Weekend Update

We've been wrapping up our ball study, and I know the kids are ready to move on to something new. We did still have some fun on Wednesday and Thursday though!

On Wednesday, we did some experimenting to determine which balls roll the farthest. We started out by rolling the balls down a ramp in the classroom. It didn't take long for us to realize that most of the balls were hitting the far wall and would certainly roll much farther if they could. I suggested we take our experiment into the hallway, and the kids all agreed. They had a blast rolling the balls to see which ones would roll far and which ones wouldn't roll at all.

It turns out the big basketball rolls the farthest - it almost made it to the door at the end of the hallway!

Shortly after we finished experimenting in the morning class, Eli wanted to see if he could kick a ball farther than it would roll, so we tested that too! Maddie helped him out by marking the spot the ball rolled to while he came back to the starting line to give it a kick. Then they reversed roles. It turns out that a person can definitely kick a ball farther than it can roll.

We also enjoyed another Cooking with Jodie day! (This was actually the first time the afternoon was able to do this.) The kids helped Jodie make some delicious mini chocolate chip cookies. It's always fun to get out of the classroom for a while, and throwing some tasty food into the mix makes the experience even more fun!

On Thursday, we had a fun painting experience! I brought our sand table outside and let the kids roll a basketball around in some paint to see what kinds of patterns it would make. They were pretty creative with how they rolled the ball around. Many of them just got their hands messy and pushed it around, but some worked in teams and one person would hold the tub up to create a slant and the other would push the ball up and let it roll back down. Either way, they had a blast!

The kids have been begging me to put water in the sand table since the first day of school, and I noticed, especially on Thursday as they were washing their hands in a bucket of water after painting, that they seem to have an intense interest in water. This leads nicely into our next study: water! Let me know if you have any special knowledge of anything to do with water! I'll be looking for experts to answer some of our questions!

Just F.Y.I - I dropped a newsletter and some information about the Read-a-thon in the mail for each of you today! Keep an eye out for it!