Water, water, everywhere and a FREEBIE

This week our theme was water.  We had a special Scientist in the School Day.  Scientist in the School is a program which sparks students interest in Science and Technology through hands on exploration and inquiry.    "Scientist" guests present workshops at the school and focus on expectations from the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum.  Our focus was, yup, you guessed it-water, and because everything was hands-on, the students had a blast!  The students rotated through four centers, exploring and experimenting.  

At the first center, they were learning about water flow.

At another center they were learning about absorption.  The students used their droppers to put water on various surfaces such as sponges, towels, plastic, paper and wax paper and then described their findings.  They were able to explore and see the materials that 'sucked up' the water as they put it, or absorbed it, and those materials that let the water run off it.  They also made their own wax paper.

They made a sail boat and experimented with different forces to try to make the boat move (for example, the wind by blowing the boat).

They also experimented with sinking and floating.  The kiddos made predictions based on the properties of what they were experimenting with, and then tested their predictions.  They sorted their objects into the proper category of Sink or Float and filled out a follow-up worksheet.  

This all tied in very nicely with our focus on water in the class.  We talked about melting and freezing and did our own experiments in the classroom.  We put our snow in a jar on the counter and observed it all day.  We  then recorded our findings.  I forgot to take a picture! Ah!  This activity is from my Winter Fun unit!

We did some choral reading and reviewed our sight-words.  We talked about who needs water and all the ways in which we use water. 

 We learned about the Water cycle and different types of precipitation.

Our Scientist guest taught us this little song (to the tune of Frere Jacques), about the water cycle:

Evaporation, Evaporation

Up the water goes, Up the water goes

Now we see the clouds

Great big puffy clouds

Quick, run away

It's going to rain today!

Please enjoy a **FREEBIE** about Weather and Water from my Sight Word Read-Along pack.  Click the  picture below to get your FREE copy.

And on a totally unrelated, but FABULOUS note.  Look at what I found at our local dollar store Dollarama....SCENTOS!  I know, old news...but not for me.  I have been reading all your fabulous blog posts about these fantastic smelling markers bringing me back to my youth when I had Mr. Sketch Markers (remember those?).  Well, I couldn't find these Scentos markers you all spoke about anywhere.  That is, until now!  I told my teaching partner, Alessia Albanese, and we did a little happy dance and bought them up (all 6 scents!)  I can't wait to use them with the kids! Yay!

Have a great week everyone!