Awesome Scientists!

THE SCIENCE FAIR is happening this Monday, March 12th from 12-2pm upstairs in the library!  Our class worked super hard this week to get ready for it.  Our class really focused on the PROCESS of science. First of all, we learned about the scientific method.  Here the kids are putting the steps of the Scientific Method in order.

FIRST STEP:  Ask a question!  Since we are studying weather, I did set the parameter that their project had to be about the weather, in some way.  Other than that, the kids came up with their own questions.  They were awesome!  Some of the questions were, "How does rain fall?  How are snowballs made?  What makes ice melt?  Can we walk on the clouds?  What makes a rainbow?  Will icicles grow back if we pick them?  Can wind move a rock?"  The kids placed themselves into collaborative groups, depending upon what they were interested in studying.

NEXT, we made our HYPOTHESES, our best guess as to the answer to our question. 

Then, we DESIGNED EXPERIMENTS to test our hypotheses.  For this step, the kids conferenced with me, but largely came up with their own experiments.  For example, to find out if wind could blow a rock away, one student came up with the idea to tie a string to a rock and tie it to a balloon, and then take it outside to see if it would blow away.  All his idea!  So first we made an anemometer in class to measure the windspeed:

Next we took it outside to the windiest spot on the playground.  The kids all knew instantly where we should go:  the top of the sledding hill!  It worked great!

To find out the results of our experiment with the rocks, you'll just have to come to the fair!

Here are some pictures of the other experiments going on in kindergarten this week...

Next came the OBSERVATION step of our scientific method.  The kids recorded their observations and then drew CONCLUSIONS about what they had learned.

Finally, we are going to REPORT our findings on Monday!  

We learned about recording data and displaying it in graphs in math, to go along with our science project unit.  The kids had a great time creating surveys and asking their friends all sorts of questions, recording their data, and turning it into either a pictograph or a bar graph!

Doing this project has made me realize just how far the kids have come this year.  They were SO excited about their experiments, and doing some GREAT critical thinking...  Our kinders are AWESOME SCIENTISTS!  

See you at the fair!  

In other news, this week is another early release on Friday, at 1:45.  

We also will be having the BATTLE OF THE BOOKS this Tuesday in the library at 10 am!  Families are invited and encouraged to attend both the Battle and the Science fair!