Making Mixtures

Making Mixtures

5/13/2014

When we were exploring the water movement on the ramps, the children began showing interest in mixing the water. They were talking about ways they have mixed things before, especially talking about cooking and mixing ingredients. Today I provided the children with water and flour and encouraged them to mix the ingredients together. They were very interested in watching the water change color as they added the flour to it.  They were also very engaged in just mixing the mixture together. They said they were making soup and cooking.

Once all of the flour and water were mixed together, we poured the mixture into the water table. The children continued to mix the mixture together. They also began to explore the sensory experience of the mixture. They noticed if they reached to bottom of the mixture, they could find lumps of flour. They began talking about going fishing and finding fish. When they pulled a lump of flour out of the water they exclaimed, “I caught a fish! I caught a big one!” This concept connects to the fishing activities we have been exploring in the block area for the last two weeks. They are particularly interested in the idea of catching and finding fish in the water.

Tracking Water Movement

Last semester the children explored ice on our ramps. They were intrigued by the trail of water that was left behind as the ice made its way down the ramp.  Today I decided to explore this idea again. Instead of using ice, I provided the children with colored water and placed white paper on the ramp. I wanted the children to be able to track the trails the water made as it moved down the ramp.  The children were very excited to see the pathways created. They were interested in how fast or slow the water traveled.  They decided to begin racing their water and would show excitement when the water reached the very bottom. Soon, as the paper became saturated with water, the children noticed the water was not making it far down the ramp. They tried pushing their drops of water with spoons. Some children realized they could start their water farther down the ramp, past the wettest part of the paper.  They were excited when again, the water would travel all the way to the bottom.  The next day, we added another color and the children were able to race their water even better, since they had two different colors racing. As the explored for a while, they began to notice their drops of water with mix with other drops of water and a new color would emerge. Once they saw the new colors being created by the mixing of water, they focused more in mixing the two bowls of water to make new water.

Exploring the Ocean

What would we do in the ocean?

The children had many ideas on what we would do if we were in a boat in the ocean. Some children talked about going to hotels (perhaps on vacation!) Some children talked about looking for waterfalls. Hassan was insistent that we needed a “hose” to catch fish with.

 

We need to go fishing in the ocean!

The next day I talked with Hassan about going fishing. We went to the art studio and found some string that we could use to fish with. Emma showed us how to throw the string into the water. Hassan and Hilton dangled their string over the boat into the water and waited patiently to catch a fish.

 What would we see in the ocean?

 Researching Oceans

We have been talking as a class about how we can use books a research to learn more about topics.  We provided the children with books about ocean animals and books about different types of boats.  Some new things we learned were:

· Starfish have feet attached to their arms.

· Captains drive ships

· Some boats can squirt water

Investigating Patterns

What can we do with these rocks?

What are the animals doing?

Where are the animals going?

What kind of designs can we make?

What types of patterns can we make?

How can we sort these?

Visiting Daisy's Diner

To wrap up our restaurant and food inquiry, the children took a trip to Daisy’s Diner in Mrs. Jacob’s classroom to be customers in the restaurant her preschoolers have created.   The children in Mrs. Jacob’s room welcomed the children to sit down in Daisy’s Diner and handed them menus to order food from.  The toddlers enjoyed choosing items from their hand made menus and watching the preschoolers prepare food and bring it to them.  Some of the toddlers even acted as waiters and enjoyed ‘writing’ down orders on a notepad.  The children also enjoyed using the cash register to ring customers up.

 

            The children were really intrigued by the different restaurant type items in Daisy’s Diner.  They enjoyed the little candles and flower center pieces on the tables as well as using the notepads and cash register.  I think the children would really love a similar setup in their own classroom.  What should the name of our restaurant be?  What kinds of things do we need in a restaurant?  What should our restaurant look like?