Let It Snow!
1/10/2020
Winter offers many learning opportunities for preschoolers. This week, we began our winter unit by reading “The Story of Snow” by Mark Cassino. This book gave students an understanding of how snowflakes are formed along with close up images of snowflake crystals. Students were introduced to new vocabulary including symmetry, ice crystals, and hexagon. We also talked about the life cycle of a snowflake and practiced sequencing the stages in order. During Math Centers, students worked with colored gems and tangrams to create symmetrical patterns. This activity helped them understand patterns, relations and functions. It also allowed fine motor practice. A snowflake forms when water molecules line up and form a six-sided shape called a hexagon. Students practiced tracing hexagons and used tan-grams to create 6 sided snowflake patterns. For our science activity, we used clear containers to experiment with water in forms of solid, liquid and gas. We are working on developing our understanding of the scientific process. The first jar was filled with water and the second was filled with ice cubes. The children worked together to fill the last jar with snow. Afterward, I asked my students which jar they thought would end up with the most water. They hypothesized that the jar with the snow would have the most water since it was full and because there was too much air in the ice cube jar. The students recorded their predictions as scientist do. They noticed that the snow melted much faster than the ice cubes, but it also resulted in very little water! They were shocked to see the results. Even though the students thought they packed the snowflakes tightly, they couldn’t pack them as tightly as the molecules in the ice cubes. We talked about the structure of an ice cube and a snowflake. Knowledge gained through comparing and contrasting helps students understand how to organize information, think more clearly, and express ideas. Understanding relationships between objects and organisms is how scientist find answers in the real world. We practice this skill daily in EK. Our sensory table was filled with snow this week. Since it was too cold to play outside, we brought snow into the classroom. I set paint and brushes for students to paint beautiful designs in the snow. We also talked about the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and mixed them together to make secondary colors (orange, green and purple). Painting fosters creative growth as well as fine motor practice. We painted beautiful winter trees using paint and q tips to make a winter wonderland. Last week, the students practiced team work and collaboration to create a wonderful snowman. It was amazing to see the preschoolers work together to reach a goal. We had a fun filled week playing with snow as well as learning about it!
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April 2021
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