Ganon Aleph Experiments with Opposites

Our discussion of Yaakov and Eisav in this week's parasha brought us to the topic of opposites.  We played games and did activities with opposites throughout the week.  We covered the TOP and BOTTOM of one of the tables in our classroom with mural paper, and the children had fun coloring both sides, especially the bottom!  They experience WET and DRY when we spread flour on the table and then added water; they enjoyed mixing it and feeling how the consistency changed.  They traced their hands on the white board and then picked out the SMALLEST and the LARGEST.  Who knew opposites could be so much fun!

More and less, bigger and smaller!

ABC's & 1 2 3's by Morah Shani 

Partnering with Parents 

Ready to build a snowman and do a little engineering??? 

It takes practice and learning to understand how big the base of the snowman should be, and the relative sizes of the other two snowballs. Be prepared to let children try to put a large head on top, then figure out why it didn't stay on. While building, use the words "more" and "less," as well as "bigger" and "smaller" to help build these important scientific and mathematical concepts.

 

Winter Animals

Gan Bet has been exploring how different animals adapt to the winter. The children learned that both the polar bears and penguins have blubber, which helps keep them warm in the cold weather. To demonstrate this, we performed a science experiment using “blubber”, water, and some bags. The children placed one hand inside two empty plastic bags. The other hand was placed in an empty bag and an additional bag with “blubber”. The children placed both hands in cold water. When their hands became cold, they were told to take the cold hand out of the water. The hand without the blubber coating was pulled out quickly!

Gan Bet's Oily Mix Up

Learning about the nes of Chanukah led us to explore the properties of oil. We learned that oil comes from olives, which grow on trees. We counted 26 olives, and pressed them with a garlic press, to see how much oil we would get. We only measured 4 1/2 teaspoons! We realized that it takes a lot of olives to make just a little oil.

We also conducted more experiments with oil. The children compared a mixture of paint and water with a mixture of paint and oil. They sharpened their fine motor skills by squeezing droppers with these mixtures. While the water mixture spread quickly on their papers, the oil mixture dropped in clumps, and the oil spread out around the paint. We knew from last week's experiment that water and oil don't mix; now we learned that oil doesn't mix with paint either!

To further test the oil's propensity to separate from other liquids, we predicted what might happen if we added salt to a mixture of oil, water, and food coloring. Initially, the salt attached to the oil, making it heavier, so that it sunk to the bottom of the bottle. However, when we came back from lunch, we saw that the oil was now on top, and the water on the bottom! We learned that the salt had dissolved, and so the oil separated from the oil.

Chanukah Science

In anticipation of Chanukah, Gan Bet conducted an experiment with oil. We started by feeling the oil and describing the sensation of how it felt. Some of the children said that the oil felt slippery and smooth and that it made our hands sparkly. We then filled a bottle with water and blue food coloring, and added some oil. Our little scientists were asked to hypothesize what might happen. Some children thought that the colors would mix together and turn green. Other predictions were that the oil would sink to the bottom, or that the water would go to the bottom and the oil would stay on top. Each child had a turn to shake the water bottle really well. At first it seemed as though the water and oil mixed together, but upon further observation we saw that the water stayed at the bottom of the bottle and the oil rose to the top. No matter how many times we mixed the oil and water together, the oil and water continued to separate. Now we know for sure that oil and water don't mix!

BREAKING BREAD WITH GAN DALED

Gan Daled read the book Bread, Bread, Bread by Ann Morris. The children were eager to learn about various types of bread from around the world. We continued to develop our geography skills by locating the countries represented in the book on a world map. After examining different shapes, colors and sizes of bread, came the best part - tasting the bread.

We left samples of the bread on our Discovery Table. The class predicted what would happen to them. We anxiously check the bread every day for any changes.

What is your favorite type of bread?

Pre Pesach Preparations

As Pesach approaches, the children engage in many hands on experiences. They tried squeezing grapes in a cup to make juice, and then tasted the fruits of their labor. They were so excited they asked to make juice again! They all commented that it was delicious.

We also experimented with yeast and then made challah! Independently the children braided their challot and then we baked them. The best part was eating the challah!

Gan Daled Goes Green

Gan Daled is having a wonderful time conducting experiments with plants. At Chanukah time we examined potatoes - how they grow and what we can make from them. We placed a sweet potato so that half of the potato was in water and half was out of the water. We waited and waited. After several weeks we saw roots grow from the potato. A number of weeks later leaves emerged from the potato and we now have a beautiful plant.

We took two celery stalks and placed one in a container with red food coloring and one in a container with blue food coloring. The children have been observing the colors travel through the celery all the way up to the leaves. They are learning how food travels through a plant.

The children planted bird seed for Tu B'Shevat which has grown into various types of grasses. We are depriving one plant of water and one plant of light. Gan Daled has observed that the plant that was deprived of light stopped growing and the plant that was deprived of water died. They concluded that plants need both water and light to survive.

What's the Temperature?

In conjunction with our unit on the winter season, Gan Daled is conducting experiments to learn about thermometers. Several liquids of varying temperatures were set out, and a thermometer placed in each. The children tried to predict which would be warmer or colder, then read the thermometer and completed a chart with the temperatures. This science experiment also incorporated many math concepts, such as measurement, comparisons, and reading and writing numbers.

Tampering with Temperature in Gan Aleph

If you ask a child in Gan Aleph what happens to an animal during hibernation season, they will tell you that its body temperature drops to below 30 degrees! After discussing the meaning of body temperature, we looked at different thermometers and tested them on our window (for outdoor temp), our bodies (for body temp) and food! The children put their knowledge of thermometers to test and conducted a science experiment using different liquids. They were each provided with a chart labeled "liquid" and "temperature". After predicting which liquid they thought would be the hottest/coldest, they took turns in small groups measuring the temperatures of cold water, apple juice, hot water, milk from the refrigerator and oil. They read the number displayed on the thermometer and wrote it on their chart. We determined which liquid had the highest temperature and was therefore the hottest and which one had the lowest temperature.

Marc Chagall in Gan Bet

The art of Marc Chagall was evident in every area of our classroom. In the baking center, the children were busy creating "stained glass" cookies. They mixed the dough and shaped the cookies. They used blocks to smash lollipops in sandwich bags, and then added the crushed candy to the center of each cookie. What a surprise when the cookies were baked: they looked just like stained glass windows!

In the art center the children experimented with flowers to paint backgrounds for their pictures. They tested different methods of applying the paints. It was fun to use flowers instead of paint brushes, and the results are gorgeous!

Experimenting With Oil In Ganon Bet

Being the curious bunch that we are, we could not pass up the opportunity to experiment with oil and various other liquids such as glue, pineapple juice, honey, water and Karo syrup. We combined oil with water. Ask us what happened! We predicted which liquids were heavy and which were light; which combinations would blend and which would remain separate.

Sciencing

Science is a verb in the early childhood department, because it takes place when the children are actively engaged, observing, exploring, experimenting, and discovering. Jude is investigating the properties of sand, and using a variety of materials to test ways of moving it around (physics). But if you ask him, he'll tell you that he's playing, and having fun. Which he is!