Experiment: We can make paper!

21/04/2008 (Monday)

(i) At the classroom
After running, we came into the classroom. I was really glad that JS’s mother brought a box of leaves for today’s “Newspaper Recycling” project. She said that we could share among his friends. Thank you, JS’s mother! ZY brought a few flowers too……very beautiful indeed! As for myself, I picked some flowers from the ABC's Kindergarten for kids who do not have flowers at home.They gathered in front and we talked about "park". ZY and SY were able to define the meaning. I asked, "Why do we need to have a beautiful and clean park?" JS, ZYg, ZY, JN, SYu, YP answered; "To save the earth!" I asked them about things they could see in a park. JN said trees. So I drew big, medium-sized and a small tree. They giggled and asked why three different sizes. Well, trees have family too, don't they?...haaaa! I related to Botanic Park as some kids stayed nearby there. They can also find a pond with many fish. ZYg with his humorous sense saying crocodiles. Some kids laughed saying it would scare people away! LX said she saw a snake once in a park. Wow....so the kids knew that they had to be careful with snakes! Of course, kids and parents cycling or jogging or playing kites. Ooooppps...not forgetting the bright sun! However, the kids could a rainy day with rainbow if they chose not to have a sunny day!Next, I gave the kids paper to draw. For once in the class, they did not complain why I gave them half-sized of A4 paper. A number of them already started saying, "We must save the earth". I grinned.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist skills)

b) Drawing analysis
I went round to look at their work. Currently, XR needed some encouragement on how to start. Questions would guide her slowly to draw confidently. WY needed persistent encouragement to guide him so as not to be out of the topic. Then, I got the a few kids to talk about their pictures. The others would talk about them tomorrow as we needed more time for our experiment. SYu drew a pretty picture with different types of fruit trees. She even drew her whole family there. There was a pond with ducks and fish. JH drew a more confident picture. Hmmm....he insisted to have a crocodile. (Well, why not....after all crocodiles did escape to other places!) The cute crocodile was playing with two balls. Later, he drew himself playing with it. My praise also went to Le Xin. In fact; EG, ZY and JN also praised that she had improved. Fantastic! She used to only draw circles everywhere to represent different pictures. Today, she was able to draw a few trees with leaves and trunks.....wow! Also a sun in the sky. J drew a cute picture. The park had many trees, he was with his little brother and parents. There were fishes in the river with wind everywhere!
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist skills)

c) Experiment: Recycling Newspaper
Today, the kids felt like if they were Albert Einstein! They ate as fast as possible, helped me to arrange the tables, chairs and swept the floor quickly! I brought in the pail containing the paper mixture they tore last Friday. I asked them, "Why do I need to soak the paper overnight?" ZY recalling my previous lesson; so that they are soft and easily be made into recycled paper. I also introduced some other items. So they learnt some new vocabularies:i) net, ii) filter, iii) wood plank, iv) pail, v) blender, vi) chopsticks, vii) cloth. They gathered in a semi-circle. I was at a higher table and blender. I required them to observe as I stressed that electrical items should only be operated by adults for safety reasons. Of course, the paper mixture was smelly and black due to the ink and carbon. I scoop some and placed into the blender. The mixture couldn't mixed well and they were puzzled! I got SYu bringing some water. I poured into the blender and they seemed to understand. JN, "Teacher Jen, put more water." It took quite a while to blend it well. Next I poured them into the filter. I used the wood plank to press it hard. All the little hands volunteered to help me. So, each got a chance. We pressed until it was dry. Then, I overturned it and placed onto a cloth. The kids remarked,...."Wohhh, so nice!" Then, we took some glue and pasted some JS's leaves as well as ZY's beautiful flower petals. We thought of how to use the recycled paper. Then, we left the paper to dry. Hmm.....how would it turn out tomorrow?(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist skills)d) Analysing and modifying We realised that the recycled paper tend to fall apart. So we added some glue into our mixture in our 2nd blending process. Somehow, the paper looked better. I reminded the kids to try coming early tomorrow so that we can each make a sheet of recycled paper! I also reminded them that tomorrow is "The Earth's Day". Each of us would plant a tree tomorrow. So, I told them to bring a container or a plastic bottle to place the seeds tomorrow. If they can't find one, it would be okay. We can recycle some of the school's containers.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist skills)