Discovery Gateway Museum

We loved our field trip to the Discovery Museum!  Some of our favorite parts were the water area, the grocery store, and the helicopter!

Winter Fun!

We learned about the joys of Winter in January!  We talked about snowflakes and how they are formed. We learned that each snowflake is different - unique- just like each of us!  We also talked about how water freezes to become ice/snow.  And in return ice melts into water.  We did an experiment to see which would melt faster: a cup of snow in the fridge or a cup of snow left on the counter.  The difference was quite dramatic! We also experimented with different ways to melt ice. We learned that warm water melts ice quite quickly.

We learned that when you move something quickly across another object you create friction! Big word!  We used that knowledge with ice popsicles.  We put dry paint on a paper and then rubbed the popsicles quickly across the paper to make make friction and melt the ice! When they melted they turned the dry paint WET! By the way, did you know that when you mix red and blue paint it makes purple?!!  Yes, science is cool!

We also learned that snow can be an insulator.  Eskimos use snow to build warm igloos.  Some animals use blubber to keep themselves warm in the cold.  We experimented to see whether blubber could keep our fingers warm in ice cold water, and it worked!

December

In December we celebrated Christmas around the world.

We learned about some of the traditions in Mexico, Sweden, France, Germany, and Yugoslavia! (yes Yugoslavia- you really should hear a group of preschoolers try to say that!)

We made paper poinsettias and had a Christmas fiesta including a pinata that we helped make.

In France they make a special dessert that comes with a fun tradition.  The person who makes the dessert places a bead inside of the cake.  Then when it is time to serve the cake, the youngest person at the party gets to decide who gets which piece of cake. Then everyone eats their piece.  Whoever has the bead becomes the King or Queen of the day.

We learned that Germany was the first country to use Christmas trees.  They would find a tree with large branches and tie the presents onto the tree.  Germany was also the first to use advent calendars, so we made our countdown chains.

We also learned about some of the fun things we celebrate at Christmas time.  We read The Polar Express and then made our own Christmas Bells and other decorations for Christmas trees.

The preschoolers loved our nursery rhyme this month- Jack be Nimble.  Each day the kids would be Jack and they would jump over the candlestick (unlit, of course).  It started out pretty easy, but everyday we made the candle higher!  By the end of our month the candle was placed on top of 7 stacked pencil boxes!  Jumping over that candle wasn't so easy!!!

Our Christmas party was a blast!  We made Santa cookies, wrapped presents for our parents, made a treat for Santa's reindeer and had a gift exchange.

Merry Christmas!!!