We began this month with a nature walk, looking for signs of spring. We found colorful flowers and looked carefully inside each one to find its precious pollen.
We found blossoms growing on the trees. The children were particularly excited about this magnolia tree, which they believed was a banana tree. (The blossoms did have the same shape as a banana!)
We found dandelions in the grass, ants on the sidewalk, birds chirping, and bees moving from flower to flower.
We walked by a tree with so many bees that we could hear a buzzing sound when we listened carefully.
We wondered what the bees were doing in the flowers on that tree! Were the bees eating the flowers? Were they eating the pollen? We were curious.
The children began bringing different kinds of flowers for science share-and-learn. Here a student shows a beautiful lily to each of his friends.We added questions to our question board: What are the things inside the flower? and how does pollen stick to them? We decided to dissect different kinds of flowers and see what we could discover.
We compared a daffodil, lily, dandelion, and purple tulip. We sorted the parts of each flower to make a group of stems, leaves, and petals. Then we put the "pollen-makers" from each flower in a muffin tin.
We made two interesting discoveries. First, we observed that the stems felt wet inside.
Second, when we cut the flowers in half lengthwise, we discovered seeds in the daffodil!
We recorded our observations and questions in our science journals: How does water go up in the stem? How do flowers make seeds? How does such a small seed grow into a big flower? Why did we find seeds in the daffodil but not in the lily or the tulip? Great questions!
The next school day we discussed flower stems. A student hypothesized that stems have tiny tubes in them and water goes up the tubes into the flower.
We tested this idea by placing white carnations in jars full of colored water. The children predicted that the flowers would change color. And their hypothesis was correct!
One student wanted to look for seeds in the carnations. He was curious to see if you put the seeds in the colored water, would the seeds grow into colored flowers or white flowers. Again, what a great question! I am so proud of the thinking that goes on this classroom. This kid is ready to learn about DNA and heritable traits!
We planted pea seeds in the garden early this month. We talked about what seeds need to grow.
We learned a song about photosynthesis, i.e., how plants make their own food. Photosynthesis is a plant's creature power! Plants can make their own food (sugar!) using just water, air, and energy from the sun!
Speaking of peas, it hasn't rained much this month. We've been watching for clouds and we've seen a few. But we decided to help the process along.
The children used pipettes to move water and make puddles on the cement. We traced the puddles with sidewalk chalk then waited for them to evaporate.
When we came back about 15 minutes later, we were surprised to discover just how fast our puddles had evaporated. We made clouds!
The children were mixing rainbow colors in the sensory table outdoors that day. I later discovered these two boys watching a container full of brown water.
After mixing all the colored water together to make brown, they wanted to watch it evaporate. They were curious to see if it would make a brown cloud! (I just love teaching preschool.)
Ever since our nature walk, the children have been excited every time they see a bee in the school yard. We count how many bees we see each day. Questions surfaced about the differences between a bee, a wasp, and a hornet. We had some information books in our library about insects, so we did some research to find out more.
We learned that bees are hairy and eat flowers (nectar and pollen). They turn the nectar into honey by fanning it with their wings to evaporate the water. Wasps are not hairy and they don't make honey. Instead, wasps eat other insects, including bees!
Shortly after this discussion, a student found a wasp nest in his barbecue and brought it to school for "science". His question was: How do wasps make their nest? And how do bees make their hive? Students were also curious about how bees make honey. So we planned a class field trip to see our neighborhood beekeeper, Mr. Shelton.
He had several white boxes full of honey combs. He showed us the honeycombs and explained they were made of wax. Bees squirt wax from their abdomen (stomach) and use their bodies to shape the wax into hexagons.
The wax felt different than the papery wasp nest. Mr. Shelton also showed us lots of dead bees in an old hive.
He thinks the bees died because he harvested too much of the bees' honey last fall. The bees didn't have enough honey to eat over winter. He said he was sad about his dead bees.
He showed us the special clothing he sometimes wears to protect his body when he cares for the bees. But he said he doesn't usually wear it because honey bees don't usually sting. He can walk right up to the hive and feel safe, even without the special clothing.
The kids were a little weary at first. They hung back from the active hive. But Mr. Shelton assured them they didn't need to be afraid.
Soon most students were feeling brave enough to get close to the hive. Bees were swarming all around them, but not stinging them. It was amazing!
They watched closely as bees went in and out of the hive. They could see that bees entering the hive had pollen all over their bodies. Mr. Shelton told us that bees are very helpful because they move pollen from one flower to another as they gather nectar. Moving pollen helps flowers make new seeds.
