Deer Park Shore Parents,

Greetings from the Park Shore Science room. We’ve been busy little scientists in the New Year so far. We started off with our magnet unit which was filled with many fun and exciting hands on activities for the children. Some of these activities included magnet mazes, paperclip fishing and magnet painting. The children also became “human magnets” as a rare earth magnet was placed on top of their hands and they were able to pick up paperclips with their palms. Very strong magnets indeed! We talked about what types of things magnets attract, permanent and temporary magnets and how to make something that is not a magnet into a temporary magnet. We also made compasses right in our classroom! Lastly we observed as magnetic fields made screws and needles float in the air… simply amazing!

Deer Park Shore Parents,

Hello again from the Park Shore Science room! I just wanted to update you on what we’ve been up to lately.
In the months of November and December, we touched upon a number of fun and interesting topics. I decided to bring a little physics into the classroom and introduce the children to Sir Isaac Newton and his First Law of Motion which states, in part, that a body at rest will stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. This is also known as the Law of Inertia. We demonstrated this law in a number of different ways. First was our egg drop experiment and I am proud to say that we had very few egg casualties! Ask your child what happened during this experiment. Second, the children attempted to get a penny to fall into a cup by quickly pulling away a paper ring that the penny was resting upon. Quite a few children became proficient at this task. Lastly, the children tried out my tennis ball headgear which rested on their heads with tennis balls hanging over each side. As they turned to look from one tennis ball to another, they moved but the balls stayed where they were. We laughed quite a bit as we all looked a little like aliens with the headgear on!

Deer Park Shore Parents,

Hello again from the Science room! The children and I have had a lot of fun together over the last few weeks. We’ve gone over the parts of the microscope and took a look at some interesting things under the microscope, including a fruit fly! We also talked about apples as we celebrated the birthday of Johnny Appleseed. We read apple books, looked at the parts of an apple and discussed why apples turn brown when cut, also known as oxidation. We learned how the citric acid in orange juice can stop oxidation.

Deer Park Shore Parents,

Deer Park Shore Parents,

There is some very big news at Park Shore… our wait is finally over!! After 21 days in incubation, our eggs have hatched! We have 11 new additions in our Science room and boy are they cute! The children (and teachers!) were all thrilled to meet the newest members of our Park Shore family. As soon as they entered the science room this past week, the children were greeted by the “cheep cheep” of our new baby chicks. Some were able to observe the hatching process while others saw newly hatched chicks as they rested after working so hard to break out of their shells. All of the children had a  chance to play with the chicks and hold them. 

Deer Park Shore Parents,

Hello again from the Wonderful World of Park Shore Science. We’ve had an exciting albeit messy couple of weeks in our science room! We’ve endured Volcanoes, Earthquakes and even a few Tsunami Waves (as the children focused on the letters V and W in their classrooms). 

First we discussed the three layers that make up the earth: the crust, the mantle and the core. We talked about how the crust is made up of different pieces, called plates, that fit together like puzzle pieces and move around very slowly. When they move into each other, volcanoes and earthquakes could result.  Our baking soda and vinegar volcano was a big hit and very hands on. The children all took part in adding the ingredients that made our volcano work. Rather than an explosive volcano (which would have required cleaning the ceiling many times), our volcano oozed thick “hot lava” thanks to our special ingredient: dish soap, a big favorite in our lab! We had two eruptions in each class…very fun!

Deer Park Shore Parents,

This past week in Science, we started to focus on some spring time topics. We talked about flowers and plants as well as some of their parts and the functions of these parts. The children all agreed that water usually comes down: when it rains, when we turn on the faucet or the shower or when we spill something. This is due to gravity. How is it then that the roots and stems of flowers and plants suck water upward from the soil into their leaves and petals? The answer is by capillary action, the action by which water is attracted to the surface of a narrow space causing it to move upward against gravity. We demonstrated capillary action in the classroom by placing freshly cut white carnations in water colored with food coloring. In about a half hour, we saw the color change begin as the water worked its way up the straw- like tubes of the stems. What beautiful red, yellow, green and blue flowers we created! We then experimented by putting those flowers into different colored water. Ask the children what happened then. We also took a piece of celery and placed it in red colored water and were able to observe red dots on the top that showed us where the tubes run up the stalk. The children were then able to experience hands on capillary action by holding a thin piece of paper towel in colored water and watching as the water climbed upward through the air pockets and fibers in the towel. Towards the end of the week we planted some sunflower seeds and are currently watching and waiting for shoots to grow.

Deer Park Shore Parents,

Hello again from the Wonderful World of Park Shore Science. Your little scientists have been making great discoveries as of late and their excitement and enthusiasm continue to inspire.

Over the past few weeks we have learned about apples, their parts, the many ways we can enjoy them and how to keep them fresh. We learned about the different parts of a leaf and made our own "leaf skeletons." We talked about some of the properties of water, including surface tension and what happens when we break it. The children were very excited as they tried to predict which items would sink and which would float!

During Fire Prevention week, we were able to observe with some fun experiments, how fire needs air or oxygen to burn and this is why we Stop, Drop and Roll!!

As Halloween approaches, we'll turn our attention to pumpkins and begin doing some spooky science! I can't wait to continue exploring with the children and look forward to the looks on their faces as they make their discoveries!

Sincerely,

Deer Park Shore Parents,

Hello and welcome to the Wonderful World of Park Shore Science.  I am so excited to be able to explore and discover the many different wonders of science with your children this year.  Children are naturally curious and together we will ask and answer many questions about the world around us.  We will take advantage of the warm and wonderful weather, the beautiful grounds of Park Shore and explore the outdoors as long as we can.

In keeping with our goal to be the Premier Pre-school and leader in early childhood education, we are proud to announce the addition of our new science program.

This new learning experience will take place in Park Shore's new science lab that will be filled with science equipment necessary to stimulate and educate all of our young scientists. Our children will now add another special to our already progressive academic curriculum. Our science program will help our children develop how science skills, such as: observation, classification, and communication can produce an outcome or a conclusion. Our science lab will be equipped with microscopes, magnets, test tubes and more. It will also be home to a variety of animals and reptiles. Our children will all be responsible for the health and care of our new additions. Plants and other experiments will be incorporated into our program. Imagine a child looking through a microscope and entering into another world that can be seen through a lens or seeing a chick hatch after waiting for several weeks anticipating this amazing event!