A little lesson on capacity

Today, the girls were given a basic lesson on capacity.  We discussed how capacity is the measurement of what something can hold.  The girls were shown a sand bucket and had to estimate how many times it would take to be filled with the different containers: a yogurt cup, measuring cup, water glass and coffee mug.  After they estimated, they were put into groups of three and went out to the kindergarten sandbox to complete the actual measurement.  The girls discovered while filling the bucket with sand, it took many more times to fill it with a smaller container than a larger one.

 

THANK YOU

A huge THANK YOU to all the parents and special friends who came to our spring concert this morning.  The girls loved seeing you and it was wonderful to chat with you after their performance. 

Please check your daughter's backpacks for your Rain Forest Celebration & Potluck Picnic invitation.  Attached to the invitation is a list of foods from the rain forest--each family is assigned to either appetizer, main dish or dessert.  Try your hardest to bring a creative dish using one of the foods listed.  If you have any questions, please contact Meghann, Muffy or one of the room parents.

 

We also had a publishing party with Mrs. Pohlhaus' first grade class to celebrate the girls completing their "How-To" books.  They had a blast and the first grade girls were very impressed with their writing.  Here are a few pictures from our fun afternoon!

 

 

Colorful Carnations--The Final Result!

Today was our final recorded observation of our dyed carnations.  The girls observed their flowers and recorded what they looked like after sitting in the dyed water for 4 days.  Many were surprised that their flowers were extremely bright and colorful, while others were stumped over the fact that their flower barely had any color at all!  But they all answered the question posed to them in the beginning of the experiment--where does water go in a flower?  Be sure to ask your daughter for her conclusion!

Comparing Weights

We have been doing a lot with measurement lately and today we worked on measuring weight, rather than length.  We talked a lot about heavy verses light and gave a bunch of examples of things that fit into each category.  The girls were introduced to a balance scale and had to estimate which groups of manipulatives would be heavier (example 3 dice vs. 4 unifix cubes).  After we estimated, the girls were broken into groups of 3 where they actually measured the manipulatives using their balance scales.  There was even a challenge where they had to find a perfect balance between bears and cubes.

Colorful Carnations

Where does water go in a plant?  That was the question posed to our Pre-First scientists today.   The girls were given white carnations and got to choose from red, yellow, green or blue colored water to put in their vase.  They predicted what their carnation would look like in one day and sketched it out.  We will observe our carnations tomorrow and record what we see....what do you predict they will look like?

Sticker Capitalization

We continued to reinforce the capitalization rules today by having the girls play "teacher".  As a class, we read a fun story about the orioles.  Then the girls paired up and were given fun colored stickers and felt tip pens.  They edited the story, looking for all of the capital mistakes, correcting them by covering the lowercase letters with the sticker and writing the uppercase letter with the pen.  Did you notice our capitalization mistake...are you smarter than a Pre-Firster?

Animal research

The girls used their iPads to research information on their assigned rain forest animal.  We supported the girls in using Google to find suitable sites where they could find age-appropriate information.  They found wonderful videos on National Geographic and easy-to-understand information on the San Diego Zoo site.  Make sure you ask your daughter about a fun fact she learned today about her animal!