We have been learning about different types of boats and how to make our own boats as part of our 'Invention' inquiry unit.
Plasticine boats, after lots of experimenting we found that a shallow bowl shape or a canoe shape floated the best. We had to be make sure that there were no holes in the hull for water to leak through.
Origami paper boats. We used these instructions to fold our boats.
A BrainBox boat, with a battery operated motor and a propeller.
Once we discovered about how to make different types of boats and what types of things can float and sink we designed and made our own boats.
We tested out hypothesis by putting the items in a container of water.
And we observed what happened.
We found out that lemons can float, but a bouncy ball sinks. We found that a wooden peg floats and so does cork. We found that a stone and a marble will sink, but pumice floats.
The children will be using this knowledge to make a toy boat, if we know what floats hopefully our boats will too!
To celebrate the end of our healthy eating inquiry unit we made and ate (or tasted) this super soup full of vegetables. We have been learning about how we need lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, and that we should eat a variety of 'brainfood' to help make our brains smart and our bodies strong.
The children enjoyed peeling and cutting the vegetables themselves. Our soup was full of celery, carrots, potato, pumpkin, kumara, onion, and one giant bacon hock. (I always partially cook pumpkin prior to cutting it up, this makes it much easier for children to peel and cut.)
We talked about how bacon comes from pigs, and where on the pigs body the hock comes from.
During the school year I try to provide lots of opportunities for the children to practise real-life skills, including the chance to safely use a knife.
We prepared the soup on Thursday and put it into the slow-cooker. I turned on the slow-cooker just before I left school late on Thursday afternoon, and our soup cooked slowly all night. When we arrived at school on Friday morning our classroom smelt delicious!
Just before lunchtime on Friday we each buttered and cut up a slice of bread to dip into our cup of soup.
I encouraged all of the children to try at least a mouthful, some ate a whole cup of soup and two children even went back for second helpings.
Check out our juice recipes with heaps of different of fresh fruit and vegetables.
As part of our inquiry learning unit we have been looking at 'brainfood'.
We found out that we need to eat a variety of food to give us energy, and fruit and vegetables are full of energy and nutrients.
Today I brought in apples, oranges, pears, green and gold kiwifruit, carrots, celery, and pineapple, and we experimented making and tasting different flavours of juice. The children were fascinated to see how carrots and celery can make juice too. Thanks to my marvelous teacher aide who brought in her juicer and a little ginger root!
I encouraged the children to try each juice, even if it was only a sip. Some of our juice recipes included: Fruit Salad 1 green kiwifruit, 1 apple, 1 pear, 1 orange, 2 gold kiwifruit, 1/4 whole pineapple - this was an overwhelming favourite. Goody Gumdrops 1/4 whole pineapple, 2 oranges, 2 green kiwifruit, (you can also add strawberries to this recipe) Sunshine O 4 carrots, 3 oranges, 1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger Super Vege 2 apples, 3 oranges, 2 sticks celery
We made the most delicious yellow butter as part of our inquiry learning unit on milk. We had a great time taste testing our butter on bread. Yum!
To make butter first pour cream into a jar.
Shake the jar firmly. Pass the jar on to the next person when your arms get tired. We practiced our counting while we were shaking the jar.
Watch carefully and the particles of butterfat will start to stick together and separate from the buttermilk.
Pour off the buttermilk and use a little water to rinse the butter.
Spread the butter carefully with a knife - I found it interesting to see the different skills children had with a knife. We will definitely do some more cooking and food preparation and try to improve the children's confidence when using a knife.
We found out that cream that comes from cows that eat lots of grass will make the yellowest butter. Grass contains carotene which makes the butter yellow. Our butter was lovely and yellow.
We
discovered that butter is not that hard to make at all. The children
were fascinated with the process and the science behind it. Prior to making our butter we watched
the video below and practiced our shaking technique, we wanted to be
able to smash our particles of butterfat against the sides of the jar
to make our butter as quickly as possible.
Check out this clip which explains how cream turns into butter.
As part of our 'Milk Science' inquiry learning theme (and my attempt at incorporating our inquiry study into other parts of my classroom program) we have been reading the first verse of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'The Cow' poem (click here for a pdf printable). And I was desperate to thought I would attempt this cow portrait art lesson with my gorgeous bunch of 5 year olds.
Today as part of our inquiry learning a real-life dairy farmer came to visit. He and his wife were fantastic!
They had made a little video of their farm and what they do. The children were fascinated with the cows and how they are milked by the machines, where the milk goes, and the giant milk tanker. Another favourite was the shot of the tractor and truck feeding silage to the cows.
Silage for us to smell.
They also brought some silage and parts of the milking machine for us to touch (and smell). I used the GoDairy website to hook us up with a farmer.
We are going to check out Rosie's world too, and meet Rosie the New Zealand dairy industry's Cowbassador.
As part of our Absolutely Amazing Animal Inquiry Unit we have been exploring what makes an animal an animal. We decided that animals -
breathe,
have babies,
eat,
wee and poo (there was much delight over this fact).
So when I asked if people are animals, after a bit of debate we decided that they were (even though we wear clothes).
This has led to us looking at mammals and oviparous animals. Oviparous animals are animals that hatch from eggs.
After reading this poem we made a list of animals that come from eggs, luckily the poem gave us lots of clues.
We found that birds, snakes, lizards, fish, frogs, insects, and spiders all come from eggs. Our art work this week has reflected our fascination with eggs.
We held a chicken egg carefully in our gentle hands, we all sat in a circle and passed round a bag with the egg hidden inside. The look on their faces when they realised there was an egg hiding in the bag and they were to keep it a secret was gorgeous.
We used wool and a large plastic needle to thread these cardboard eggs.
Look at our clever designs, we were very persistent to thread the whole egg. It was tricky to start with, but one child enjoyed himself so much he made 4 eggs.
I hung our eggs on fishing wire for everyone to admire.
