Paint your palette

blue and grey

Our finished work files are starting to look messy, which is a signal that fall has finally arrived and we need to sort and select work for our portfolios.  First, though, we need beautiful Take Home Envelopes in which to send home the giant piles of finished work. 

We began by coating manila envelopes in black acrylic paint.

Since we've been studying the solar system, I decided a little star-studded inspiration was in order. We studied The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.  We examined the tints and shades Van Gogh chose to use in his painting, and the children practiced mixing tints and shades during the morning work period. 

We also discussed foreground and background.  The children used q-tips to create starry night backgrounds.

Because I didn't want twenty-two Starry Night look-alikes, I told the children to design their own foregrounds that would go with a starry night background.

I don't know why I'm always surprised by the deep concentration and peace that art brings to children, but it never ceases to amaze me.  Some of my wiggliest, most unfocused little people were completely absorbed by this project--more beautiful than any work of art!

The results are phenomenal--and every one different!

Will it float?

This is my Fall Festival tradition. 
Even our parent volunteers enjoyed it this year! 











We fill a plastic tub with water and gather an interesting selection of items that may or may not float: shoes, a candle, a can of diet soda, a can of regular soda, a sack of flour, a bottle of nail polish, playdough, a giant piece of pumice, a tiny pumpkin, a giant can of Crisco, and--a Fall Festival favorite!--a giant pumpkin.  As a group gathers, each child exchanges a ticket for a guess (a popsicle stick labeled "sink" or "float").  Then we try it out.  Will it float?  The results are sometimes surprising . . .

Cheap Thrills

Balloons were on sale at Target.  The vinegar was left in the cabinet by a previous teacher. 

So cheap . . . and sooooo exciting.

Lots of learning, too. 

In preparation, we started with a lesson on conservation of volume. 

"If I pour the liquid from this graduated cylinder into this container, what do you think will happen?  Will it fit?" 

Chants of "Do it!  Do it!"  "It's going to overflow!"   

Nope.  Our brains sometimes fool us into thinking short, squatty containers will hold less than taller, narrow ones, but scientists pay attention to what they observe with their senses.  Every container pictured held 1000 milliliters (one liter) of liquid.

After a short lesson on how to get down at eye level with the liquid and measure at the center of the meniscus, Cooperative Investigation Teams were ready to begin.

Great opportunities for measuring volume

(170 milliliters of vinegar)

  

and mass (15 grams of baking soda).

This is also a great way to experiment with matter--combining a solid (sodium bicarbonate) with a liquid (vinegar) to create a gas (carbon dioxide)! 

Just look at those bubbles go!

Yep.  Matter takes up space . . . even when it's invisible, like this carbon dioxide gas.

What you can't see in these photos (darn my slow trigger finger!) is that there was a slit in one of the balloons, and baking soda/vinegar solution sprayed out in a super-exciting fine point stream. Crazy, jump-around-and-scream fun. (Seriously: First graders so excited they're running around, screaming . . . ah, first graders . . . so many first graders).

Please do try this at home!

What We're Reading:

What is the World Made Of? All About Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Kathleen Zoehfeld (a paleontology friend!)

Kids Discover: Matter

Kids Discover 1: Solids and Liquids

Kids Discover 1: Changes

"Scientists don't wear hats"

It's important to bring a little drama into the classroom every now and then.  This week, I filled a bucket with water.  I grabbed the rope attached to the handle and asked the children to predict what would happen if I swung it up over my head. 

Incredulous squealy giggles.  "You're going to get wet!"  "Are you really going to do it?" they asked, as many began to back away from my bucket o' water.

Oh yes, my little ones, I really am. 

And you can too!  The children decided it would be best if they tried it outside.  I heartily agreed. 

 

Each member of each Cooperative Investigation Team had a chance to try swinging the cup of water around and around. 

Unlike one child's speculation that I had somehow "glued" the water into the bucket, the reason the water doesn't fall out has to do with inertia--the tendency of an object that is already moving to keep moving in a straight path.  If you're old enough to have ridden the Looping Starship at Astroworld (or any other roller coaster that loops you around upside down), then you know that if it's going fast enough, you don't really need the lap bar to keep you in the car.  While you're upside down, you actually get pressed up into the back of your seat.  The children observed that as they swung them, the cups were pulling away, always trying to fly off in a straight path.  The water in the cup is doing the same thing--trying to fly off in a straight path.  As a result, the water gets pressed up into the bottom of the cup, rather than falling down as anyone who has experience with gravity might predict.  What keeps the cup and the water traveling in a circular path is the constant pull on the string.  Application: How does this model the planets' path around the sun? 

