Crackin' Geodes

Today I gave the Bumblebees a geode that we bought from Jerry's Rock and Gem last week.  They were so excited!!! First, in our science journals I had them measure, weigh, draw and describe their rock.  They were very inquisitive, asking questions like, "How did the crystals form?, Why is there black spots on mine?, Do they come in different colors?"  In the scientific method we were asking questions, forming hypothesis, collecting data and observing with pictures and words. Afterwards, I gave each kid a hammer (and safety goggles and a safety speech) and we hammered away. After a few whacks the geodes opened and they compared the insides.  They noticed that some had bigger crystals and some were different shades. We concluded (with help from Google) that geodes are formed from gas bubbles when igneous (volcanic) rocks cooled.  The slower the cooling, the bigger the crystals.  Check their backpacks for their geode crystals.

measuring with inches and centimeters

making observations and recording data in science journals

KF has broken apart the geode

look what is inside

comparing geodes

more comparing

science at work

Fraction Fun

Over the past few weeks I have introduced the concept of fractions.  We played games with pizza slices, used pattern blocks and Cuisenaire rods, and even created art from fractional circle pieces.  I was very impressed with how quickly the Bumblebees caught on; being able to identify and recreate fractional parts of a whole. Below are just a couple of the activities we have done.

We used lots of fraction circles and pattern blocks to understand how parts of a whole together

We cut out fractions, learning that each piece doubled.

We can put different parts together to create a whole (intro to equivalent fractions)

We counted our shoes to see how to use fractions with a group of objects

The next three pictures were created with parts of a fraction circle