I'm sure many of you are familiar with STEAM.
STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.
I've been taking some pictures to document our learning in a few of these areas.
The kids learned about painting with warm colors in the Fall. Now that Winter is here, we are learning what cool colors are.
Kids created cool backgrounds with watercolor and then we painted snowmen on top of our cool backgrounds. One of the biggest reasons I do this lesson is to instill independence. We talk about all of the different materials we will need, where to find those materials in the classroom, and the proper way to clean up after ourselves when we are done. Not only does this save a lot of time for the teacher, but kids are also able to take care of their own needs during our Center Time or science work when they need these materials to show their learning.
In math, we are working on combinations of 5. This game, called Buttons on a Snowman, has the kids dropping 5 buttons onto the snowman. Then they say an equation representing the number of buttons on and off of the snowman.
This week we introduced some science observation stations. We are working on observing closely and drawing what we see. I modeled using the correct colors, really looking carefully, and trying my best (without getting frustrated) to draw what is really there. (Often times, when kindergartners draw, they will put smiley faces on their suns and rainbows over their turtles. We want to point out that when we observe in science, we are only drawing what we actually see.)
Rock slices on the light table... so cool to see colors come through.
I've been collecting rocks since I was in kindergarten. My mom always said, "What will you ever do with all of those rocks? You really don't need to save an entire box filled with rocks" Well, I showed her! I still collect rocks. I look for new additions to my collection when I'm on vacation. Souvenir shops tend to sell some really cool rocks and I always seem to find them at craft fairs or local outdoor markets. The kids LOVE looking at all of the different types of rocks and are always shocked that they are not painted or man made. This was one of their favorite observation stations.
Our stickbugs have been amazing to observe. Big Steve is about 5 inches long now.
We've had so many stickbug eggs hatch, I've lost count of how many are in there. As of today we have big Steve and 4 little Steves.
The day they hatch, they have red heads. The red fades to brown in about a day or two. The kids always know if we have a new baby, just by observing color.
This drawing is unbelievable! Can you believe this was done by a kindergartner? If you look closely, you can see the red head on the teeny tiny little guy.
You can see that we're busy in kindergarten!
Happy learning!
