G is for Glass and that rhymes with Grass

Yesterday for preschool we talked about the letter G. I wanted the focus to be on science and so we did some chemistry and biology. Specifically, we learned about how Glass is made and we learned about Grass.

Glass
I showed them this video:

I wondered if they'd be able to follow it but with some running commentary/explanation by me they were and seemed to think it was fascinating!

Then we made glass for ourselves (with a few substitutions).

Sand - Sugar
Soda Ash - Water (lowers the melting temperature)
Lime - Corn Syrup (stabilizes and makes less soluble)
2400 degrees - 350 degrees
8 hours - 20 minutes

Yup, we made suckers. It was a great parallel to glass making and the kids watched with great interest and enthusiasm.

See how it balls up just like the real glass?

They each got to take home a "glass" sucker and they were pretty excited.

Yesterday was our last day of summer weather (I know, we've been spoiled) so I wanted to get the kids outside as much as possible before today's fall-like rain began. So, we also learned about Grass.

We planted and watered grass seeds and talked about the life cycle of grass. I had a puzzle for each of them to correctly assemble the life cycle from seed to grass blades. 

We went outside and used our magnifying glass to look at the grass and all that was in it: bugs, dirt, etc. Then they drew pictures in their notebooks.