News

Published Author Visits Kindergarten Classroom

Have you ever looked in a mirror and felt your reflection looks a little different than you would have imagined? 

If so, you are not alone! In Mirror Friends: Find the Magic Within, a world created by three time author Lee Heyward (illustrated by Marty Peterson), that means you may be seeing the winning attributes of a lion, a zebra, or even an ant!

Heyward takes her readers through the journey of self traits, to see that inside each of them they have bravery like a lion, and magic like a unicorn, creativity like a zebra, playfulness like a puppy, intelligence like an owl, and a whole lot more.

“I thought this was a wonderful idea to bring in the author and build a stronger connection to a book,” said kindergarten teacher Kari Silvester. “This exposure helped our students learn more about the process of writing a book and they loved the activities we did afterwards. They allowed them to be creative thinkers and reflect on their own lives through the story. It also allowed them to illustrate their own part of the story.”

The students listened attentively as Heyward posed questions as they read, and then answered students' questions afterwards. Curious minds wanted to know, “Was it hard to write the book?” (not hard, but ending rhyme words can be tricky!) and “How long did it take?” (the writing part, not that long, the editing and publishing took a bit longer!)

“That was a really special treat for me,” said Heyward. “It was so neat to hear the kids' reactions and their sweet questions.”

PCA thanks Mrs. Heyward for coming to read and talk to our kindergarten classes and giving us a chance to think, and to remember, “Everything you need comes from right inside of you!”

Polar Bear Winter Science Experiments!

The past few weeks in kindergarten we have been learning all about arctic animals, their habitats, and what they need to survive and grow. Last week our curious Kinders wanted to know how polar bears stay warm with the freezing temperatures, icy water, and relentless wind in the Arctic. We learned in one of our non-fiction books about how polar bears have thick fur and a thick layer of fat to keep them warm. What better way is there to learn than to fully immerse ourselves in the lesson? Our kindergarteners got to see how the blubber, or fat, on a polar bear really does keep them warm. We made a blubber glove for the children to feel the difference of what the freezing water feels like to us and to the polar bears. The kids loved this experiment and loved discussing how amazing it is that God created polar bears to have a thick layer of blubber because he knew they would need it to survive in their habitat.

Introducing our kindergartners to the scientific method has been so much fun, especially when we used gummy bears to grow our very own polar bears in the classroom. The students were asked, “What will happen when we put a gummy bear in these four different solutions: water, salt water, baking soda, and white vinegar?” They were very creative when making their hypothesis of what would happen to the “polar bears” in each of the solutions. We labeled each cup with the different solutions and placed one gummy bear in each cup. The kids thought it was so neat that they immediately started to see bubbles surrounding some of the bears. Patience was a big part of this science experiment because we had to wait overnight to see what would happen.

Excitement filled the kindergarten classrooms the following morning when they saw what happened to their polar bears! We learned that the gummy bear that soaked in water grew to be the biggest, the salt water shrunk the gummy bear, and white vinegar dissolved the gummy bear to where it lost its form, or even completely dissolved. 

These little scientists' eyes lit up with wonder and excitement at every turn of our science experiments last week!