Science Monday!

I think it would be safe to call your children scientists instead of students today! They went on a matter scavenger hunt to complete our study of matter and to demonstrate independent mastery of the topic. They went out in small groups with a timer and were so responsible, well behaved, and creative with their search. Your children also discovered a new species, while classifying animals, called Caecilian which are grouped as Clade Apoda and may be found in Africa, South America, and Asia. Your child will tell you that they resemble a worm but are actually amphibians like toads, newts, and salamanders. Separately, right before lunch your children were recruited based on their in depth research of water temperatures, properties of matter, and water processes to do a little scientific exploration with the fish tanks located in the main hall. The kids came up with the question of why one tank has more water than the other. They noted that they are both the same size and started with the same amount of water three weeks ago but the goldfish tank has less water in it than the tropical fish tank! Their observations included the difference in light and amount of bubbles in each tank. Ask your child about the differences and their own observations. We also talked about the term meniscus when they were measuring the difference the water was from the brim of each tank. Since the kids were measuring in centimeters it was important to note the occasional error due to the menisci in the tanks. They will form hypothesis tomorrow about the water level difference. This could be a great dinner conversation! While doing phonics scrabble a few of the kids noted number patterns which was great since this is what we dabbled in last week. It is so great to see them not only grasp a concept- but reference it while doing something else days later.

Happy Monday!