S is for Science

Today during shared reading, I read an Aesop Fable- The Crow and The Pitcher. This particular story is in a read aloud book and it doesn't have pictures. Today I remembered that you shouldn't assume that kindy kids have any idea what what you are talking about! I started out by asking the class what a crow was.. that was fine everyone seemed to understand that it was a black bird. Then I asked what a pitcher was.... -crickets- then someone piped in and said you decorate your house with it.. I asked what else do you use it for? She replied you hang it on the wall. So, of course I explained that picture and pitcher are different words but sometimes we get lazy when we are talking and they sound the same. Then one of my boys said a pitcher is the person who throws the ball to the catcher. So, then we talked about how words can have different meanings. I asked the class what they poured juice from at home? They replied a jug. So, I got on google and showed the class images of pitchers. They all smiled in recollection and nodded that they knew what pitchers were. So, I asked the class what they called them at home? And, of course, they said pitchers! ..... On to the fable... This is a very good lesson about a crow who is desperate for water and devises a plan to get to the water at the bottom of a pitcher, even though his beak is too big. He tries a few things and eventually devises a plan to drop pebbles (we stopped here to look at pebbles-- just to make sure!) into the pitcher to make the water rise. Since this book has no pictures I imagined it was difficult for my kids to understand exactly what was happening. I grabbed a clear plastic up and marbles and we conducted a little experiment- right in the middle of shared reading! :). The kids were very impressed with my water trick and many exclaimed they were going to try this at home. I told them the easiest way to do the experiment was to take a bath.. I told my class to try it out tonight and report back what they discovered. I love kindergarten.