Weekly Update

Dear Families,
This week, the students on Team Hamony had another 4 Winds class.  This month, the students learned about snowflakes.  We started in the kiva with a puppet show and then rotated through a variety of hands-on workshops, all about snowflakes.  The students learned about the different types of snowflakes and their respective labels and names.  For example, ask your child to explain what a fern dendrite looks like and how it is different from a plate snowflake.  The students also created their own snowflakes using coffee filters and matched up pictures of real snowflakes with vocabulary words.  Thank you parent volunteers for providing your time to these terrific learning opportunities.

This week, the students in my class also began a scientific inquiry task.  In science, we are emphasizing asking precise questions before we begin a "test" or inquiry.  We learn to think and act like scientists.  We use our senses and take careful notes as we observe our tests and collect our data. This week, however, we focused more upon the importance of only changing one variable at a time in order to have a valid test.  Ask your child to explain why scientists only change one variable at a time. The challenge presented was to figure out a way to get both salt water and fresh water to evaporate as quickly as possible.  The students were given only a few objects, such as two cups (one for each type of water), the use of a sharpie, mirrors, masking tape, fresh water and salt water.  Together the students had to agree on how to plan for the experiment, where to put the cups, how to measure evaporation, and what variable to change, if change was indeed needed.  The worked so well together and documented all their steps inside their science journals.  Some students decided to place both cups in the window.  The reason given was because the sun provides heat so that would speed evaporation.  Others decided to place the cups near the radiator.  The reason was because the heat from the radiator is more constant than the sun (here in Vermont in the winder!) and also much warmer than the sun.  All students agreed we needed to mark the initial water level so we can see change, if any.  We are still in the midst of these experiments and look forward to changes on Monday!

Lastly, the weather finally warmed up a little this week, so today during workshops, some kids on Harmony went outside to play in the snow.  Here are some pictures.

Stay warm this weekend.
Regards,
Maria