Indoor Recess STEM fun!

We have a new favorite STEM material for indoor recess!  It's a hit and I highly suggest if you see it grab it as a present for some amazing child :). 

 

Here are some pic of us enjoy them the first time they came out.  Fun can even be had during recess on rainy days!

 

 

3D shapes!!!

Thanks for being an awesome mystery reader Cooper's dad!!!

 

 

While some of our friends were on a CLUE field trip we reviewed the 3D shapes we've been working on!  I kept telling them math was going to be awesome and for some reason they just didn't totally believe me :).  Once I pulled out the marshmallows and toothpicks they figured out I wasn't lying!  We had a great time making the 3D shapes we've learned about as well as some more abstract ones that they invented. 

 

A typical day!

We had lots of fun during literacy centers today! 

 

 

In math we've been working on both 2D and 3D shapes.  After working on labeling and identifying them everyone got to make their own shape design using the pattern blocks!

The great ice cream experiment of 2017!!!

Happy Early Birthday Dean!!!  Dean's grandmother came as our mystery reader to help celebrate Dean's birthday a few days early :).

 

 

Once we finished a few things we got down to work!  We first watched a video of how small batch ice cream is made!

 

Then we got to making our own small batch ice cream :).  Our recipe called for...

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

2 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp vanilla

 

Once all the ingredients were in the bag we go to shaking.  We put the ice cream bag in a bag with ice and ice cream salt!  They bags were SUPER cold.  Everyone had to be careful because as we learned if you slammed your bag on the table to shake it the small bag with the ingredients would bust and you'd loose your ice cream :( (no worries we had extra).

 

Once it had be shaken for 10 minutes we poured it out in bowls and YUM!  It made some awesome creamy ice cream.  Toppings were added and everyone enjoyed some pre lunch ice cream!

Giving glows!!!

We've been working hard on being positive with our friends and giving them positive statements about their work (we call them glows).  Many times when we create work we spend a few minutes at the completion of the lesson walking around and giving our friends glows about their work on a post-it note.  Sometimes glows are just a check mark or a smile while other times we write down something we like about the work.  There are also times to give grows (things that could be improved) but these we do verbally.  The children have really enjoyed giving glows to their friends and it gives them a chance to see what others did on the same work.