my food site is weber_cam

March 21, 2009

What's up in kindergarten?

Science activities.

slime

I'm on week 3 of the demos and activities for the kiddies. The first week was interesting. The dancing orzo was a hit. Kids had fun and so did I. Soaking wet shirt and tie and all.

My only teaching experience prior to the K's was teaching organic lab to a bunch of tired college sophomores at Purdue at 7:30 in the morning. They were great kids, but tired. I was nervous before teaching them too; I even walked into the ladies room prior to my first pre-lab lecture. But, I wasn't nearly as anxious as with the K's. Kindergarteners probe each and every pore of your being and exclaim vigorously any detail they find noteworthy.

"Frankie's Dad, why are you sweating?", "Frankie's Dad, where's your hair?", "Why is your nose so big?", etc. The college sophomores are too tired and actually more self-absorbed than the 5 year olds.

The next acitivity was a demo, the electrocution of tons of pickles to demonstrate properties of NaCl in an aqueous system. They liked it. I liked it more. This past Thursday was really fun. It was the always popular slime activity; mine happens to be worked out especially well so it can be done for a large group (it's here in case you're interested). I've done this with Frankie's class since daycare. This past Thursday was especially fun. The principal visited and participated, the teacher participated, the assistant teacher even joined in. Every single kid focused their boundless wiggly energy into this gooey polymeric preparation; they squealed with delight. They may even have learned something.

The only problem is what to do next?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi - Is there an easy way to make chalk or crayons?

Dave said...

Crayons are tough, chalk, maybe. Good thought. To Youtube to search, definitely good ideas.

endangered coffee said...

I didn't know the pickle death penalty was legal in OH

Dave said...

Hey EC, Just saw you were posting again. Yay.

Yup, pickle deaths galore. It was a blast. I wish these little guys were always this easy to please.