The Tugboats were so excited to welcome Ella’s mom, Melanie into the classroom as our parent teacher today!  Ella and Melanie came to school prepared to share a few of Ella’s favorites from home, including her book of yoga poses!  Since it was warmer than we expected today, we decided to do some yoga outside on the playground.  Each child took a turn selecting a pose from the book, and then Ella and Melanie would teach them how to make the selected pose with their bodies.  As we have learned with Teresa’s yoga sessions, many of the poses are named after animals or objects that are common to the children, so they are easy to identify.  Even still, many of the children have never tried to put their bodies into such shapes, so it’s always an adventure!

Once we returned to the classroom, Melanie and Ella had a science experiment for us using soda water, which we all call “Bubble Water,” and a few different types of food:  raisins, chocolate chips, split peas, and almonds.  The children took turns dropping the different foods into a glass of tap water or a glass of bubble water.  Each of the foods dropped to the bottom of both glasses once they were dropped, with the exception of the almonds, which floated in the bubble water.  In the bubble water, however, the raisins dropped to the bottom, then began dancing and floating!  The children also noticed that each of the food items had lots of bubbles all over them in the bubble water and wondered how that might feel on their hands, so they stuck their hands in to find out–it tickled!  While we didn’t get too deep into the details of water distribution, the experiment definitely got the children thinking about what other objects might sink or float in bubble water.  I think I see a sensory table activity in our new future…