Happy Halloween!

Ms. S. was unable to make it to school today.  Today's guest post comes to you from Ms. Valerie Frizzle, elementary teacher extraordinaire and driver/pilot of the Magic School Bus. 



You know, it's funny that as much as my friend Ms. S. loves Halloween, somehow she always manages to miss school on Halloween for some reason or another.  It's becoming a pattern.  So I wasn't surprised to get the call last night that she was looking for a substitute to cover her class. 

This presented a serious dilemma: what to wear?  Of course, I couldn't wear the same old thing I wore the last time I substituted for Ms. S.  Children remember these things . . . and they ask probing questions like, "Why do you always wear that same dress?"  That would never do.

Of course, it is also important to match the dress to the lesson.  I hear the children have been learning about the bones in the human skeleton and also that they have been making calaveras in preparation for El Dia de Los Muertos.  Fortunately, I have recently updated my wardrobe,



but as everyone knows, it's the accessories that make the outfit. 





Clackity, clack.  Don't talk back!

I always get some strange looks when I arrive at Ms. S's school.  Some look longer than is really polite, and then I see them giggling behind their hands--especially adults.  I think they just get a little over-excited by my fabulous fashion sense.















Seatbelts, everyone!  It's going to be an exciting day!

Of course, a visit from me is never without learning!  We began by reading The Skeleton Inside Me, and then we learned the names of the bones in the skeleton.

Then we played Skeleton Simon Says.

Simon says, "Touch your cranium."

Simon says, "Touch your radius and ulna."
(Simon didn't say, "Fracture your radius and ulna!")

Bus, do your stuff!











There's a Book for That!
The Skeleton Inside Me by Philip Balestrino
The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole
Bones by Seymour Simon
Bones by Steve Jenkins
Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler
The Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Skeleton (DK Eyewitness Books)
Calavera Abecedario by Jeanette Winter

One block, two blocks

red blocks, blue blocks

As usual, we began this lesson with a picture storybook: Mouse Paint.  As the mice dipped and danced into paint, we, too, mixed primary colors into secondary colors, discovering green, orange, and purple. 


On the shelf, the children have the opportunity to do the same, using acrylics to create their own color wheels.

Our Finished Work Files are growing fat with work--a sign of a productive classroom, but it's time to address the mess.  We need beautiful Take-Home Envelopes with which to shepherd home some of our work.  This year, we examined images of some of Piet Mondrian's work with primary colors.  Since then, we've been up to our elbows in acrylic paint. 



We began by coating manilla envelopes in black paint. 



Each child approaches this task in a different way.  Some start at one end and work toward the other.

Others start in the middle and then do the edges. 












After the black paint dried, the children arranged strips of masking tape to create quadrilaterals. 

Before applying the tape, we pressed each strip onto our clothing to prevent it from being so sticky that paint is removed when we pull off the tape.











Supplies Note:

Visits to four local stores, including Office Depot, Home Depot, Office Max, and Walgreens, yielded zero rolls of skinny masking tape.  Narrow-width masking tape can be purchased on-line.  Unless you can recruit a brave parent volunteer--as I did--to engage in somewhat questionable tape surgery, you may wish to order in advance.

Next, each block was filled with a palette of red, yellow, blue, or white.  It is always a treat to watch children’s art unfold--and to see how unique their artwork became, despite the constraints of using primary-colored rectangles on a grid of black lines.  Piet Mondrian similarly challenged himself as an artist, eliminating “non-essentials” and focusing his work on the “basic forms of beauty.” 

Some of our color blocks required repeated coats of paint in order to make them opaque, inviting lessons on opaque and translucent colors. 

It was great fun to watch the children peel the tape from their artwork to reveal the stark contrast between black lines and bold blocks of color!   




More of Piet Mondrian's work
Composition with Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and Gray (1921)
Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue







There's a Book for That!
Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Calaveras Count-Down

Look what's popping up along our classroom Art Gallery clothesline!
Calaveras in preparation for Dia de Los Muertos!

 

Materials on the shelf:

* cardboard skull template

* oil pastels

* scissors

* black construction paper

There's a Book for That!

Calavera Abecedario by Jeanette Winter

Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston

The Spirit of Tio Fernando by Janice Levy

Gift for Abuelita by Nancy Luenn

What's the Matter?

To begin our study of matter, we read What is the World Made Of? by Kathy Zoehfeld (author and paleontology volunteer).  This book could not be a more perfect introduction to the topic of matter.







We measured one-thousand milliliters (one liter) of water and added food coloring to help children see the water more clearly. 










Observing the food coloring prompted enthusiastic discussions about density and water movement.



We then poured the water into different shaped containers to observe the behavior of a liquid. 

