Super Science

Science Fair Fun!

January is the time of year when all the Junior High students are completing and displaying their science fair boards for judging.  The kindergarten has always taken the opportunity to join in the fun!  The board we enter usually has a winter theme to it.  This year, we decided to study ice and snow crystals and our project turned out to be really fun.

First we determined everything we already know about snow.  Then we spent some time reading about them to gain some new knowledge.  The munchkins now know that snowflakes are made of crystals and that every snowflake is different and special (just like them!).  They also learned that each snowflake has six sides and that it must be below 32 degrees for snowflakes to form. 

Our munchkins took this new information and each one used it to create a paragraph (yes...a paragraph) for our board.  We focused on writing two new facts combined with a conclusion sentence about snow.  The writing was amazing! 

We then set the writing aside, ready for our experiment. 

We wanted to see if we could grow our own crystal! 

We used the recipe found here. 

The munchkins added the borax to the hot water and let it dissolve. 

Then we formed a blue pipe cleaner in to a six-sided snowflake which was suspended into the mixture. 

We let that sit overnight.  In the morning, we were so excited at what we found!

A crystallized snowflake!

Our experiment, combined with our writings, made a perfect display board.  But it was missing something!

So we took some time to create several hand-made snowflakes to decorate our board, too.

These little sparkly pipe cleaner snowflakes were a real exercise in fine motor skills, and they were beautiful when they were done.

Then we moved on to folded paper snowflakes...

Cutting the folds was harder than it looked!

Unfolding was so exciting!  What would they look like?

So pretty!

And the munchkins know enough about their teacher to know that we never do anything without food being involved...

So...

Nothing better than edible snowflakes!

We put it all together and our board made a great addition to the Junior High Science Fair.

Great job, little scientists!

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

St. Paul's Conversion

The Conversion of St. Paul

The munchkins loved hearing the story of Saul being knocked off his horse on the way to Damascus!  They were also so surprised when they learned that someone who had been so terrible to people was now considered a saint.  What a beautiful lesson in the merciful forgiveness of Jesus and the hope that comes from it! 

 I actually had not planned to do anything with this particular feast day, but when I found out this morning that we would not be having our usual afternoon Spanish class, I had thirty minutes to fill with a quick activity.  Amazingly (the Holy Spirit is amazing!), I had just looked at this post from my favorite blog...So why not? 

The activity was simple but beautiful, and ours turned out so nicely, I just couldn't send them home.  Instead I decided to hang them in our Atrium for all to see...

I quickly copied the only coloring page of Saul on his horse that I had. I didn't realize that the copier was on "enlarge", so the picture the munchkins colored ended up being more of a close up than the one I made, but it worked. 

The munchkins added their artistic flare to the picture...

(yellow was popular with someone today!)

Then the "stained glass" was added.  It was fun to see how "into" this some of the munchkins got.  Many of them were trying to create symmetry in their designs!  (Yes, we've been talking about that...)

The finished products looked fantastic!

St. Paul, pray for us, that we, like you, may have a true conversion of heart.

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

Feast of the Three Kings

Celebrating the Epiphany

Our first week back from Christmas break was such a special one.  It was so nice to see every back...smiling & refreshed.  We took this week to prepare for and celebrate the Epiphany. 

We got our liturgical calendar from our Atrium back out and reminded ourselves how many weeks the Christmas celebration is.  Then we used that to count the days on the classroom calendar and everyone realized that the Christmas celebration was not quite over with yet!  We hadn't reached Epiphany. 

So we used this week to learn just what the Feast of the Epiphany is all about.

We used our Atrium story box to retell the story of The Visit of the Magi from the Bible.  The munchkins love to work with these pieces.  They find it very interesting to learn that (contrary to most pictures we see of the Nativity) Jesus, Mary and Joseph were not still in the stable when the Magi arrived!

We also created our own little setting and story pieces to take home and retell the story to Mom and Dad (although ours does end up looking more like a stable than a house when it is done).  Hmmm...

We wrote our own version of the story using our best kindergarten writing.  What a great opportunity to use some of our sight words and work on some special new skills we need to know:  the "ing" ending, and adding "s" for more than one.   These books turned out beautifully.  The munchkins created wonderful illustrations and their writing was fit for a king.  (Yes, pun intended!)

The title page:  Four Kings

Page one:  Here is one king.

Page two:  Here are two kings.



Page three:  Here are three kings.

Page four:  Here is the king of kings.

Then we took a couple of days to work on an amazing lap book that explains the meaning of the song:  The Twelve Days of Christmas.  It is absolutely beautiful when done and filled with more Catholic doctrine than you can imagine!  The munchkins loved putting it all together and learning the "secret" of each verse.  Of course, singing the song while we were working was a hoot to say the least!



So much cutting and gluing! So many tiny pieces to keep track of!  So much folding and arranging!  We were expert bookmakers by the time it was done!

And it was soooo cool!

Well...our week wasn't over, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a fun snack to go with this topic, so...

We created crown cupcakes.  It was planned to add skittles jewels, but we just didn't have time.  But never fear, they tasted delicious anyway!

Then we finished it all off with one last project. 



The kings...

and the queens!

Hope you all had a blessed Epiphany!

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D

A Christmas Celebration

Merry Christmas Munchkins

Our wonderful class Room Moms prepared a great afternoon for the munchkins in celebration of the upcoming birth of Jesus.  It was filled with games, snacks and fun...

First there was:

Toss the snowball

Then:

Pass the present

(kind of like "hot potato" only you want to get the present because then you get to unwrap it)

Except...it never seemed to be fully unwrapped, so we had to pass the present again!

And what is it about cookies that makes everyone smile?

What a fun afternoon!

Thanks Room Moms!

Merry Christmas Munchkins!

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

Some Secular Fun

A Special Visit

Even though we work very hard to keep Jesus as "the reason for the season", we took some time out to accept an invitation from our first grade friends who just happened to have an "in" with the big guy in the red suit.  The munchkins were very excited when he came through the door and all (well...almost all) wanted their picture taken with him. 

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.



Our Nativity

Our Nativity Scene

The munchkins had such fun creating a classroom cut-paper nativity scene.  Each munchkin drew a card to see which character or part of the scene he or she would create and then it was off to cut and glue! 

No one can use pencils and no one has anything to work from.  It all comes from the imaginations of the munchkins.  The classroom is wall to wall paper for a while, with pieces strewn from here to there, as everyone works at getting just the right look.  And when it's done, through what is without a doubt "divine intervention", they all come out perfectly.  Each character has a personality all its own and somehow they all look great together.  The finished product always amazes me.  I think probably the most interesting thing is that they usually have the same proportion, which, considering the circumstances of the activity, is truly miraculous!

Here's our masterpiece this year!

(minus Baby Jesus, of course, as He has not yet arrived...)

Let's take a look at each one more closely!

Mary (kneeling in prayer, of course)

Joseph (a proud and happy father)

Magi #1 (love that crown)

Magi #2 (bedecked in jewels)

Magi #3 (quite regal in his purple gown)

Heavenly Host (obviously singing his Glory to God)

Another Angel (brilliant and bright)



The Cow (full of hay!)



The Lamb (long-legged lamb)



The Manger (empty and waiting)

Baby Jesus (absolutely beautiful)

When the munchkins were finished they were ready for a snack, so what better treat than a manger with a "baby" in it! 
Yummy (and way too cute!)

A super fun and creative day!


Until next time...
Giggles,
Mrs. D.