making!

M is for Marvelous Mouse!

At preschool this week it's all about the letter Mm!

Today Moko pulled out his magic bag full of things that start with the letter Mm: Money (and a little magic!), macaroni, mustard, mushrooms, a mouse, a monkey, markers, a movie, and some mail! Letter Mm is Moko the Monkey's favorite letter, of course! :)

Then he introduced us to this book . . . 

And because the letter Mm loves to MUNCH . . . mmmmm good stuff, we munched cookies while we read the book, followed by a glass of mmm milk!

We did lots of tummy rubbing as we practiced the sound of the Letter Mm :)

We also made our invites to the Muffins & Mom's party . . . 

 

Aren't those just the cutest little card making elfs?!?

And as an at home bonus, here's a fun link to a short letter Mm animation activity you can do with your child. 

CALENDAR Sept 13-17

This week is all about the Letter Mm!

Monday 9/13: Mmmm Marvelous Mouse!

Wednesday 9/15: EARLY RELEASE DAY 9:00-10:30 Mom's & Muffins Party! Come munch muffins, watch marvelous magic, & meet a moose (in a book :) ) as we celebrate the Letter M with our Mom's (or other special grown-up).  Look for an RSVP email form in your inbox.

Friday 9/17: Show & Tell: Something that starts with the Letter M!

M is for Music

Today we continued our Letter M theme through exploring Music.  

Some of today's highlights include: 

each child taking a turn playing a violin, 

looking inside a piano to see how it works, 

a class concert,

and marching to various types of music 

while playing the drums we made! 

What Marvelous fun we can have with the letter M!

Mmmmm. . .

Today we finally started introducing the alphabet with the letter M.  We had a lot of fun eating"mmmmmmmm yummy"  cookies while reading about a silly mouse, making crafts, and singing songs.

Of course their was a lot of silly creativity going on during the less structured moments--here's a peak . . .

Playing Dinosaur Farm . . .

Wearing Mr. Potato Head glasses . . .



And,  blasting into outer space (during free-play time this was completely student initiated and carried out--including lining the chairs up, getting everyone in line, taking turns driving, and being aliens) . . .

See you on Wednesday for a new Month and new MMMMMMM fun!!