Science | mattBgomez

Mar
6

9 Fun Activities for Spring Break

Category: Kindergarten, Outdoor, Parents, Science 1 Comment

(repost from last year)

My 17 things to do during winter break post was fairly popular so I decided to make a list for spring break also. The kids stay home for nine days (including the weekends) so here is a list of 9 things to do during the break…

1. Take pictures all week and create a spring break book to share with the class. You can print the pictures and make a paper book or use a computer or iPad to make the story. Here are great apps for storytelling if you want to make a digital copy.

2. Make a picture graph of food sorted by color. Look through magazines, find pictures online or color your own. After you finish the graph try one new food from each color group. (challenge: make a pie graph also)

3. Create a new animal. Use your imagination or combine features of your favorite animals. Draw this new animal in its habitat and write three interesting facts about the new animal. This website might help!

4. Have a picnic with your family. If possible find a fun park to visit but even a picnic in the backyard will work.

5. Research about another country. It can be a country important to your family or even a place you want to visit. Learn about their clothes, shelter, food, symbols, flag, and animals that live there.

6. Go fishing… or at least feed the fish and explore a pond, creek or lake.

7. Learn something new like… ride a bike, tie shoes, fold laundry, cook a meal, how to sew, how to draw or build something. Dont give up!

8. Plant something! Start a garden or even just a small pot of flowers and estimate how long until they start growing.

9. Record the temperature every hour for one day. You can look online or use a thermometer. How will you record the data? How did the temperature change during the day? Why did it change? This app is great for recording the weather.

Nov
12

By Matt Gomez

Pumpkin Science

Category: Kindergarten, Outdoor, Science 11 Comments

Here are a few things we did with pumpkins this year…

Growing seeds inside a pumpkin! Cut open the top and fill with soil. Water and watch them grow, it really does work. Make sure the pumpkin gets A LOT of sun. I also made a few small cuts on the bottom for water to drain. You might notice there is a grasshopper in the picture. That is because we put one of the pumpkins inside our terrarium. We are very curious to see if he eats the leaves or not. I love the wonder and excitement the terrarium brings to my room. We also have crickets, worms, snails and beetles in there currently. Special thanks to my teammates Carole and Jen for letting me include a pic of their pumpkin. Crazy how many plants are growing in it!

Giant pumpkin. We had a parent donate this 100 pound pumpkin! It was a prop for home living for several weeks and then we took it outside cut it open. We are also going to watch and see what happens to the pumpkin over time. Next year I am going to visit some of the pumpkin patches and stores to see if they would donate any leftover pumpkins for us to observe. All you need is a small patch of dirt or garden area.

And of course the kids explored pumpkins themselves! Read more about that project here.

Oct
18

By Matt Gomez

App for Documenting the Weather in the Class

Category: Apps, Digital Camera, Digital Citizenship, Global Classroom, Kindergarten, Science, Tech, Twitter 1 Comment

I have written about how we use this app in my class to document and share our weather (see here) but I wanted to remind everyone about this great app and share the new options available. The one I am the most excited about (seen above) displays the weather on a thermometer with both Fahrenheit and Celsius. This is very valuable for us because we share our weather with classes around the world using Twitter. Other options I am excited about are shown below. The kids love helping to take the picture and keeping track of how the weather changes during the seasons.

** I always blur out the part of the image that shows our location using the Skitch app because I don’t like to share our exact location on twitter.

Oct
16

By Matt Gomez

Wonder Journal: First Activity of the Day

Category: Art, Creativity, Interactive Notebook, Kindergarten, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies/History, Websites 13 Comments

I started using a Wonder Journal each morning this year. When the kids walk into the room I have an image and a word written on the board (see below). They unpack and then grab their journal and start wondering. They can use words, pictures or both to document their thinking. After the tardy bell rings the kids leave their journal on the table and sit on the carpet for the school announcements. Then I let the kids share with me what they have been wondering. The questions/wonders they have been sharing are amazing and they lead to some great discussions. After sharing for a few minutes we then watch a video about the wonder. Most days the image and video comes from Wonderopolis. Each morning I check the Wonderopolis sight and use the “wonder of the day” or pick from this list of 50 great wonders. Wonderopolis even includes a wonder gallery of images for each one so I have everything I need in one place. I decided not to display the actual Wonderopolis website on the board when they walk in because I don’t want the kids limited in their wondering by reading the “wonder of the day.” Having only the image about the topic has worked best so far for me. After our discussion and watching the video the kids go back to their journal to wonder some more or document their learning. This also allows time for kids that don’t arrive before the bell to get something in their journal. I am very happy with this process so far. The kids are excited to walk in and see the wonder, unpack quickly to get started and are engaged and thinking first thing every morning.

Example of what I have on the screen as they arrive each day. This is from the polar bear wonder.