April 30, 2012 Preschool Science News

Deer Park Shore Families,

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing spring break. I would like to catch you up on some of the things that the children and I have been doing in Science over the past few weeks.

In Science, when most of the classes were focusing on the letters U, V and W, we talked about the Universe, Volcanoes and Waves. We discussed what the universe encompasses including solar systems, planets, stars and moons. The children enjoyed The Planet Song and The Solar System Song (both under KidsTV123 on You Tube) which told us about the names and properties of the planets and how they rotate around the sun. We used a lamp and a globe to demonstrate the earth’s movement around the sun as well as on its axis and how these movements cause day and night. We also discussed how days and years are measured by these movements. We talked about the phases of the moon, what they are called and how the moon doesn’t really change shape. We are only seeing the part of the moon that is lit by the sun. Finally, we demonstrated a lunar eclipse in our classroom!

For our volcano topic, we talked about the different layers of the earth as well as some of the things that cause volcanoes. We did our very popular volcano demonstration with all the children helping to add the ingredients. Messy fun was had by all! Another of the children’s favorites was the tsunami simulator that was used during our wave unit. We touched on the topic of plate tectonics or the many puzzle-like pieces that make up our earth’s crust. The fault lines between these pieces are where volcanoes and earthquakes commonly occur and when this happens under the ocean…tsunami warning!! The children were able to pull a string on our simulator causing a very large wave (and a change of clothes in some cases!) Good thing the weather was warm!

It’s incubation time in our classroom!! A dozen eggs are in the incubator and we are all little hens and roosters in waiting! In just 21 days we should have some fuzzy new additions to our Park Shore family…we can’t wait! We’ve been discussing the many kinds of animals that are O-VIP-A-ROUS or hatch from eggs. The children knew a lot of these animals and we read Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones to find out some more. Another oviparous animal is a frog and we were fortunate enough to get some Leopard Frog eggs for our classroom. They hatched and we are now watching the tadpoles grow larger and waiting for hind legs to appear as they slowly go through the many stages of becoming a frog. I’m sure the children will keep you posted!

Next up we will be talking about Earth Day, recycling, plants and doing some recycling and planting ourselves…stay tuned!    

Sincerely,