The winter spirit is still in the air and we have gone on two recent snowy adventures to the Glen Eden playground. We had to travel through some deep snow to get there, oh so worth the post holing session. 

Friday is always a fun day to do science experiments. Today we explored what happens to food when it drops into our stomach. To recreate this event visibly, we created a stomach acid demonstration with water, food coloring, and Alkazeltzer. The take away message was understanding that food gets broken down and dissolved in our stomach acid fluids, to eventually be absorbed as nutrients and energy, or discharged as waste.

Some of the Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines targeted include: 

• Receptive English Language: The ability to comprehend or understand the English language. 
• Scientific Skills and Method: The skills to observe and collect information and use it to ask questions, predict, explain, and draw conclusions. 
• Cooperation: an interest and engagement in group experiences. 

Our parents are top notch community members and volunteer their time to share their knowledge about all kinds of fields. This week we were fortunate enough to have Jean come teach us some of the procedures done by a nurse when doing a health check up. We all got to be patients and learn about our own health. Now we have an array of new possibilities to explore based on our new knowledge about check ups in our community room Doctor's Office.

Some of the Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines targeted include:

• Social Relationships: The healthy relationships and interactions with adults and peers. 
• Persistence and Attentiveness: The ability to begin and finish activities with persistence and attention. 

Thank you Louise for coming to teach us about horse anatomy! We are so fortunate at NRP to have such involved parents and community members.The kids where ecstatic to be able to handle a freeze dried horse leg that was dissected through the middle in order to see the inside of the leg. 
Some of the Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines targeted during this special guest visit include:  

• Self-Regulation: The ability to recognize and regulate emotions, attention, impulses, and behavior. 
• Persistence and Attentiveness: The ability to begin and finish activities with persistence and attention. 

After staining our shells throughout the week, we decided it was time to test the theory of baking soda paste as being a proper way to remove stains from teeth-like surfaces. The backing soda paste was very abrasive and partially successful at removing stains from some of the shells. The colors that cleaned up the best where yellow and green. Red, blue, and purple remained stained for the most part. We decided it would be a good idea to avoid processed foods with those particular added colors.
​Some of the Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines targeted during this activity include:  

• Physical Health Status: The maintenance of healthy and age-appropriate physical well-being.
• Scientific Skills and Method: The skills to observe and collect information and use it to ask questions, predict, explain, and draw conclusions, 

 

Today we had a very special guest come visit our classroom to reinforce our Healthy Habits investigation. Jess Lepage has volunteered her time before to share with us knowledge about her field of expertise. Today, she came to share about healthy habits specific to nutrition. The foods she focused on due to their special benefits to our body included: broccoli, carrots, apples, bananas, meat and milk. In the pictures bellow you can read more about the benefits of these foods to our overall health. Thanks Jess! 

Some of the Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines targeted during this special guest visit include: 

• Health Knowledge and Practice: The understanding of healthy and safe habits and practicing healthy habits. 
• Self-Regulation: The ability to recognize and regulate emotions, attention, impulses, and behavior. 
• Persistence and Attentiveness: The ability to begin and finish activities with persistence and attention.