The last person in each group was invited to swing the cup and then try letting go to see what would happen without a constant pull on the string.

Notice where one of the cups ended up . . .

Before we left the classroom for all this science fun, we had a discussion about how we were going to put on our scientist hats.  I explained that I didn't want to see them getting out their recess hats and acting wild and crazy, just because they were outside.  (Sometimes children become confused and equate being outside with being at recess.)  “Scientists don’t wear hats,” piped up one little person. “They have white coats, but they don’t wear hats.”

“Oh but I beg to differ! Dr. Bakker wears a crazy cowboy hat, and he’s got a jeans jacket but I've never seen a white coat.” 

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by the Museum of Natural Science for Dino Days on Saturday, November 6 and see for yourself.  I bet he'll be wearing his hat!

Sometimes, science is about dispelling misconceptions.

Happy October!

Look what's popping up on our clothesline Art Gallery!

Clue #6: Go climb a tree

Our guide appeared in the branches of this two-thousand-year-old Baobab tree . . . and then challenged us to climb it, too. 

"It's easy!" he said.  "There's a little ladder in the back."  Sure there is . . . 

I volunteered to try anyway.  Anything for The Children, right?

Sometimes called "upside down tree" because its canopy looks like roots, this giant succulent stores water in its trunk to help it survive long periods without rain.  During the dry season, many trees endure damage as certain very large mammals scrape off bark to eat.  Fortunately for the Baobab, it has the remarkable ability to heal itself with a new layer of bark and continue growing.

 

People weave the Baobab's fibers into baskets like the tan and black one behind Fluffy in this photo. 

Previous Clues:

Clue #1: Brrrr
Clue #2: Tea Time
Clue #3: Let's make tracks!
Clue #4: No Bones About It
Clue #5: Edible entomology?

Thank you to Fund for Teachers for the generous grant funding that made this journey possible!

She blinded me with science!

Luckily, we've got eye protection for that!

I love to hear, "This is fun!," spoken with breathy amazement, while children are learning.  In Lower Elementary, it happens most often with science.  This is the age when children are captivated by so many "Why?" questions.  Science helps them learn methods for investigating those great questions!

Here's a taste of some of the science that's been happening in Room 15.
This Jello box experiment helps children think about the relationship between force and mass.  It's also great for introducing variables.

First, children use a balance to find the mass of an empty Jello box and an identical (same flavor and everything) full Jello box.  Not only do scientists observe.  They measure.

 


Next, the children assemble a ramp with books and a ruler (with a groove that works quite nicely to keep the ball on track). 









A golf ball is released to roll down the ramp and hit a box, and then the children measure how far the box was pushed.  They perform at least three trials with the empty box and then the full box. 

This year, we took our discussion of variables a step further and considered how we might alter the original experiment by changing the variable.  The children had great suggestions: try two different balls (a ping-pong ball & the golf ball), change the height of the ramp, or change the surface on which we do the experiment.  Since we'd been talking about friction, we decided to see how far a box would slide on a smooth surface compared to a bumpy surface.

Children are usually convinced that a heavy object falls faster than its lighter counterpart.  Prior to the next experiment, many children hypothesize (based on prior knowledge, no doubt) that a crumpled paper will fall faster than a flat piece of paper.  They conclude that this is because the crumpled paper has more mass than the flat paper.  Hmm.  Not necessarily so. 

It's fun to experiment with misconceptions:
Two identical pieces of paper.
(Many children need measurement proof that, although we crumpled one paper, the two papers still have the same mass.  I always ask, "Does your mass change when you ball yourself up?")

Same size, same shape, same mass.

One crumpled.  One flat. 

Will they fall at the same rate?

Hmm.  What mysterious force is slowing down the flat paper?

"Does the air have friction?" asked one inquisitive first grader as he pondered during dismissal that day.

Science materials can be simple.  With only a few ingredients, this fun experiment pushes young minds to combine what we've learned about force and matter:

* balloons

* 10-foot pieces of yarn

* straws (free, if you follow the example of my favorite Mistress of Procurement)

* metric measuring tapes

* masking tape

* classroom chairs

Thread the yarn through the straw and tape each yarn end to a chair.

Inflate the balloon near its capacity and use tape to attach it to the straw. 

Let go and observe!  

Measure and record how far the balloon traveled.

Next, inflate the balloon to a very small circumference.  Re-attach it to the straw. 

Again, observe!  Measure and record how far the balloon traveled. 

Finally, inflate the balloon and find a safe place to let it go without the string/straw apparatus to guide it.  Observe what happens.

Just look at those faces!  Engaged learners, to be sure!

What We're Reading:

Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley