Wow, what a fun week we’ve had in Jasper. School is offically in and a couple of our friends have started kindergarten. We love hearing about what they learned and got to do while there.
The continuing of Science and the creativity from building have merged into one big idea and has been coming up all week. The process of trial and error has been a reoccurring topic this week with experiences involving water and ice, trying to float items but also with block building. The exploration of the microscopes are still a highlight in the room.
At the beginning of the week, we reached the final step of the frozen rainbow star. We all took guesses on how long it would take for the star to melt into a puddle. The guesses ranged from a few seconds to a 100 hours. We brainstormed ideas how we could speed up the melting process, some tired to bang on it with their hands, some rubbed it but our hands got cold fast! Finally the winning idea was using eye droppers to drop water on it. It surprised us all that it only took 1hr and 45 to melt into a big colourful puddle. The frozen star was requested by multiple friends to use again. On Friday the star came back, this time frozen with GLITTER. We used it in the water table while we were exploring the idea of sink or float but first we had to figure out how to get the star out of the mold! Smashing the star was the only way we could get it out, after a few bangs it broke apart into the water table We noticed at first the star sunk to the bottom then when it broke apart it started to float! The star has become a major hit in the room and will be used a lot in experiences due to high demand.
In the block corner, we discovered how many times we use trail and error. Sometimes the Lego falls apart or thE train tracks won’t work the way it was planned but we persevered and made a new plan that made the Lego stick or the train tracks path work.
Later in the week we learned that even educators experience trial and error. Emily’s bubble volcano didn’t work and she learned that next time she will use different soap. We all experienced lots of trail and error and some frustration this week but we learned that it’s okay if it didn’t work according to plan. Trial and error is a learning tool that allows children to test their knowledge and allows them to approach an idea differently the next time.
Can’t wait to see where science takes us next week!