So Predictable...Those Kinders

Our kinders are working on setting up experiments to test their predictions...so here is there little ditty...to the song High Ho The Dairy-O. A prediction is a guess, a prediction is a guess...high ho the dairy-o A prediction is a guess.

They LOVED it. We predicted where our car would land on a yardstick. Our partner marked the spot and we tried to "push" the car to the spot. Then we predicted if a big hill would make our car go faster. We marked our graph with a sticky tab, then I demonstrated big hills and small hills. We saw the outcome. Then...the kinder kiddos got to set up the same experiment. The finished with a race between the partners...predict who will go farther...Science is FUN!

Predicting where the car will be pushed reinforces number recognition!

Reviewing push and pull through experimentation!

A big hill makes our cars go farther!!!!

I use the sheets for the kiddos from my Force and Motion Pack!

Check out this fun link for push and pull review...

Kindergarten Science...Push and Pull

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Moving Along!

Well, it is time to come up with another activity for our little kinders and the push and pull unit. Here is what I am doing for the lesson down the slide... I am starting this lesson with having our kiddos share how we move. We are making a list on our poster.

                                    Silly Sally


Then, we read the book Silly Sally and all the ways she moves...

        Kindergarten Sliding Worksheet

We then use the ramps and items listed on the worksheet that we fill in after we do the experiment. We finish up by drawing how we move down a hill or slide...

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What's A Slope Mrs. Heinrich?

The cutest thing, one of our kinders asked me this question yesterday. I looked down at her sweet face and said, "we are going to be scientists and conduct an experiment to find that out." She replied, "what's a experiment?"

We started our slope lesson asking if they ever went sledding. Duh, we live in Wisconsin and have a hill at our school. Vocabulary word number one, slope. Now to the experiment part... we are going to set up an experiment to find out if a big slope or hill makes us go faster or does a small hill make us go faster? We made a prediction. Look at all that vocabulary. I had our kiddos get a car to place on our graph. Then we went to set up our experiment.

We set up two slopes a big one and a little one. Then we raced our cars down the hills. We shared our findings to see if our predictions were correct. We then filled out a sheet to share our conclusions and findings. There pictures show it all...they got it. Before my kinders

left, I asked the class, "what is a slope?" "Moving on a slant!" "A hill!" Well then kids, what is an experiment? "A test!" Cool beans, when kindergartners "get it"!

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Pushing And Pulling Our Kindergartners

So, as we continue to develop our unit on push and pull, I am helping set up two different activities for you. The first one is an extension for push and pull. I read (paraphrased) the book Push and Pull... and then showed them different pictures that helped them understand the difference between the two types of motions. We modeled pushing and pulling and that sometimes it is both a push and a pull. We defined a push as a force that moves something away and a pull is a force that brings something closer. We did a Venne Diagram with pictures I included for you to use. We then went outside for a few minutes...brrrrr it was cold. We practiced pushing and pulling on the swings, slide, and Rocking Boat. We went back in to practice being on a row boat. We pushed and pulled our oars in our boat as we sat on the floor. Another great resource for push and pull ideas are from a fellow blogger at Chalk Talk.

push and pull cards Used in the Venne Diagram. Are we pushing, pulling or both.

               Our little rowers. Push the oars, pull the oars, push the oars, pull the oars...

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The Three Billies Build a Bridge

My dear science teacher friends, I tried out our Three Billy Goats Gruff lesson last week. I read one of the versions of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. I stressed our power words OVER, UNDER, AROUND, NEXT TO...I then had the blocks, plates, cardboard, whatever you got people, to have them build a bridge as a team. I put the three billys, I called them, to work. I made groups of three, slick stuff. Then they worked together to build that bridge. It took them awhile to work together, but I had a goat puppet that I used to see if I could get up the bridge, across the bridge, over the bridge, and then down the bridge. All of the little billys forgot to build a slope or ramp, so I gave them each a car to try it themselves. They started to figure out that they needed something to help them get up, over, down. By the end of our time we had all of our billys able to make it safe across the bridge to greener pastures. Next week, the word slope and our next lesson. Also, push and pull...working on building the perfect playground equipment for a playground for our bears from last week. Push and pull...stay tuned.

                              Up, Over, Down. Up, Over, Down. Let's get the Billys to the other side of town.

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Over, Under, Around, and Through

Here is a little ditty to go with our push and pull lessons for kindergarten... sung to London Bridge

Over, under, around, and through
around and through,
around and through.
Over, under, around, and through...
now look behind you.

Looking left and looking right,
left and right
left and right
Looking left and looking right,
now sit down.


Here is a great book that works for our littles as they learn where they are.
How about giving our kiddos a paper carrot that they can place in different locations, sharing the words on the board for them to follow...

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Push and Pull Unit: Cars Move

In our conversations during in-service this last week, we as a group of 8 science teachers all have a different feeling toward our kindergartners. So, in order to make it more STEM based or get them actively engaged and still keep us going ourselves, I made this quick lesson that you could use for lesson 3, Cars Move lesson. If you are looking to teach your kiddos a lesson on fast and slow, big and small, motion, graphing and science and don't know what I mean by lesson three here it is for you my new friends. This lesson connects to FOSS balance and motion and FOSS water. 

We are going to be using hot wheel cars to test the size of the slope.

I am going to be using the cars to cut out and make into a graph for them to predict if the low or high slope will make the car go faster.

Push Pull Cars Move

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Going On a Bear Hunt

My friends, we are starting a new unit this next week with our kinder"squirmers" that is what one of my science colleagues called them. Cute and so true. How can we make it more STEM based and keep them actively engaged for our half an hour we have with them? How about reading this book to start...

Then with our kiddos, go on your own bear hunt using a box with a stuffed bear in it. I will share my pictures MONDAY. Again, left my camera at school. Inservice got me. Give them our wonderful new direction words like: is it on top of the table? Is it under the chair? Is it Over by the door? Am I getting closer?  Once, you find your bear, have them tell you where the bear is in regards to the box. They love it. Next, hand out one of those cute plastic bears that at least one of your kindergarten teachers should have, if not I will load share my sheet on Monday, it is at school, go figure. I then have them place there bear on their own piece of paper I give them. You can then do a quick check-a-roo to see if they are understanding directions. I so want to use real gummy bears, but food allergy guidelines in our district...dicey. I am working on a STEM lesson for the book 3 Billy Goats Gruff where our littles can build a bridge to help the goats across. Did you hear that? Build as in Engineer! And how about using our yellow and red circles to build a car that can be pushed and pulled. I am on it science friends. I will keep on sharing. My oldest is home from college this weekend...so... I may need to wait until Monday rolls around. Have a great weekend.

          The bears are next to each other!

            The bear is under the paper.

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