Family Studies interns in various classrooms in the center have been working on a number of investigations with children. Below are some recent examples.

CLASSROOM: Infant Program
STUDENT: Brooke
PROJECT: I've been doing a transportation investigation with the infants that will continue throughout the rest of the semester. Through various activities our class has been learning about different forms of transportation such as cars and trucks, trains, boats and airplanes. In addition to the new transportation puzzles and books added to our class we've explored boats in the water table, cars on shaving cream and snow and even painted airplanes! You can see our airplanes hanging in the classroom! In the next few weeks we'll be doing fun activities such as transportation stamps, and painting our very own class train! Maybe your children will talk to you about what's new in their classroom and what they've done with boats, planes, trains and cars!

CLASSROOM:Toddler Room
STUDENT:Amanda
PROJECT: Amanda has stepped right into the Yoga Investigation so flawlessly that children have not skipped a beat. Throughout the semester, Amanda and Liz have been collaborating on the weekly plan for our Yoga experience. While Liz led our class, Amanda would help children position their bodies so that they would become more comfortable with the positions. During Liz's leave, Amanda has been leading our children as well as the children from Kindergarten through new motions as well as the positions that children are already comfortable with.

CLASSROOM: Preschool 2
PROJECT: With the recent hit movie “March of the Penguins” the children started pretending that they were penguins by sliding down the icy hill on their bellies. Questions and comments were brought up in the classroom about penguins and we decided to take a closer look.

From there, we studied the details of Emperor penguins, paying close attention to color, size, body shape, and parts. The children have created numerous representations of emperor penguins, including blueprints, mixing paints, clay sculptures, wooden sculptures, and most recently, our habitat mural.

We had a wonderful visit from a classroom parent, who traveled to Antarctica to study the climate. He brought in different instruments he used, pictures of the land, and clothing he had to wear to keep him warm while he was there. Parents have continued to support our investigation by bringing in various materials to share with our classroom, such as pictures and books. This has been greatly appreciated, as it is a valuable resource to the children’s learning process.

Along with all these different resources, the children still had questions about penguins, such as “What can we do to keep the penguins safe?” We wrote a letter to the Boston Aquarium sharing our knowledge about penguins and asking them questions we still had. We are anxiously waiting a response…