Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Spontaneous snow fun!

"Most children are naturally curious about their surroundings. They have an interest in exploring and investigating to see how things work and why things happen. Children have an innate sense of wonder and awe and a real desire for inquiry." Ontario Ministry of Education. The-Full Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program. Draft Version. Pg. 14

"What were you doing outside at lunch?" Mrs. Ralph

"I was putting snow in the bag so I can make it heavy! If you put a lot of snow in a bag, it will be heavy. There's 100 snowflakes in there!" R.W.

We decided to bring the bag full of snow inside our class and see what happens.  The bag was passed around and the students noted how heavy it was!  Then we decided to put some snow in a large container, and some in a small container to see what would happen?  The students had lots of theories!

"The lights are not that bright so it's not melting." D.S.

"Maybe there's a lot of snow in the bag and the snow is making the bag cold, so the snow is not melting." K.W.

"When I felt the bag, it was wet, so the snow was melting inside." O.S.

"Maybe the bag was outside and the bag was on the snow and it was cold outside." N.S.

"The bag is cold and the lights are not very much on." E.E.

"It was cold outside and the snow freezed and then we put it all in the plastic bag and was so, so cold so it froze.  Now it's melting!" H.S.

"It was just a little it of time here and we have to wait longer and it will start to melt." E.H.

"The snow had ice and the ice is keeping it cold." I.R.

"Maybe the small one will melt faster because it's smaller and inside it's warm." M.P.

"I think the small one and big one will stay because they both have lots of snow! C.M.

"Maybe the big one has more snow because it's bigger than the other and it will be heavier." N.S.

"I think the big one will melt first because the opening of the little one won't have much hot air to go in.  The big one has a bigger opening at the top so it will melt faster. A.P.

"I think half of both containers will melt because there's so much snow in it that the warm air will only melt half of it." E.S.

The students enjoyed feeling the snow and observing the changes over the time it was in our room.  Among their talk, they accounted for the temperature of the snow, as well as noticing that the snow didn't change to water immediately.  

What a fun spontaneous learning moment!

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