Science Experiment: Will It Bounce?

Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: experiment, bounce/-ing/-ed, yes/no, do/do not, high/low, 1-2-3, drop,  roll/-ing/-ed, fast/slow, me/my/mine, He/She, His/Hers, Who/What/Where, my turn, predict.

Miss Carrie said we were going to try an experiment.  An experiment is when we try something to see what happens. Last week, we experimented with bouncing balls. But, do other things bounce? 

Hmmmm......

First, we tried stretch strings.  We held them up high, counted together "1-2-3-DROP!" Everyone dropped it at the sane time.  What happened?  Did it bounce? No, they didn't bounce.  They just stayed there on the floor.  We tried it again to be sure. "1-2-3-DROP!"  Hmmm.  Stretchy strings do not bounce.

We tried dinosaurs.  "1-2-3-DROP!" What happened? Did they bounce?  No, they kind of rolled.  Dinosaurs do not bounce. We tried it twice to be sure.

We tried bean bag animals.  "1-2-3-DROP!"  What happened?  Did they bounce?  One child responded that her frog flopped.  We tried twice.  No, bean bag animals do not bounce.

We experimented with blocks.  Some of the kids noted that blocks are square.  Maybe these will bounce?  "1-2-3-DROP!" What happened?  Some said their block bounced a little bit.  Others said their blocks rolled.  We determined that blocks do not bounce.  At least, they don't bounce like balls.

What if we experiment with something round?  These cotton snowballs are round.  They look like balls.  Will these bounce?  "1-2-3-DROP!" They bounced! Not nearly as much as a bouncy ball.  One child said that these were too hard to catch.  So our pretend snow balls do bounce.  At least a little bit.

Last, Miss Carrie reviewed what items we experimented with.  Stretchy strings, dinosaurs, bean bags, blocks, and balls.  There was one more thing we didn't try.

DO KIDS BOUNCE?

As soon as Miss Carrie asked this questions, no one needed more instruction.  Every child started bouncing.  

YES, KIDS DO BOUNCE!

Do this at home:  try your own science experiments.  

During bath time, you could determine DOES IT FLOAT?

During a walk, why not experiment with DOES IT HAVE EYES? (Be on the look out!)

Playing on the floor with your child, pull out some toys to shake or rattle.  DOES IT MAKE NOISE?

During a family meal: DOES IT CRUNCH? (yes, this requires everyone to chew with their mouth open. We try this experiment during Snack Time as well.)

MRI shows articulation

This is a MRI of a person speaking.  Yes, it is in German.  But just listen to the sounds and watch the tongue.  The tongue tip is so delicate as it curves up to touch the ridge just behind the teeth for /t/ and /d/ sounds, long contact for /n/ sounds.  You can see the top of the tongue hit mid/back on the division between hard and soft palate for /k/ and /g/ sounds.  You can see the velopharyngeal port (that part of the soft palate that closes the nose off) open for /m/ and /n/ and close  for other consonants.  You can see the tongue minutely adjusting.  You can even see a few swallows.  No wonder articulation can be so hard!  There is so much for the tongue and lips to do. 

Small Group Activities: Counting and Measuring

Here are some fun Small Group activities that have been happening in both classrooms.  The activities provide a lot of opportunities for vocabulary expansion as well as back and forth conversation.  First up is Miss Julie's class.

From Miss Julie: This is a group that focuses on developing one-to-one correspondence. We started with pre-made dot cards and listened for observations from students such as counting, pointing and counting, noticing there are different numbers of dots on each card, etc. After our discussion we introduced noodles (or other small items) and asked the students how we can use them together. Some students covered the dots with all of the items, others covered dots with a single item, and others counted the dots and items. Students demonstrated various levels of skills counting with one-to-one correspondence. Blank cards and markers were given to students so they could make their own dot cards. Lastly, glue was introduced to allow students to add items to their own dot cards to take home. 

Next up are some activities from Miss Jeana's class.

From Miss Jeana:  This is working on measurement.  We were making color recipes - using the three primary colors to create all different hues.  

From Miss Jeana:  Fill it up!  Here we were used different sized cups to fill a larger bowl and talked about how many scoops it took to fill the bowl.