Bridging the space between farm and table

As part of the study of harvest, students in the Bumblebees class engineered and constructed bridges that a vehicle could drive on to transport the harvest from the farm over a river and to a store or market. They chose the bridge-building materials. Some materials were more successful than others. This activity carried far beyond the day of the lesson and bridges continue daily to be designed and constructed and tested. This friend said the trickiest part was making sure the bridge was sturdy.

This friend thought it was difficult to come up with a new design when the first design didn't work.  

This friend said he found himself worrying about the bridge breaking even when it didn't when tested.

This friend said the trickiest part was keeping the ramps from falling down.

This friend felt his biggest challenge was designing a smooth ramp. 

This friend found his ramps were too heavy and tended to knock down his bridge. Bumblebees revised their construction, sharing ideas of what worked and what didn't to help their produce get to market.
 

Work Choice

Every day Bumblebees get a chance to work in their area of choice. I call it "work choice" because I want them to have an understanding that they are working on an area of their choosing and not just playing with toys. But it is completely their choice what they decide to do and every area is open at that time. This friend said, "I am making a pyramid tower."

This friend said, "I am making a maze for the red ball."

This friend said, "I am trying to make a tow truck."

This friend said, "I am using the counters with bigger numbers."

And these two friends discovered they could play a board game from their 3 foot apart dots on the floor if they kept the board between them!
 

Apple harvest studies with STEM

The first integrated studies subject the kindergarten students are studying is harvest. Within harvest there are many sub-categories and our first one is apples. Early fall is the time that apples are harvested. In this engineering experiment students had two pieces of paper to try to make an apple trapper to pick up the paper apples without letting their hands touch the apples.

Some students made the paper into tubes to try to scoop or suck the apples in.

Or used one tube to scoop the apple into another tube.

Some students folded the paper to make it stiffer when lifting the apples.

And some folded their paper in a way that worked like tongs. Although not every try was successful, everyone eventually found a way to grab those apples. They were excited to take them home and show their families. I was proud of their grit and determination when their tries didn't work. No one complained or quit. Great work, Bumblebees!
 

Meet the Bumblebees

Here are some of the new Bumblebee friends for 2021 -22. This first week they have begun to make friends, discover school rules, learn the schedule, attend specialist classes and experience classes, lunch and snack outside. They are off to a great start. Fly high, Bumblebees!

 

One last post for the Seabury kindergarten year of 2020-21. A wild ride of a year, sometimes at home, sometimes at school with hybrid classes and kids still at home. Lots of Zoom. But in the joy of beach day we found relaxation, play, science and friends. Students enjoyed seeing all stages of sand dollars lives, the very cool skeleton of a dog fish, and all the sand, salt water and seaweed they could enjoy. Such a lovely class. I will miss them so much. Hopefully, their first grade year will be a little more normal but I know they will have success in all they do. Happy Summer, Bumblebees! 

 

 The Bumblebees learned about Memorial Day and made poppies in remembrance of the soldiers who have given their lives for our country. Each student took the assignment and made it their own. I was particularly amazed by the number of 3 dimensional work that was done. 

The Bumblebees worked hard last week to create math board games to take home and play with their families. They built these games from scratch. Every idea was their own. Some had shapes, some counting, some adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Their games were esthetically pleasing and, from all I hear, very successful and fun to play.