We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

The Ladybug and Bumblebee classes visited the Point Defiance Zoo on Friday.  We had a beautiful day, lunch on the plaza, a close up view of the animals that we have been investigating and most of the zoo to ourselves.  It was a great day!

Valentine Party!

There were Valentines,

games, 

crafts, 

and treats!

 Thanks to the parents for putting on the Valentine party for us!  The kids loved it!

Crystals

We started with a solution of epsom salts and water.

We observed as the crystals formed. 

We noticed that some of the crystals were pointy and sharp. 

Some looked like glass,

some were soft and squishy looking when we used the
microscope to show them on the Smartboard.

Today we put the crystals under a microscope to see what they looked like up close.

We finished our study of snow and ice today with a good look at crystals.  It was fascinating that the crystals were all different!

Engineering, math and technology

This week's challenge:  build a bridge using cups and tongue depressors,

how many animals can your bridge hold? 

The activity was based this true story about the construction
of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

We had all kinds of designs that could hold a lot of animals.

We're working our way through our coding program.  The kids
are doing a good job!

The math mentors worked on writing equations with us.  We came up
with lots of ways getting a sum of 10.

We love it when the big kids come in to work with us.  This week it was engineering bridges and working on math facts.  It is such a positive experience to watch these kids working together.  When the mentors are not with us, we're learning about polar animals and their habitats.