Friday, February 21, 2014

Off to Antarctica

An Expedition to Antarctica

Morah Katie: What will we need for our trip to Antarctica?
Anton: Gloves
Natan: Jacket.
Ella: Food.
Gracie: Love
Jack: Shelter from the polar bears.
Morah Katie: We will need shelter, but not from polar bears. Polar bears live in the Arctic, at the top of Earth. Antarctica is at the bottom of Earth.
What animals do you think we will see there?
Isaac: Penguins
Jack: Whales
Scout: Seals
Morah Katie: What can you tell me about penguins?
Efraim: They eat fish.
Anton: The mom fishes and spits the food out for the baby.
Abigail: The dad keeps the baby warm.
Isaac: They swim a lot with their wing flippers.
Scout: They live in Antarctica.
Gracie: They are black and white to be camouflaged.
We watched a clip from March of the Penguins:
The children were completely enthralled as they watched the mom and dad penguin gently scoot the egg between them to keep it warm. 
We pretended to be mama and daddy penguins taking cares of our egg.
Gracie: The mama pushes the egg to the dad with her feet. Then the dad keeps it warm.

While exploring with the water bin, Morah Amanda had a discussion with some of our friends. 

Morah Amanda: Let's look at some pictures of animals in Antarctica. What colors do you see?
Efraim:Brown
Scout: Grey
Morah Amanda: Why aren't the animals more colorful like in the rain forest?
Efraim: Penguins have white like the snow.
Scout: The animals need to hide from other animals.
Isaac: Let's add snakes.

Morah Amanda: Snakes and reptiles need the warmth from the earth to heat them. Would we see them in cold Antarctica?
Scout: No, its cold.
Efriam: It is too cold in Antarctica.
5 black and while penguins sitting on a cold iceberg!
Morah Katie: Instead of learning one new language this week, we have been saying Good Morning and Good bye in English, Hebrew, Japanese, Swahili, French.   We are in Antarctica, why are we speaking so many different languages?
Zim: Because everyone can go there.
Morah Katie: Most people who visit Antarctica are explorers and scientists. This week we are going to be scientists and run a few different experiments.
Salt and water.
Experiment #1: Can we trap salt?
1. Draw a shape on paper.
2. Place a spoonful of salt inside the shape.
3. Make a larger shape around salt with water color paint.
4. Tilt paper to slide salt.
 We saw:
Ella: The salt is not going out of the circle. 
Gracie: It is like a mountain of salt with a peak.
 Experiment #2: Colored water and salt
1. Place a spoonful of salt on paper.
2. Use a dropper to drop 1 water drop on paper.
3. Repeat on the salt.
We saw:
Ari: Bubbles.
Evan: It is making bubbles.
Scout: The salt is absorbing the water so there are no bubbles on the salt.
Anton: I made a pink bubble and now the colors are all mixing in the salt.
Efraim: The salt pulls it all together.
 
 Sofia's colored salt while wet had a bubble of blue green yellow; when it had dried it was all green.
Morah Katie: Sofia how did that happen?
Sofia: It soaked together. It's Green.

Experiment #3: Lemon Juice and Pennies
1. Squeeze lemons for lemon juice.
2. Place a penny in a small container.
3. Cover with lemon juice.
4. Wait 5 minutes.
5. Wipe juice off with a q-tip.
We saw:
Amelia: It is all dark on the end (referring to q-tip).
Efraim: It is getting shiny.
Experiment #3 -extended: Lemon Juice vs. Vinegar
Sroli: They are both cleaning. The Lemon smells good.

Experiment #4: How many pennies can float in a boat?  How many pennies does it take to sink a boat?
1. Create a boat.
2. Place it in water.
3. Add pennies 1 at a time.
We saw:
Ameila: It is still floating.
Efraim: When I blow on it it moves.
Anton: I put 4 pennies in my boat.
So long Antarctica!
G'day Australia!

Friday, February 14, 2014

Our Olympic Week in Pictures
Flag making
Each child created a flag by drawing something important to represent who they are.
Efraim: The Beach and Mom
Anton: It's a puzzle map of the world!
Our Parade of "Nations"
First Event: Obstacle course
Second Event: Monster Monster what time is it?
Third Event:  Duck Duck Goose
Fourth Event: Who is missing?
Final Event: Hide'n'Seek

A fun time was had in Sochi!
We will be continuing our world trip with an expedition to 
Antarctica! 
Penguin, Elephant Seals and Orcas here we come!


Friday, February 7, 2014

Bon Jour/Mbote/Habari ya asubuhi
We have traveled to The Democratic Republic of the Congo.
While on a photo safari, we saw gorillas in the rain forest 
and hippos in rivers. 
We spied rhinos and a herd of zebras.
We noticed that children in The Democratic Republic of the Congo are similar to children in the other countries we have visited. 
Morah Katie:  What does every child in The Democratic Republic of the Congo need?
Zim: Food.
Gracie: Shelter.
Sroli: Water
Abigail: Clothes.
Natan: Toys, they want toys.
Morah Katie: What does every child in Botswana, Japan, Israel and Vancouver, Washington need?
Efraim: School. Play.
Abigail: Blankets.
Ella: Shelter.
Sroli: Gloves.
Jack: Food.
Anton: Pets.
Isaac: Pants.
Gracie: They all need it. Everyone. On every continent.

While on this portion of our world wide trip, we enjoyed different varieties of bananas,
Morah Katie: Archie did you like the red banana?
Archie: Yes, red banana.
We ate a traditional sweet treat, Kashata.
 
Gracie: It tastes like candy.
Jack: It tastes like honey.
Efraim: I like it.
Sroli: It tastes like lollipops.
Natan: It tastes like muffins, I like it.
We made masks.

We were speaking 3 languages this week!
English, French and Swahili.
Good Morning/ Hello: Bon jour/Mbote
Please: S'il vous plait/ Tafadhali
Thank you: Merci/Asante
Goodbye: Au revoir/Kwaheri

Next week we will be taking a side trip back to Asia.
We will be traveling to Sochi, Russia 
for the 
2014 Gan Olympics!!
Be prepared for pageantry and spectacle as 18 capable preschoolers play exciting games of :
Duck duck goose, 
Doggie doggie where's your bone? 
Simon says,  
Musical chairs,
and more!


Friday, January 31, 2014

 Dumela! Hello! from Botswana!


Morah Katie: If I wanted to say good morning to Judah, what would I add to Dumela?
Gracie: Rra because he is a boy.
Morah Katie: How do we say good morning to Morah Amanda?
Efraim: Dumela mma because she is Amanda.
We know that tswee tswee is please, and ke a lobogo is thank you.
We weaved baskets and made finger drums.
Morah Katie: What are some things you have in common in the children in Botswana?
Anton: Hats.
Zim: Clothes.
Efraim: They have phones.
Morah Katie: What are some things you all need?
Gracie: Food.
Scout: Somewhere to live.
Zim: A family.
 Amelia: Nora and I have hats like that.
We made models of mud homes we might see in the bush of Botswana.

Natan: They look like houses.
Gracie: They are shelter. Shelter protects you from the sun and rain. 
We listened to some songs from Botswana and watched some videos of traditional dancing.
 The fun happy songs made us dance like the Botswanians.
Next week we leave the savanna of Botswana for the rain forest of the Congo.
Sala sentle from Botswana!