Exciting New School Year

Welcome back, everyone! The lab has been bustling with activity already this year. All Lower School students have come in for a safety talk, get their safety goggles (grades 1-4), and have a chance to observe and ask questions about things in the lab. I was invited to Ms. Keppler's PK classroom for a "Toad Talk". The students have a classroom critter named "Millie", and they had done some research about toads and frogs. In SK, we have become great "bug hunters", outside with our nets and hand lenses looking for insects. The SK classes are also busy raising Monarchs in their classrooms. The first graders are studying the weather, clouds, and seasons. Next week, we start our shadow observations to see what happens to our shadows as we go through the seasons. They will also be up in the lab making cloud shapes, so they can recognize the different clouds in the sky. Second graders are observing ants in their ant farms, and getting ready to find out why leaves change color in the fall. The third graders have been using their iPads to help them identify different kinds of leaves, doing paper chromatography to find hidden colors in the leaves, and soon will be using penetrometers to measure how tough a leaf is. Lastly, the fourth graders have been studying habitats, food chains and food webs, and are now in the middle of dissecting the owl pellet to find out why the owl is called an "Apex Predator". Stay tuned to this blog to find out more about all the exciting activities and investigations going on in Lower School Science!