We Made Soup!! :)

For our Curriculum Night we made our Traditional Vegetable Soup!  We explored the vegetables, washed and cut them, and added all the ingredients in together.  We were able to try it together on our special night as we explored all the other projects we've been studying in the classroom.

Our tray of vegetables that families contributed to our classroom!  Thank you so much for all the yummy veggies and helping us make our soup.

Hadi explores the onion.  The skin was peeling. 

"It is shedding like a snake.  It smells good."

Isabel investigated a potato.  

"I eat these at home.  It doesn't smell, but I like them."

The children discussed the process of making soup and
explored what we have to do with different materials.

We smelled, touched and looked at all the different characteristics of the vegetables.

We continued the next day to wash and cut up all the vegetables so that they will be ready to make our soup for Curriculum Night to share with families.

 The children used utensils and gloves to cut up the vegetables.  The children helped cut green peppers, potatoes, turnips, carrots, and parsley.

The children had opportunities to continue to explore the different vegetables.  When they were cutting they were able to investigate the seeds, the smell, and the different colors inside.

 One of our first steps - Simmering the garlic and onions.

**Our Tasting Soon to Follow**

Exploring Cornstarch and Water

  November 6, 2012

   Today the children explored two colors of corn starch and water mixture on an incline.  Then a third color was added by using an eye dropper.  This activity has been an ongoing project, first the children made the mixture and now they are using the mixture made out of two colors on a ramp.  With the force of gravity making it go down, the colors mix by them self. The children were busy today exploring the concept of adding just colored water to the mixture to see what would happen.  By adding a third primary color, the children discovered even more like green, orange, purple even brown.

Watch the blue as it swirls in the mixture.

The children use their hand to make the mixture move down the incline.

Eye dropper was used to push blue into the corn starch and

water mixture

Making Soup

We brought in new materials to the kitchen area.  We included a pot, spatulas, bowls, spoons, measuring cups, and measuring spoons.  The children explored the materials and quickly came to the idea of making soup.

 We talked about what ingredients we would need to make soup.  The children's ideas included:

• Rice
• Water
• Chicken
• Tomatoes
• Pasta
• Potatoes
• Peppers
• Corn

 The children worked together to make different types of soup.  The set the table, stirred the pot, put the pot in the oven, and even gave out taste tests.

We will keep out these materials to build a better understanding of cooking and adding ingredients to soup.  We have also have had small group discussions about different pictures of soup to provoke more ideas of ingredients.  We will continue to add these materials to our kitchen area to strengthen the children's interest. 

ECEC Raffle Basket - Scrapbooking

Our classroom is working on a Scrapbooking Basket for the ECEC raffle which will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2012.  We are looking for some donations to add to the basket.  This will be a great way to get families ready to scrapbook some wonderful memories for the holidays. 

Somethings that we could include are:

• Stickers
• Markers
• Glue
• An Album
• Paper Trimmers
• Journaling Tools
• Paper - Decorative, plain, different colors
• Zots
• Tape
• Ribbon
• Photo Corner Covers
• Stamps
• Ink

We will have a donation box that we can add to and then we will create a basket that will help get someone started or add to their collection.  If you have any questions, please ask.  We appreciate any contribution.  Thank you so much!  :)

Exploring Light

Our light exploration began with exploring with flash lights and mirrors.  The children first used the flash light by waving the flash light around the room.

"Look an apple." After observing how the light moves the children sat down and shined the light on the floor. They noticed how the light made different shapes.

  

They then picked up the mirrors and shined the light off the surface. They notice how the light reflected off the surface of the mirror. 

Next the children selected different objects from the classroom and shined the light on them. They discovered how the light made the objects appearance change. They noticed how the light made the objects bigger and smaller. To extend the children's investigation we are going explore how light affects the size of objects. 

For our second exploration we used the projector and different size blocks. The children placed each block on the projector and observed the different sizes. 

The children compare the sizes between the original object and the shadow the children by holding up the block  next to the shadow.

  

 

 To better understand the concept of measuring we traced the shadow and then compared its size to the block.

By moving the projector back and forth the children were able to determine the cause of the shadows change. They noticed the shadow was smaller when the projector was closer to the wall. When the projector was moved father away they noticed the shadow was bigger.

Our next investigation we will be using the shadow screen to watch how the light affects our shadows appearance.