Inclined Planes

Group Meeting:  During Group Meeting today, we had several new things to discuss.  There were \ some small adjustments to the classroom furniture, we added a Discovery Table for our simple machines, and made some changes to the helper's chart.  Your child might be able to explain some of the changes.

Story:  The story for today was Dinosaur Woods by George McClements.  Rojo, the fox,  and his animal pals have a problem: The forest where they live is about to be torn down and replaced with a Plas-Tic Trees factory. The animals are at a loss, until they come up with a plan to scare away the builders using sticks, burlap, and tools.  What did they create?  Did their plan work?  Ask your child to tell you what happened.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week and schedule for today are listed below.
Activity #1 (Red Group) The children listened to the story Silly Sally by Audrey Wood.  Following the story, the children had to think of a describing word that starts with the same beginning sound as their name to make a new name like Silly Sally.  An example would be Funny Fred or Smiley Susie.
Activity #2 (Yellow Group)  The children tested several items to see if they would go down a ramp.  They documented their findings by drawing the items on paper.
Activity #3 (Green Group)  The children made a book using the Let's Find Out magazine. The topic was friends and being kind to everyone.  This was to coincide with Martin Luther King Day.

Large Group:  The simple machine that we will learn about his week is the inclined plane.  My example was using a ramp to load a semi truck with boxes.  I used a toy truck, blocks to resemble boxes, and a wooden board to be the ramp.   The children are bringing home a paper today to describe an inclined plane.

Snacks:  The morning class had Annie's Cocoa Bunnies cereal and milk brought by Scarlett.  The afternoon class had Ritz crackers, peanut butter, and juice brought by Vivian.  Thank you!