Action Required: Scienceworks Excursion

Today the children received a blue permission form for our excursion to Scienceworks in term 3. Please sign and return the form as soon as possible. If you have paid the excursion levy no money is required. Parent helper sign up sheets will be placed in front of each homeroom so if you would like to join us on the excursion please add your name to the list. If you require more information about the excursion please speak with a member of the Prep team. 

The Garden Club

On Wednesday Alexandra and Kate took The Garden Club around the school on a leaf hunt. The children collected a variety of leaves and discussed their features, created patterns and drew what they saw.

Week 9 Happenings

Monday
Queen's Birthday Holiday

Tuesday
Assembly and coffee cart (3/4 Neighbourhood hosting)

Wednesday
12:10 Library
1:15 Footsteps dancing
2:30 PMP (parent helpers needed)

Friday
2:30 Singing with Nicola

Ah, choo! We need more tissues.

As the cold and flu season is upon us the Prep Neighbourhood have been using lots of tissues. We therefore need more boxes of tissues. If you haven't brought tissues in this year could you please bring a box in for the Neighbourhood. Thank you.

Learning about Fossils

On Wednesday Oliver B's mum Belinda visited the Prep Neighbourhood and spoke to some of the children about fossils. The children worked with clay and made their own dinosaur fossils which they placed around the volcanoes that have been developed in the Science and Maths Room during learning agreement.

Science Workshop - Bubbles

Today some of the children in the Prep neighbourhood participated in a workshop about bubbles. We brainstormed what they know about bubbles. They learnt the science behind why a bubble is occurs. The children created their own bubble wands and made their own bubble solutions. The children hypothesised how a good formula would be made and then tested it out.

The Preps discussed what they know about bubbles.

• You can eat them (bath bubbles).
• You can blow them.
• They are a circle and clear colour.
• You dont have to blow into them the wand to make bubbles, you can move your arm and the air gets trapped and still makes a bubble.
• Air is trapped in the water and the sea because the fish blow the air out.
• We find bubbles in the sink when we wash our hands.
• There are bubbles trapped inside fizzy drinks.
• We can easily pop bubbles with our finger.

How are soap bubbles made?

 

Bubbles are pockets of soap and water that are filled with air.

When soap and water are mixed together and air is blown into it, the soap and water forms a thin skin or a wall that traps the air creating a bubble.

 

Here are links with bubble experiments that you might like to try at home.

http://chemistry.about.com/od/bubbles/Bubbles.htm

http://www.superchargedscience.com/documents/Bubbles.pdf

Thinking Routine: Connect, Extend, Challenge

This week Sia introduced the Prep Neighbourhood to the Visible Thinking Routine, Connect, Extend, Challenge. Sia read the big book Caterpillars by Robin Green to the Neighbourhood and after reading the book everyone discussed, what they knew (Connect), what they didn't know (Extend) and what was really hard to understand (Challenge). Below is what was recorded from the rich discussion.

You could try this thinking routine at home after a shared reading experience. Please click on the link below if you would like to read more about the Connect, Extend, Challenge.
http://www.old-pz.gse.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines/ConnectExtendChallenge/ConnectExtend_Routine.html