Our Building Materials

This morning we had screws, bolts, nuts and washers at the table. The kids sorted them by long and short, fat and skinny, and pointy end and flat end. They practiced tightening and loosening the bolts and nuts. At the end they used their fingers to put them into a water bottle. During morning circle we reviewed things we learned about construction this week. We identified more words that started with the letter V.

 Ms. Abby was inside today because it was too wet in the courtyard. We worked on throwing and catching. First we made a big circle and practiced throwing the ball to a friend. Then the kids each had a partner and threw the ball back and forth to each other. Ms. Abby also brought her parachute...and the kids loved it! We moved the parachute slow and then fast. Then we added balls to the parachute so we could pop popcorn. For the last activity the kids lined up in a straight line. They passed the ball over their head to the next friend until they reached the end of the line. The first time was a little tricky but they did great the second time!

 

Our story today was "The Construction Crew" by  Lynn Meltzer. The construction crew is tearing down an old building and laying the foundation for a new home. Workers use all kinds of trucks and tools to get the job done. And just in time for a family to move in. After reading the story we talked about different kinds of building materials. We can build with rocks, wood, metal and cement.

For science we compared different building materials from the 3 Little Pigs to explain which one would be the best. We gave the kids hay, sticks and a brick. We had them explore the materials and answer three questions. Can you bend it? Can you blow it away? Is it heavy? We made a chart of all the answers to our questions. Then the class voted to decide which materials was the strongest and the best choice to build a house...the brick won!

After lunch we talked about going on our construction walk tomorrow and things we are going to find. We ended the day singing songs about construction trucks and the construction crew.