Search results matching tags 'science' and 'nature'

Supplementing the preschool curriculum with My Big World from Scholastic

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 10:00:50 GMT

Exploring the wonderful resource provided by Scholastic and how we use "Our Big World with Clifford" in our preschool classroom.

Building a worm farm

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:00:42 GMT

A fun way to welcome spring is by studying worms. Last week, we created a worm farm.

Exploring life cycles

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:00:08 GMT

We've been exploring life cycles of plants and animals in preschool. Come along to see how we put an early childhood spin on this topic.

How we can explore rocks in preschool

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:00:38 GMT

We recently spent a day playing, creating, and learning with rocks. Come along as we discover all the ways we can explore rocks in preschool.

Play outdoors with 25% off The Garden Classroom :: this week only!

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:37:38 GMT

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The post Play outdoors with 25% off The Garden Classroom :: this week only! appeared first on NurtureStore.

Watching the Life Cycle of a Frog

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:33:15 GMT

Brian writes: Yesterday, some friends of ours went for a long walk on a nature trail through a small wooded area here in Normandy. In the middle of these woods is a good-sized pond, and around this time every year the pond is filled with frog eggs – or frogspawn, as our friends call them. They had brought a glass jar with them to the park, and while they were at the pond they scooped up a big chunk of the frog egg mass, then brought it back to our house to surprise our kids with. Our kids were very excited! None of us has experienced watching the life cycle of a frog play out; from egg mass, to tadpole, to froglet (with the little tail), and finally to adult frog. I’ve included an image of the jar of frogspawn; click on the image to make it bigger – with the bright sunlight coming in through the window, the individual eggs in the jar are easy to pick out!

I’m no expert on raising tadpoles into frogs, but Bill, our friend who brought us the egg mass, told me that he used to gather frogspawn all the time when he was a kid growing up in Britain, so he told me what to do. Here’s what he said:

Step 1: Find a large glass container for the frogspawn

Currently the frog eggs are clumped together in a tiny mason jar; Bill told me to upend the jar into a larger glass container. Fortunately, we have an old fishbowl sitting atop the cupboards in our kitchen that will do the trick nicely.

Step 2: Put a big rock in the middle of the container

This is for when the tadpoles turn into frogs; they will need a rock or some other surface to climb out of the water onto.

Step 2: Empty the frogspawn into the container

At this point you upend the frogspawn into the glass container. Right now the egg mass is a gooey gel that takes up most of the mason jar! In the larger glass container they will have more room to grow and thrive.

Step 3: Add an inch or so of water to the bowl

This water should come from a stream or pond; it should not be tap water or include any added chemicals, like the fluoride commonly found in American tap water. This water will rest on top of the mass of frog eggs.

Step 4: Keep the frogspawn in a cool place

The frogspawn should not be heated or kept in a place that is overly warm; in their natural environment, at least here in northwest France, the frogspawn would be sitting in a pond with very low temperatures. We’re keeping our jar near a not-very-well-insulated window where they will remain nice and cool.

Step 5: Watch the frogspawn turn into tadpoles over time

This will be the fun part. The eggs, that are now “periods”, will slowly turn into “commas”. At this point they will start to eat the mass of gel that is surrounding the individual frog eggs – this is the first nourishment that they will get as they start to grow into tadpoles. Then they will start swimming around in the bowl.

From what I’ve read, it should take about 12 weeks for a tadpole to turn into a miniature version of an adult frog, with only a teeny stub of a tail left to show that it was once a tadpole. As it is now the beginning of February, we should get to that point in early May.

Step 6: Keep the tadpoles and froglets well fed

This part I’m not so sure about. What sort of food do tadpoles and froglets eat? Perhaps fish food? I’m going to have to figure this out as the tadpoles start to grow!

Step 7: Release the tadpoles, froglets or frogs back into the wild

When it’s the right time, we’ll release the young frogs back into their natural environment. It’s important to find the perfect habitat for the young frogs – for example, there’s a flowing river right outside our house, but this is not the right environment for baby frogs; it will kill them! Instead, we will need to find a nice, calm pond for them to live in – perhaps the pond where Bill and his wife originally found them.

Bill mentioned that there is actually a very small chance that any of the tadpoles will turn into frogs. I find this quite amazing, because as you can see, there are a lot of eggs in that mason jar! I can only imagine how much harder it is for tadpoles to grow into frogs in the wild, where any number of hungry creatures is more than willing to turn them into a tasty snack.

So that’s the story of our jar of frog eggs. As time goes on and the eggs start to hatch, I will make another post with an update. It should be a fun thing to experience!

Fall Fun: Leaf Explorations!

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Hi! I'm Ayn and I am a Ga. Pre-K teacher, serving 4 and 5 year olds in an inclusive setting. I share my classroom adventures on my blog, little illuminations.

Fall has begun here and it's the perfect time to explore nature. We've recently discovered the book, "We're Going On A Leaf Hunt" by Steve Metzger written similarly to the favorite "We're Going On A Bear Hunt".

We enjoy taking nature walks and collecting interesting leaves, acorns, gumballs, pine cones and other natural items along the way. We often bring items back to class to put in our science center for independent exploration, as well as in our art center.

We measure our leaves, both with standard and non-standard measures. Of course, as a true scientist would do, we hypothesize about what we think our results will be. (This is a great time for me as a teacher to ask questions and try to prompt critical thinking.) We use math cubes to measure length.

We cover the leaf with pennies and try to guess how many it will take to cover it completely.

We explore the properties of buoyancy. Do leaves sink or float? What if we weight it down with pennies? How many pennies will make the leaf sink?

We explore how the leaves travel through the wind to land in various locations on our playground and recreate the wind with a fan.

On the playground, leaves and natural items are an integral part of our play.

Gumballs are everywhere this time of year, and feature prominently in our outdoor play. The children often call them "meatballs".

Sometimes, they are featured in our art, as well.

In our art center, we make leaf rubbings.

After I saw this idea on Pinterest, we painted the back of leaves and made leaf print paintings.

Some of the kids made nature wreaths with found items.

Sometimes, we take the art materials outside to create with what we discover there.

One of our favorite fall books is "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert.

The "Leaf Man" book often inspires the children to create their own "leaf people".

Leaf explorations are often a great way to help children begin to notice the world that surrounds them. I get as excited as the kids when I hear, "Hey, Mrs. Ayn, guess what I found?!" They are always excited to share their finds.

There are so many ways to explore the nature that surrounds us. Sometimes, a simple nature walk can lead to so much more!

Stop by and visit me anytime at littleilluminations.blogspot.com or visit the little illuminations fanpage on facebook!

the garden classroom: 52 kids gardening activities

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 08:06:01 GMT

The Garden Classroom: 52 kids gardening activities ebook is now published and available for you to buy.

The Garden Classroom brings you fifty-two creative and playful activities, giving you a whole year’s worth of garden-based projects to enjoy with your children. Come rain or shine, and whatever the season, there are ideas you can use . . . → Read More: the garden classroom: 52 kids gardening activities

Parts of a bird nest in a nature bottle

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:52:35 GMT

Exploring the parts of a bird's nest with our beautiful collection of nature bottles...

Looking at our world through a window book

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:18:31 GMT

Taking a closer look at things in our world through our nature window books...