Welcome back from March break! It has already been a busy week back at school settling into our routines and starting lots of new learning. Today we had an amazing day with Scientist Sandra from Scientist in the Classroom where we all participated in the workshop "I can be a Scientist!" This workshop focused on introducing the children to four different types of Scientists - Meteorologist, Chemist, Astronomer and Paleontologist. We spent the entire morning participating in a wide variety of activities and Ms.Katsuras captured all of our learning through pictures! Check it out below.
I can be an Astronomer!
While at the Astronomy table the children learned what the Big Dipper and Little Dipper look like, learned about stars and identified what they can see at night using a telescope. We had a tent in the classroom with glow in the dark stars inside and the children were able to go inside and use their flashlights to make the stars glow - just like a real night sky! They loved playing with the flashlights and the tent was such a hit it was suggested that Ms.Katsuras buy one too!
I can be a Chemist!
During the chemist activity the children got to wear lab coats and safety goggles just like a real chemist in the lab! There were six test tubes with water and each student had to perform an experiment where they added a variety of household ingredients to the water to see if it would dissolve. There was sand, koolaid, salt, popcorn kernels, pepper and coffee. We practiced using the words "It dissolved!" when something disappeared in the water and identified when certain items did not dissolve but stayed the same in the water. We loved shaking the test tubes and wearing our lab coats just like real scientists!
I can be a Paleontologist!
We were really excited to see a table full of Dinosaurs! Especially because yesterday we kicked off our Dinosaur unit by making a KWL chart that listed what we know about Dinosaurs (the K), what we want to know about Dinosaurs (the W) and we will fill in the what we learned about Dinosaurs (the L) when we are done. At the Paleontology table we started off by identifying the difference between fossils and bones. We learned that the people who look for Dinosaur bones, work to put them together and dig up fossils are called Paleontologists. We used small dinosaurs to make a fossil of our own by pushing them into plasticene and using plaster to pour over the imprint. After making our fossils we coloured stencils of fossils and bones and then even had a chance to dig up fossils and bones in some sand boxes. It was definitely some messy but fun work!
I can be a Meteorologist!
At the meteorologist table we learned all about the weather! We used a thermometer to see how cold water with ice cubes is and how hot boiling water was (don't worry - an adult did this part!). We also talked about how hot water makes steam and that's how we know it is hot! We made it rain in our class by using squirt bottles full of water to fill clouds (sponges) with water until they dripped water - just like a real cloud! We measured how much rain we made and then we got to wear rainbow glasses that when you look through them there are rainbows everywhere! After our rainbow fun we used fans to make wind and each had a chance to make water tornados in bottles with sparkles!
PHEW! That was a learning packed morning! During Snack time because our tables were full of fun we got to eat on the carpet and pretend we were having a picnic! This was an extra special treat and this picture shows how excited and happy we were to do something out of the ordinary.
I hope the students were able to tell some great stories about their day and show you the fossil they made :)
I can be an Astronomer!
While at the Astronomy table the children learned what the Big Dipper and Little Dipper look like, learned about stars and identified what they can see at night using a telescope. We had a tent in the classroom with glow in the dark stars inside and the children were able to go inside and use their flashlights to make the stars glow - just like a real night sky! They loved playing with the flashlights and the tent was such a hit it was suggested that Ms.Katsuras buy one too!
I can be a Chemist!
During the chemist activity the children got to wear lab coats and safety goggles just like a real chemist in the lab! There were six test tubes with water and each student had to perform an experiment where they added a variety of household ingredients to the water to see if it would dissolve. There was sand, koolaid, salt, popcorn kernels, pepper and coffee. We practiced using the words "It dissolved!" when something disappeared in the water and identified when certain items did not dissolve but stayed the same in the water. We loved shaking the test tubes and wearing our lab coats just like real scientists!
I can be a Paleontologist!
We were really excited to see a table full of Dinosaurs! Especially because yesterday we kicked off our Dinosaur unit by making a KWL chart that listed what we know about Dinosaurs (the K), what we want to know about Dinosaurs (the W) and we will fill in the what we learned about Dinosaurs (the L) when we are done. At the Paleontology table we started off by identifying the difference between fossils and bones. We learned that the people who look for Dinosaur bones, work to put them together and dig up fossils are called Paleontologists. We used small dinosaurs to make a fossil of our own by pushing them into plasticene and using plaster to pour over the imprint. After making our fossils we coloured stencils of fossils and bones and then even had a chance to dig up fossils and bones in some sand boxes. It was definitely some messy but fun work!
I can be a Meteorologist!
At the meteorologist table we learned all about the weather! We used a thermometer to see how cold water with ice cubes is and how hot boiling water was (don't worry - an adult did this part!). We also talked about how hot water makes steam and that's how we know it is hot! We made it rain in our class by using squirt bottles full of water to fill clouds (sponges) with water until they dripped water - just like a real cloud! We measured how much rain we made and then we got to wear rainbow glasses that when you look through them there are rainbows everywhere! After our rainbow fun we used fans to make wind and each had a chance to make water tornados in bottles with sparkles!
PHEW! That was a learning packed morning! During Snack time because our tables were full of fun we got to eat on the carpet and pretend we were having a picnic! This was an extra special treat and this picture shows how excited and happy we were to do something out of the ordinary.
I hope the students were able to tell some great stories about their day and show you the fossil they made :)
