Theories About Dinosaurs and Extinction

The students have been discussing and drawing pictures about dinosaurs. While drawing, they express their ideas and theories on how these creatures lived and why they no longer exist.

Ms. Lucia read the book ‘Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!’ by Kathleen V. Kudlinski.

Then, we went on a ‘fossil hunt’!

Our conversations evolve…

  • Franz “Do you know, some monkeys can have people.”
  • Vincent “He means some monkeys are like people.”
  • Franz “I didn’t see it anywhere. I saw it on TV.

SLO’s

  • participate and respond actively to read aloud situations; make predictions, anticipate possible outcomes
  • make connections to their own experience when listening to or reading texts
  • listen and respond to picture books, showing pleasure, and demonstrating their understanding through gestures, expression and/or words
  • tell their own stories using illustrations and words
  • focus on a speaker and maintain eye contact
  • observe, discuss and comment on the information being conveyed in illustrations

Get Well Soon!

Ms. Angie was away from school for a few days. The students gathered together one morning and a discussion emerged about why Ms. Angie was away. The students decided that it would be a good idea to make a card for her.

Reggie and a group of students began the project.

Reggie decided to use purple card as it was Ms. Angie’s favourite colour. He used a tick list to make sure everyone had the opportunity to sign the card. Some students drew pictures, others created art to include in the card. Hannah wrote ‘From PreK/K1C!

Reggie took the card home to Ms. Angie. She was very happy to receive the card! We hope to see Ms. Angie SOON! 

Maths Talk – SPLAT!

A group of students were working on a ‘ SPLAT‘ Maths Talk!

The first splat was number 5. They discussed the problem.

  • How may counters are under the splat?
  • How do you know? 

They used whiteboards to record their thinking. They used counters to help them count.

The students expressed their ideas verbally and pictorially. Two students explored both addition and subtraction to solve the Maths problem. Here are some examples of their thinking.

Next we explored the number 7.

What strategies could we use to solve this problem?

Here is how we worked it out!

Another group of students used dice and counters to solve addition problems.

They recorded their thinking using number sentences.

SLO’s

  • estimate quantities to 10
  • explore the conservation of number with the aid of manipulatives
  • understand the terms more or less, same as 
  • read, write, say, count, model and order numbers to 10
  • solve problems involving addition using manipulatives, models and informal written strategies

The Dinosaurs are Extinct!

Over the past week, the students have been curious about dinosaurs. We noticed that some students had images of dinosaurs on their clothing.

Dinosaur eye, dinosaurs, T-Rex.

One student brought in a dinosaur puppet to share with his friends.

We wondered…

… Reggie “What happened to the skin when they died? They found the bones not the skin!”

We watched the BrainPOP video ‘fossils’ to learn more.

While watching the video, the students discussed what happens to the soft parts of the body, when living things die.

Reggie “Decompose means, melt.”

Abby “When the tubes stops, you die”, explained Abby. She was referring to the heart and how you die when the blood stops flowing.

We heard the word prey in the video.

Reggie “The prey is something the animals are hunting.”

Writers Workshop‘ followed the discussion. This is an activity that provides students with opportunities to draw and ‘write’ about things they know and care about. Students were invited to create their own books. Some chose to express their own ideas about dinosaurs through their stories.

Through his story, Cornelis explains how fossils are formed.

“A long time ago, a dinosaur is dead and it was in the water. And then the water changed into sand. When the sand changed to rock, the bones also changed to rock.”

Vincent explains his theory on how the dinosaurs became ‘extinct’.

“This is the world, the dinosaur world. The fire and the water mixed together and the world exploded and the dinosaurs died.”

SLO’s

  • participate and respond actively to read aloud situations; make predictions, anticipate possible outcomes
  • make connections to their own experience when listening to or reading texts
  • listen and respond to picture books, showing pleasure, and demonstrating their understanding through gestures, expression and/or words
  • tell their own stories using illustrations and words
  • focus on a speaker and maintain eye contact
  • observe, discuss and comment on the information being conveyed in illustrations

Dinosaurs

Ms. Lucia read a story about ‘dinosaurs’. The students shared their ideas about dinosaurs. They wondered why the dinosaurs are not around today.

Ms. Lucia read the story ‘What happened to the DINOSAURS?’ to help us explore some theories.

