It's Party Time

Today was Big D's class Halloween Party! As one of the room moms, I have the fun job of helping to plan the class parties and boy did we have fun today! We had enjoyed some fun activities, a yummy snack, and music that definitly set the mood!

Having fun decorating!

Doesn't the class look festive?

Almost ready for the kids!

They can't wait to come in!

I did the Science Docent lesson today about chemical reactions and it was only fitting that we had a visit from a mad scientist. I asked Big D if he minds that I get silly and dress-up and he said "No, I like it!"

My mad scientist lab! Potions, body parts, etc...

The kids made goo! There were 3 centers - mummy wrap game, goo making, and popcorn gloves! I had several kids come up and say they can't wait to play with their goo!

My girlfriend, Lydia made these cute mummy wraps for the napkins. Gauze wrapped around the napkins with googlie eyes! So fun!

Peanut #1 enjoying his snack!

Mr. Barnes helping them make bats! (He had surgery on his back 2 weeks ago, hence the back brace).

I was happy with how these goodie bags turned out, wish I got a better picture of them. They received many treats!

Alka Seltzer Rockets

I am so lucky to be the science docent for Dallin's class again this year. I love science and was so excited to expand on the lessons they've had about the states of matter (solids, liquids, and gas). So today we made Alka Seltzer Rockets! 

This is a great lesson to show how a solid can be mixed with a liquid to make a gas. 

The Experiment: (Please note – this experiement should be done out side).

• Fill a small container (think of something like a clear 35mm film canister) about half full with water.
• Add alka seltzer tablets to the water
• Quickly put the lid on the container
• Quickly place the container on a stable surface with the lid on the ground.
• Stand Back! The container will pop open  and you will have lift off (well at least a few inches of lift off)

(The alka seltzer tablet is made out of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate and when they react they release CO2, Carbon Dioxide, which creates the pressure in the container).

No lesson would be complete without food being brought into the mix somehow. So here is a cool way to show the same reaction with rootbeer floats!

Enjoy rootbeer floats – ice cream or frozen yogurt (solid) and rootbeer (liquid) mixed together make foam (gas) on the top. 

Bean Plants

I have the privilege of being the Science Docent for Dallin's kindergarten class. Every month or two I prepare a lesson on different science standards they have to know by the end of their kindergarten year! We have done experiments on the stages of matter (liquids, solids, gases - we made root beer floats to show the different stages), we've talked about the differences between birds and mammals, we learned new ways to describe things using our 5 senses, we've talked about magnets, and today we talked about....

...the parts of a plant. I was so impressed that many of the kids knew the different parts of a plant and what they did. At one point I had a 6 year old boy ask me a deep question. I told them that the roots and stem of a plant act like a straw to suck water and nutrients out of the ground to feed the plant.

This little boy asked - "Mrs. Kanzler, if we needed water to drink could we put a straw in a plant and suck out the water?" They never cease to amaze me. So we talked about what makes up the stem and told him that there is a special plant called a cactus that he could get water from, but he wouldn't be able to use a straw.

So after our discussion each of the kids got to plant a bean plant! If everything goes well they should start to see their plant growing in the next few weeks! Can't guarantee that we will have a harvest like the picture above but it was fun to watch the kids plant their seeds and listen to their questions! May the seeds grow into young bean plants!