Predicting the future

Using the ipad, you can download some age booth applications and take pictures of the kids to show what the app guesses they will look like in old age. It's a very fun way to talk about growth and change with younger kids.

You can then use the photo as a writing prompt for the children to talk about what they expect their lives to be like when they are in old age. 

Lego symmetry

How cool is Lego? It enhances creativity, improves fine motor skills, facilitates cognition and so much more.
A great way to use Lego is to use it to teach symmetry. After leaning about lines of symmetry and rotational symmetry, use some Lego to allow children to show their understanding. It might also be nice to get them to work in pairs to get the full cooperative learning benefits.

Learning about senses through popcorn

I'm currently taking a K-1 class for a 4 week block. They're a wonderful class and make me laugh and really enjoy what I do. 

Their current science topic is "Senses" ie, taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. It is such a great cross curricular topic such as with Maths when they identified sound patterns today and English when they used adjectives to describe the things in their environment. 

After checking with the school about any possible allergies, we got the green light for a fun Friday afternoon activity that fits right in with their topic: popcorn making! 

After taking in my popcorn maker and making popcorn with the children I plan for us to make poems about the popcorn we made into the following week. We are going to write observations about the cause and effect of warming the dried kernels, descriptions of the popcorn's taste, feel, smell, appearance and sounds it makes, weighing and hefting "popped" corn and dried kernels in maths and what I'm most looking forward to, turnin popping corn into HOPPING CORN!

Hopping Corn is one of the most fun science experiments I know. You just need:

- a clear jar

-some dry kernels

-30g baking soda 

-90ml White vingar

-750ml water

Then fill up your jar with the water and mix in baking soda until it disappears. Then add the kernels and add vinegar. This is when the kernels bob up and down like they are hopping! It is caused by the gas (co2) made from the vinegar and baking soda mixing. 

Talk about about the senses they used in the experiment and write about it in their books. Keep language at their level and let them ask questions and try different things like shaking the mix or stirring it. Investigative learning made simple and fun.