Forest Friday: Using engineering skills to build fairy houses

The new national science standards, which are slowly being adopted by states across the country, ask students to explore and know engineering skills, including planning, building, and finding solutions. I decided to put these ideas into practice in the classroom when I noticed that several fairy houses were being built in the forest during recess time. I also saw several students writing books such as "How to Build a Fairy House" during Writers Workshop time. So we decided to turn it into a larger project that would also incorporate science and engineering skills!

First, we wrote a how-to book about how to build a fairy house. I forgot to take a picture of this, but we had lots of experts in the classroom that could help us fill in the steps.

Next, we went on a hike to collect materials for our houses.

We looked at some existing fairy houses for inspiration:

The next week, we laid out our materials and made a plan for our house in our science journals. I was so impressed with the details and dedication in these plans!

Then we got to work. The houses turned out amazing!

We got pretty muddy in the end, so had to wipe our feet on some snow that had stuck around in early spring.

Overall it was a very cool project, and I'm so proud of how creative and hard-working the kids were! Sadly most of the houses didn't last long, since other grades use the forest during recess. But it was still worth the effort!

Writing throughout the day

In kindergarten (and all grades), writing is the perfect complement to reading. Learning to write helps students use letter-sound knowledge, letter combinations, and spelling patterns, as well as information from different genres of writing, including fictional stories, letters, and informational writing. I try to provide many authentic writing opportunities for the kids throughout the day, so they can practice their writing skills, and then transfer what they learn to their reading as well. Here are some examples of writing throughout our day!

Last month we had a post office in our classroom, in which students could write letters to friends and then use a special post office bag to deliver them. This was a favorite center to go to throughout the day.

Every morning we start our day with Morning Meeting, which ends with reading the morning message. I often try to include letter and word practice activities in the message, alternated with math practice as well.

I also try to implement writing into science and other activities whenever possible. For example, our new animal tracks exploration table has animal track stamps that the students can use and label, as well as a sheet to record the names of animals whose tracks are hidden around the room.

Last, we became penpals with another kindergarten class! Each student is paired up with someone from the other class, and we hung mailbox pockets in the hallway so the letters can be delivered and received. I am so impressed with how much and how creatively they've been writing!

What do scientists do?

We finished up our unit on natural resources (wood and paper) by studying what scientists do to learn more about something. We talked about the importance of asking questions, making predictions, using tools, observing, and discussing results. Here are some photos of a few investigations we did to help learn these skills!

First, we predicted what would happen if we put a drop of water on two different types of wood, and recorded our prediction in our science journals. Would the water sit on top, or soak in? The little scientists were very careful and observant during this process. It definitely takes fine motor skills to drop one or two drops on the wood.

A lot of kids wanted to continue using the water and droppers during choice time, to see if water soaks into other items!

Next, we wanted to determine if the wood would sink or float in water. It was pretty evenly split between those who thought it would sink and those who thought it would float.

Turns out it floats!

Our last challenge was to see if we could get the pieces of wood to sink, using only paperclips and rubberbands. I let the kids give ideas for how they thought this could happen, and they ultimately ended up stacking paperclips onto the wood pieces and using rubberbands to secure it. 

The scientists were very patient and exact with their calculations - a wood that only sunk partially on one side didn't count as fully sinking, so they had to go back and add more paperclips. There was also some great teamwork going on!