  • Reggie “How did the flying dinosaurs die? If they were flying up, how did they die?”
  • Kai “When the dinosaurs were dead a long time ago…that means they were extinct.”
  • Cornelis “The water gets hard and the bones get hard and the sand gets hard and the rocks get hard and the archaeologist found it and put it together.”
  • Abby “Maybe the dinosaur touched the lava and they died.”
  • Kai “Maybe the dinosaur touched the asteroid and then they died.”
  • Cornelis “Maybe they were not looking at what they were doing.”
  • Franz “Maybe some dinosaurs jumped too high and they did not look down and they jumped in the lava.”
  • Reggie “They ran to the cliff and they ran off so fast that they fell off and died.”… “I think an asteroid cracked on the earth.”
  • Kai “I have a space book at home. An asteroid crashed into the earth!”

They looked carefully at the page where paleontologists were uncovering fossils. 

  • Reggie “I know Mars and Jupitar.”…“The plants died from the fire.”
  • Vincent “The fire travelled around the world then the plants were destroyed.”

The book explained how the weather on the planet became colder.

  • Vincent “The snow melted into water and the flowers will get water.”…“Maybe the dinosaurs all starved.”
  • Reggie “T-Rex, could chase little animals and eat them. They can try different animals and eat them.”
  • Abby “The ice dried up.”

  • Reggie “What happened to the skin when they died? They found the bones not the skin!”

WE WONDER…

We Are the Ladybugs!

The students have been preparing for their ‘Early Years Arts Showcase’. We have been practicing the songs, working on the choreography, and deciding what the costumes may look like.

Fist we wanted to know more about ladybugs. We found some ladybugs during our walk to the garden plots!

We read some books about ladybugs to learn more about them. We like the story of the ‘Grouchy Ladybug’ by Eric Carle. This is a story about a grouchy, bad-tempered bug who won’t say “please” or “thank you,” won’t share, and thinks she is bigger and better than anyone else. The story focuses on the benefits of friendship and good manners. We followed the Grouchy Ladybug on her journey, which also included concepts of time, size, and shape.

While reading through some of the non-fiction books, we found out that some ladybugs have white spots!

Next, we needed to plan how to create our costumes for the showcase. We decided that we could have red, yellow and orange costumes.

SLO’s

  • engage with, and enjoy a variety of visual arts experiences
  • select tools, materials and processes for specific purposes
  • use their imagination and experiences to inform their art making
  • use their imagination and original ideas to write and create music, dance and drama pieces to express feelings and moods
  • participate in performing and creating performing arts pieces both individually and collectively
  • create roles in response to music using instruments, props, sets and costume
  • explore basic bodily movements and the use of space
  • create artwork in response to a range of stimuli

Worms “Where do they want to live?”

We have been taking care of the worms in the class worm farm for a while. We had to decide what our next step was. Ms. Hannah helped the students recall what they know about worms.

  • Teacher “Where do they really like to live?”
  • Reggie “Some of the baby worms fall in the pee.”

We wondered if that is where the worms wanted to be. They had fallen through the littles holes at the bottom, into the worm pee, which we were collecting to add to the plants.

  • Teacher “Where’s the better home for earthworm to live?”
  • Ryan 我在地上看到一些小蚯蚓,它头伸了出来。我很小心,没把它压死。
  • Teacher “Do you mean they live underground?”
  • Mia “They live in the sandpit.”
  • Ruby “I saw one live in the sandpit at home.”

We wondered if we could take a closer look at the worms. We recalled what to book said about the worms.

  • Ryan “NO, 要用放大镜”
  • Teacher “Yes, a magnifying glass.”

We went read the book again. It says, “The earthworm spends most of time underground!”

  • Reggie tapped the floor “It’s here.”
  • Cornelis “The earthworm lives in the brown like garden.”
  • Ruby “They go inside the wood. (pointing to the floor), when it closed, it will be chopped.”

We discussed if worms wiggled on the wooden flooring. Where can we put them?

The students compared earthworms and the silkworms. They eat different things and live in different places.

  • Teacher “This is the cocoon.”
  • Ruby “Butterfly”
  • Teacher “Do they turn to butterfly?”
  • Lawrence “Ms. Hannah,那个yellow big.”
  • Teacher “Why do they live underground?

Some of the students said, that they want to be away from the other animals who will eat them. The continued to look through the book.

The students then decided to move the earth worms into the class garden plot. We marked a spot. The students watched as the worms wriggled back into the wet earth.

SLO’s

  • how to take care of things
  • appreciation of own environment and all living things in it
  • a sense of wonder and curiosity
  • enthusiasm and respect for nature and Earth

Strawberry Jam

We went on a trip to a strawberry farm.

