Winter trimester - brief summary

This will be a very exciting trimester. Right before the Winter break I received an email from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stating that we will be receiving the fund ($3,940) for our Schoolyard Habitat projects. I can't wait to share this news  with the kids tomorrow. They worked really hard on the proposal.


I am starting the Winter trimester talking to the kids about what scientists do  (with a focus on inquiry, answering questions). The Owls (K-1) and Eagles (2-4) will do a simple research project during the first week of school, and the crows will assess the school's carbon footprint (longer project).

After spending one week talking about what scientists do, the Owls will study space. They will learn basic astronomy concepts and will also study how humans travel to space. Teacher Juliette, teacher Becca and I have the intention of building a space station (or at least some aspects) with the kids. Kindergartners and first graders will be presenting something related to space on the science fair (Saturday, March 12).

The Eagles will conduct an experiment and then finish their weather unit. Before the break, they learned about atmospheric pressure and wind. We will review these concepts and then review the water cycle. Since weather patterns depend on wind and water currents, it is important for the kids to have this  foundation. After the Eagles complete the weather unit, they will study "Industrial revolution science". The kids will be studying the Industrial revolution with teacher Pa, and we will study energy in science. I am hoping to build a simple steam engine with the kids

The crows learned about the Paris climate conference (COP21) right before the Winter break. We will start the trimester studying the carbon cycle and assessing the school's carbon footprint. After this initial study the crows will make a comparison between energy use/efficiency now and the time period they will be studying with Chris. The kids will learn about horsepower and build boats (wind and simple motors).


Below are some pictures of the crows presenting their cell research projects. The presentations were right before the break.

Week of December 7th

This week the owls (k-1) learned more about bones. We talked about the structure of bones - spongy and compact, blood vessels. The kids also learned that blood cells are made inside big bones, and they learned about the different components of blood - red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. The kids had fun making models of bones and exploring the different components of blood.

While the eagles wait to hear back from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they are learning about weather. We started our weather study by learning about the atmosphere. They learned about the different layers of the atmosphere, how pressure changes from layer to layer and also about the greenhouse effect.  After learning about the atmosphere, the kids made barometers and small posters summarizing what they learned.

Crows and owls had their last buddy time, before Winter break, yesterday. They made ornaments out of pipe cleaners and put them in a borax/hot water solution. The ornaments will sit in this solution overnight and crystals will form around their ornaments.

Progress and update

Yesterday, Saturday December 5ht, Lorie and I got a lot of help from families. We had an amazing group of parents and kids. Everyone worked hard - we added a lot of mulch to the native area, pulled weeds and striped mulched a few areas. In addition to families, Jared Borba, UCD undergraduate student interested in restoring habitats spent a few hours of his  Saturday morning helping us.

Here are some pictures illustrating the progress that we made yesterday:

In the after school class we finished projects (bird houses and bee houses), put a new solar pump in the pond and made posters to show people what we have been doing in this class.

Owls (k-1) and crows (5-6) are working on making models of their hands. They learned about bones, joints, tendons and muscles and are creating a model that illustrates how the bones and tendons work to move our fingers. I will post pictures of the models as soon as they are ready.
                                           

 The crows are studying cells and were asked to make models of their cells. The kids did an amazing job. They were very creative and definitely learned the main parts of the cell (nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane and some organelles). They also learned about DNA --> RNA --> protein.

Here are some pictures of the cell models:

 eukaryotic cell

plant cell

eukaryotic cell

neuron and glial cells

cardiac muscle cell

After submitting the first draft of the proposal to U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, the eagles (2-4) had a "mulch party". I brought some snacks for the kids and we stripped mulched a section of the native area.