R is for Rain- January 12-16

This week we explored rain with a hands on experiment. Did you know its a common myth that clouds get full/ heavy from rain and that’s why they must release it into the atmosphere? So what actually happens! Clouds are made of tiny water drops, and when the drops stick together and get big, they fall as rain! To make this a memorable teaching moment, we did a demonstration using a larget mason jar, shaving cream, and food dye. At first, the shaving cream acts as a cloud, holding tiny drops of blue dye. When we add more drops, they bump together and get bigger. When the drops get big enough, they fall through the shaving cream (cloud) like rain. The children loved this experiment and it was fun to watch the blue dye gently swirl through the water like a downpour of rain. After we finished the demo, we also added additional colors of food dye to our jar, to look like a rainbow. We read the book Raindrops to Rainbow, practiced our R sounds, and sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Students made a fun, simple craft using cotton balls and finger paint to signify clouds and rain. Wednesday students also observed the sun casting a rainbow through their jar experiment. Friday students engaged in safe stick play, encouraging imagination and helping develop self control. Students also enjoyed riding the barrel train all week long!