ELECTRICTY AND MAGNETS

We introduced our topic, Electricity and Magnets, by discussing POWER on Monday.  Power is a term they seem to understand due to superheroes, power rangers, and even the magical elements in the Disney stories exhibit powers of a sort.  We learned that there are many different kinds of power (energy) and we listed them on the board on Monday.

·    Our bodies get power (energy) from the FOODS we eat.       

·    A sailboat needs the power of the WIND to make it move.

·    The SUN can be a powerful force… it heats up our bodies and gives us daylight.

·    WATER demonstrates its forcefulness during storms and floods.

·    Whenever we plug something into a socket we are tapping into an ELECTRICAL force.

·    Within the earth are powerful stones, lodestones, that work as MAGNETS to attract iron, steel and other metals.

·    GAS fuels our cars and comes from decaying dinosaurs.

Can they comprehend all of these concepts?  Probably not.  But the point was to get them thinking about some of the forces of nature that surround us all and begin to recognize that Mother Nature (as we often refer to scientific phenomena) is capable of amazing things!

They were fascinated by the NON-FICTION books we read about LIGHTNING and THUNDER…the photos of electrical storms are astounding.   After a simplified explanation as to how these things occur, we reenacted a thunderstorm of our own.  One child (cloud) stood on a chair and began to shake due to the tiny particles within that pull and push at each other, the others took turns jumping forth from the cloud as lightning bolts and still others waited to create the rumble of thunder.  They are quite the comical sight when they dramatize, but they are also laying the foundations for future science knowledge.   That’s what are story of Franklin and the Thunderstorm taught us.  Franklin had all sorts of scary ideas as to why storms were so frightening (giants bowling, giants turning lights on and off) and it wasn’t until he heard the scientific explanation from his friend, Mr. Owl, that he felt reassured.  Real science should have a calming impact, don’t you think?

We know that we cannot harvest the energy of lightning but we do use ELECTRICITY in all of our homes.  For “homework” they were to look around the house and find some things that are plugged in to an energy source.  Our list was long and varied. 

We play with magnet often in Pre-K, so this wasn’t a new concept to them.  They did have fun, however, predicting which materials would be attracted by our large magnet and which would not.  Science is a topic that really captures the attention of the young, so don’t be afraid to share some of your knowledge with them.  The more questions you evoke, the better it is.

Next Week we will follow up with yet another science topic, THE FIVE SENSES. 

Mark your calendar for Friday, March 12^th.  The PTA Spaghetti Dinner promises to be a fun evening with friends, good food and lots of goodies to bid on.  Come support your local PTA.  Anytime we can strengthen the ties between home and school the children benefit.  See you there!