Just before we left a spontaneous game of bee tag broke out in Mr. Shelton's backyard. The children ran fast to avoid being stung by "the bee".
Mr. Shelton gave us a jar of honey to take back with us. We made cracker and honey sandwiches for a snack. All the children loved them! They wanted to take the honey home. Too bad we didn't have ten jars of honey, one for each of them!
Mr. Shelton agreed to let us take some of the dead bees from his old hive. We gathered some in a plastic jar. Then came back to school to examine the bees closely with magnifying glasses and record observations in our science journals.
This boy discovered hair on the honey bee and is gently running his finger over the bee hair. He recalled that hair is something different about bees and wasps. Wasps don't have hair. Bees do.
Here are the questions that emerged after our field trip today. How do bees pollinate? How does pollen turn into flower seeds? How do bees make wax to put their honey in? Why do bees have hair? Why does it hurt when you get stung by a bee?
The next school day we read a book about honey bees (called
The Flight of the Honey Bee). We learned that bees have hair to attract pollen to their body (via static electricity).We also learned that bees returning to the hive do a
waggle dance that tells the other bees where to go to find flowers.
We listened to a piece of
classical music (called
Flight of the Bumble Bee). Students were then invited to perform their own version of a waggle dance. One student performed at a time, while the others practiced being a respectful audience.
This was so much fun that students asked to do it again. The second time, I provided instruments, ribbon sticks, and antennae headbands. (Honey bees use their antennae to smell and locate flowers.) We danced outside because it was a beautiful day.
We also painted flight patterns to the bee music and did some focused listening to identify the different instruments used by the orchestra. The musicians really did make their instruments sound like a buzzing bee flying from flower to flower!
We used chalk on black paper. Chalk was a new medium for us. It was fun to see the children's different interpretations of the music.
In the building center, a student created a bee digestive system. Bees have two stomachs, one for digesting food and one for storing nectar during flight. He's about to demonstrate how a piece of play food travels through the bee stomach. So cool.
This math lesson was inspired by the children's current interest in bees. Here students use algebraic thinking to solve for how many bees are hiding in a hive, since the total number of bees (5) is known. That is, they complete the math sentence 5 = ? + 3, where ? is the number of bees hiding in the hive. Students built the equation with manipulatives, then recorded the solved equation on paper.
Later this month we worked on decomposing numbers up to 5, using both addition and subtraction. This is the hardest math we will do this year. Students don't have to master it, just be introduced to it in preparation for kindergarten. We also acted out our bee math using a bee song and a parachute for a beehive. Good times!
The literacy skill we focused on this month was reading words. Almost all of the students know their letters and sounds now. The next step is to put those sounds together to actually read words!
Here a student matches photos to words. She can build the words using the movable alphabet or record the words on paper to make a list she can take home.
We have five reading boxes total, one box for each vowel. For example, the pink reading box contains words built with vowel "a", including jam, gas, cat, van, etc. The goal is for students to complete all the reading box activities over time.
Some students made a book describing the parts of a flower, or learned to identify different kinds of flowers.
Other Montessori-inspired works were completed as well, such as using a prism to draw a rainbow, weaving a rainbow from ribbon, and building a rainbow by ordering graded color tablets (by shade from dark to light).
An insect transfer work using tweezers built hand muscles used for writing.
And here students exercise their problem-solving skills to solve a 3D puzzle. That is, they are building a toy car from small parts using a screwdriver and wrench.
We continue to receive postcards from around the world. We recently received a postcard from Germany with a photo of the Neuschwanstein castle. So castle blocks were in the building center, along with knights, dragons, and an information book about castles.
Last but not least, we celebrated Easter with eggs in the sensory table, Easter egg art, and an egg hunt.
Here students search for alphabet letters on each egg, matching them to letters in the egg carton.
Or, sort uppercase and lowercase alphabet letters into different baskets.
We colored Easter eggs using oil pastels (a cousin to the crayon). Oil pastels can be used to blend and layer colors. The tape-resist added some dimension to the Easter eggs.
Here are the before and after pictures. Tape was removed. Eggs were cut out (by me since we ran out of time) then glued to yellow paper.
The kids were really excited about our egg hunt. Teacher Merritt hid some of the eggs in difficult places.
Here a boy uses a stick to reach an egg hiding in the branches of a tall tree.
Last week we discovered a bird nest in this same tree. We are all so excited about it. We wonder what kind of bird built this nest. There are no eggs in it yet. We are watching and waiting to see what happens!
How do birds build such amazing structures? We may have to try to build a nest of our own to experience just how difficult it really is. What an incredible creature power birds have! Happy Spring!
