 |
 In my last post I talked about how to connect stories to real life experiences in order to help children relate to the story. Mother Goose Time sent black beans for the art project and I decided that the left over beans should be for a science experiment. So I used some small cute jars I got from Hobby Lobby and I mixed math with science and off we went!  We took turns putting 10 beans at a time in the jar that had water added to it. That way we would be able to practice counting by 10s while conducting our experiment of how many beans would need to be added in order for the water to rise enough for a crow to drink with his beak. Turns out, it was 64 beans for the entire experiment. But it morphed into ANOTHER experiment after we were able to raise the water level. I corked the beans to move on to the next activity intending to dump them when we noticed that the beans were bubbling. We voted to leave them in for the week and to come back and see what happened after that.  We smelled the jar of beans after we uncorked it and it was GROSS! But the best part of the experiment was pouring the beans into a bowl and feeling how soft they got and watching the children explore and talk about how they changed and what made them change. This is the best example of expanding a lesson. I highly encourage educators to expand lessons anytime they can. Breaking from the made out plans you have set for the day can reinvigorate the children's curiosity.
I hope this inspires you to try this experiment out with the story the next time or just to add an experiment if possible to the story you pick out for the day. You won't regret it. Well the mess...but not the fun :) Live Long and Keep Teaching! Ms Tessie |
RSS Feed