We picked many juicy ripe strawberries. Our baskets were full!

We brought the strawberries back to school. Ms. Angie helped us make strawberry jam!

  • Mia “我们可以做草莓酱。(We can make strawberry jam.)”
  • Lawrence “太脏了。(It’s too dirty.)”
  • Ruby “It looks like yucky strawberry.”
  • Lawrence “Ms. Hannah, 为什么我的草莓不粘了? (Why isn’t my strawberry sticky?)”
  • Reggie “ We need to mix around and squash it.”
  • Tyler “我觉得这个饮料会很好喝。(I think this drink will be very delicious. )”
  • Mia “看这个叉。(Look at this fork.)”
  • Hannah “看我的叉叉,我先压,然后你再压。(Look at my fork, I press first, and then you press.)”
  • Mia “我们是医生,医生就是这样做的,护士也来帮忙。 (We are the doctors, the doctors do it this way, and nurse help too.)”
  • Hannah “Mia, 不要压在我的叉子上。 (Mia, don’t press on my fork.)”
  • Ryan “Look at mine! It’s so hard.”
  • Hannah looked at Mia and said… “Mia,你要把手放在碗上,这个碗就不会倒了。(Mia, you need to put your hand on the bowl, so the bowl wont tip over.)”
  • Lawrence “看我们草莓有多脏吗? (Look how dirty our strawberry is!)”

Mia saw one child eat the mashed strawberry from the table, so she told him not to eat it.

  • Mia “ 吃生的草莓会生病的。 (Eating the raw strawberry will make you sick.)”
  • Alejandra “我们的太少了,我们要多一点。 (We have too little, and we need a bit more.)”
  • Cornelis “We need to mix it really fast.”
  • Amber says to Yusei “Fast Yusei! Go fast!”
  • Cornelis “This is amazing, right Abby?”
  • Abby “Right.”
  • Cornelis “We will make strawberry jam, and we will put it in the oven.”

The students then make scones to eat with the jam!

SLO’s

  • reflect on past experiences
  • make a plan
  • sequence events
  • explain a process
  • question to find out more
  • listen to others
  • build on others’ ideas

Minibeasts – Observational Drawings

The students have been reading books, observing minibeasts, and sharing their ideas about how these creatures live and grow. We have enjoyed wandering through the garden and vegetable plots at school, observing the many little creatures that live around us. These experiences have encouraged us to appreciate and respect our own environment and all living things in it.

Over the last few weeks, we have been caring for silkworms in the classroom. Each day we need to move the baby silkworms on to fresh leaves, and clean out the dry ones. We also need to make sure the class ‘worm farm’ has a fresh stock of food. During these daily tasks, we explore the resources that are necessary to meet the needs of living things.

The students have engaged in conversations about the impact of our actions on the immediate environment. Some discussions have also included funny or scary personal stories about these little creatures.

The students were invited to observe and draw pictures of their favourite minibeasts. Noticing details, discussing ideas and observations have been a vital part of capturing these as images on paper.

SLO’s

  • develop an inquiring mind
  • ask simple questions
  • make observations about their immediate environment
  • make statements that reflect their understandings
  • listen to others
  • interpret and analyse visuals and multimedia to gain understanding
  • draw simple drawings to express what they see/study
  • sort and classify objects into categories by attributes (Similarities & Differences)
  • communicate views and knowledge about people, places and their immediate environment in different mediums

Weaving

Ms. Angie had some new equipment brought in. Over a few days the students played with the unopened box, using it as a computer in their ‘play’. They were not sure what was in the box. It was time to unpack it.

  • Cornelis “What is it? It looks like a guitar.”
  • Reggie “It’s a xylophone.”
  • Cornelis “Maybe it’s a net, a giant net.”
  • Cornelis “If I go here it looks like a house. What is it really?”
  • Teacher “What do you think it is?”
  • Cornelis “Definitely a giant net.”
  • Amber {In Chinese} “It goes up, like the front of a wall.”

The students helped Ms. Angie unpack the item. They helped her assemble it.

It was a weaving loom!

“It’s Beautiful!”

Next the students worked on creating their own individual weaving projects using smaller looms.

 

While weaving students:

  • develop better strength between the thumb and forefinger (stronger pincer grip for writing)
  • develop hand-eye coordination because it encourages them to use the visual information to coordinate the movement of the hands
  • develop concentration and perseverance
  • learn how to help and support others