We continued with our theme of Heroes of the Environment today by learning all about Aadya Joshi, a teen from Mumbai who spread awareness about using native plants to create a biodiversity-rich ecosystem in our cities. We explored plant biodiversity in our park by making close observations of different leaves and the texture of different trees' bark. Our animal guest, the ring-neck dove, helped us investigate how plant biodiversity impacts wildlife!
We had a turtle-y awesome time learning about sea turtles today! We started off with learning the sea turtle life cycle and sequencing the order of events in their life cycle from hatchling to adult. Our animal guest was the Painted Turtle which is a freshwater cousin of the sea turtle. Observing them helped us better understand how sea turtles live. We loved making our own sea turtle nests out of kinetic sand. It's so much fun to squish and play with!
What an egg-citing day we had learning about our feathered friends today! We investigated the forces of flight and made our own paper airplanes to see how high and how far they could fly. Mr. Jacob showed us some awesome beak and tallon models and we learned what and how birds use those parts of their bodies. Our animal guest was a ring-neck dove - did you know doves are some of the fastest flyers in the animal kingdom? It's true! Many dove species can reach horizontal speeds upwards of 50 mph!
We're diving into week 3 of Kindergarten Kids with some sea exploration! The ocean is filled with fish, but what makes them unique? We learned all about fish characteristics. During craft time, we created our own underwater fish scene and used glitter for the shimmery scales! While outside, we got to play a game of 'Sharks and Meadows'. It was so much fun! We 'fish' you could have been there!
Week 3 kicked off with our Heroes of the Environment Theme! Today we learned about Katie Stagliano, a nine year old who grew a 40 pound cabbage and helped to feed 274 people. Wowza! She is now the founder of Katie’s Krops, a nonprofit organization with the mission to establish vegetable gardens of all sizes with the harvests donated to help feed people in need. Our animal visitor for the day got to snack on some fresh cabbage as well - he thought it was delicious! We can't wait for day 2!
Have you met Boon? He is a Quaker Parrot that lives at APEC and he is very popular. Boon also has distant relatives that live all over Queens! You read that right, Quaker Parrots are not only surviving, but thriving in NYC. Today we learned all about these amazing birds and we made some special gifts for Boon. We made him toys! Parrots love toys and they are a great enrichment activity if you hide some food in their toys. Check out what our young scientists created! Would you like to see Boon playing with his new toys? Be sure to follow us on social media for when we post Boon enjoying his gifts!
Summertime is the perfect time to learn about fish! Today we had some hands-on fun with a STEM experiment that helps us better understand how fish breathe. They use a part of their body called gills to breathe underwater! We took some time to go fishing as well - it was trickier than it looked! Our ocean food chain game was one of our favorite activities. This week sure ended in a splash!
Amphibians are fascinating critter and luckily we have a few that call APEC home. Did you know their body changes shape as they get older? That life cycle is called metamorphosis! We made our own metamorphosis timelines starting with eggs, then tadpoles, froglets, and finally frogs! Pretending to be tadpoles and frogs was so much fun! Our animal guest today was the Tiger Salamander! They're amphibians and go through a life cycle called metamorphosis, just like frogs!
Hoppy Thursday everyone! Summer Science kids continued their focus on urban wildlife by learning about rabbits. Cottontail rabbits are the native rabbit found in NY parks. Have you seen any on the trails? Kids got a chance to compare the pelts of native wild rabbits to the fur coloration of domestic rabbits we have at APEC. We built rabbit launchers (only toy rabbits were launched) and we practiced jumping and twisting like rabbits on our trampoline! We wrapped things up by taking some time to brush our rabbits and give them some TLC!
Did you know that Monarch butterflies migrate over 3,000 miles each year? It's true! Several generations will migrate to Mexico where they overwinter. Lucky for us, monarchs can be found in NYC during the summer months. Female butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves of the milkweed plant and we got to examine a live milkweed plant and dissect a seed pod! We even played a migration game and learned about some of the challenges migrating butterflies face. Our special animal guest for today was an insect that looks quite different from a butterfly. It was a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach! Bonus fun fact- did you know butterflies taste using their feet?! Don't try that at dinner tonight!
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