For the past several years we have done a science unit on wood and paper in Kindergarten. We start by reading about trees and looking at a slice from a tree to see the rings. We learn about properties of wood and look at several different samples. We even make our own plywood, particle board and recycled paper.
In the spring we do a unit on fabrics, and always start it off with a presentation by a local woman who raises sheep and goats for their wool, cleans, dyes and spins the wool into yarn. The children get to feel the wool and help card and spin it. It's one of my favorite days.
So yesterday, two of my students are having a heated arguement and I walk over to see what its about.
Me: "Hey guys, what seems to be the problem?"
Lee: "I said wool comes from trees, and Jay says it doesn't."
Jay: "But paper comes from trees. Not wool."
(Now you have to understand that Lee has a few speech delays and sometimes several words can sound the same, including wool/wood and sheep/trees. S sounds seem to creep in for most any sound)
So we spent just a few minutes reviewing some of out previous lessons. "Yes, paper comes from trees, because paper is made from little pieces of wood and wood comes from trees. Wool sounds a lot like wood (I even wrote both words on the board to show them that only the last letter was different) and wooL is what we get from sheep."
Both seemed to be satisfied that they had been correct and went off to play together.
Ironically, our Weekly Reader for the day was about Terrific Trees, so everyone got a refresher on trees and their products. What great timing!
Wooden sheep :-) ......I love Kindergarten!
