Week of May 29 - May 3

Here's a look at this week's Science Lab activities:

• Kindergarten: We studied the life cycle of a frog today! A kind parent volunteer donated some tadpoles to Mrs. Lugeanbeal's room, and Mrs. Lugeanbeal was nice enough to let us borrow them for the day. We learned how a tadpole grows into a frog, played some frog games, and made a frog wheel to help us remember the steps more easily. Home extension: Ask your student to show you the life cycle wheel we made in the lab, and see if he/she can explain all the parts!
• 1st grade: We started our two-week study on trees today. Students participated in tree stations where they got to observe bark, tree cookies, and pine cones. Home extension: Go for a nature walk and allow your student to observe the trees in the area.
• 2nd grade: We learned about "beach things" today, courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum's artifact trunk. We rotated through stations, sorting appropriate beach things from trash, exploring the trunk's ocean artifacts, reading ocean books, observing sand from around the world, and identifying beautiful seashells. Home extension: Ask your student to share some interesting facts they learned about beach artifacts in the lab. Next time you go on a beach vacation, your student might want to collect seashells and other beach artifacts to start a beach collection at home.
• 3rd grade: We finished our owl pellet investigation this week. Students finished cleaning the bones they found in the pellets. Afterwards, they worked on gluing the bones into their notebook and identifying the creatures to which the bones belonged. Home extension: Visit THIS WEBSITE to virtually dissect an owl pellet. Your student can then tell you what he/she found in the lab.
• 4th grade:We started our last unit of the year this week: geology. Today, we studied various types of soil and their characteristics. Mainly, we focused on figuring out how much water certain types of soil could hold. Home extension: Ask your student to duplicate today's investigation at home by experimenting with soil around your home. Compare that information to the information he/she learned in the lab.