These volume materials challenge some children's misperceptions related to conservation of volume.  It's always fun to hear the children's excited squeals as they hypothesize about whether the water will overflow one of the 1000ml containers.  The children observed that liquids take the shape of their container.  Liquids are flat across the top of their surface, and they form a puddle when spilled.  Liquids flow, and they move out of the way to allow your hand to pass through.

Next, we placed solid water (ice) onto a hot surface and observed as it melted (changing to liquid) and then boiled (changing to gas). 







Then, we placed ice in a container to observe water vapor (gas) condense and return to a liquid state as it hits the cold surface on the outside of the container. 

Water is easy to change from one state to another, but the children had wonderful ideas about some other things that can be melted: cheese, popsicles (mostly water), gold (to make jewelry or coins), butter, crayons, chapstick, and more. 




Finally, we played Matter Molecule Theater, observing as solid molecules (our child actors) jiggled very slightly, very close together,















liquid molecules slipped past one another,

and (our favorite) gas molecules bounced all over the place, spreading out to fill the room! 

Armed with our observations (and preconceptions) about matter, we brainstormed rules for classifying matter as solids or liquids.  Next, cooperative science groups investigated challenging substances--matter that is not so easily classified, including toothpaste, shaving cream (a colloid with a gas dispersed in a liquid), Gak (AKA slime or Flubber--a polymer made of Borax, glue, and water), and Oobleck (a non-Newtonian fluid made from cornstarch and water).  We observed that all of these substances have some properties of both solids and liquids. 

Oobleck can be rolled into a ball,
but it also drips, pours, and makes puddles.















Similarly, Gak can be rolled into a ball, but it eventually settles into a puddle or takes the shape of its container.




















Challenge: Look around at home to identify more challenging substances that are difficult to classify.


On the shelf:

Matter samples for children to classify as solid, liquid, or gas--and record in a bar graph.


















Liquid samples for the children to classify as viscous or fluid--and record in a bar graph.















Solid samples for the children to classify as rigid, plastic, or elastic--and record in a bar graph.








There's a Book for That!
What is the World Made Of? by Kathy Zoehfeld
Kids Discover Matter
Kids Discover 1: Solids & Liquids
Kids Discover Chemistry
Kids Discover Water
Kids Discover Atoms

Teacher Resources
Matter: Solids, Liquids, & Gases (GEMS guide)
Oobleck: What Do Scientists Do? (GEMS guide)

Dinos in Dump Trucks

We began this Force and Motion lesson by reading Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw.  The children identified examples of force as the sheep's jeep antics unfolded.  When the jeep crashed, resulting in "Jeep in a heap," the "sheep weep."  One of our second year students pointed out that the sheep's tears were pulled down by gravity.  Yes!

I explained to the children that while I wasn't able to find jeeps or sheep, I was able to find both dinos and dump trucks.  This invited a lesson in both rhyme and alliteration. 

Next, we discussed the upcoming lab (always best to do this before children have their hands on materials).  Experienced with experiments and accustomed to critical thinking, the children pointed out, "Some of our dump trucks are bigger than other groups'.  Those bigger dump trucks will roll farther because they have more mass."  They concluded that throughout the experiment, each group would need to use the same dump truck each time.  While the dump trucks I found at Arne's did not have beds that actually dumped, the dump trucks from Walgreens did indeed dump.  Another second-year child worried, "What if the back of our dump truck pops up while it's rolling?  That would change the results."  We decided that if this presented a problem, we use a piece of double-sided tape to prevent the truck bed from hopping up and down.

Finally, each cooperative science group sent their Materials Manager to obtain a dump truck, a ruler, a meter stick, a clipboard, and a stack of books from the supply area.  They used an inverted clipboard and a stack of books to construct a ramp 5 centimeters high.  The dump truck was placed at the top of the ramp, blocked by a ruler, and then allowed to roll down the ramp.  With this simple set-up, the children were able to experiment with a series of variables.

First, the children tested how floor surface affects the distance the truck rolls.  They used meter sticks to measure how far traveled after rolling down the ramp onto the tile floor (3 trials). 

They then compared their results with the distance traveled after rolling down the ramp onto carpet.  Our young scientists observed that with the same amount of force, the dump trucks traveled much farther on the tile floor, due to less friction. 

 

Floor surface	Trial 1 Distance (cm)	Trial 2 Distance (cm)	Trial 3 Distance (cm)	Average Distance (cm)
Tile
Carpet

Our young scientists observed that with the same amount of force, the dump trucks traveled much farther on the smooth tile floor than on the carpet, due to less friction.  The children were then challenged to apply this knowledge.  "If you were designing wheels for a truck to travel on ice, in what way(s) would you change the tires to make them safer on a slippery surface?"  "Is a truck able to travel faster on a smooth road or on grass?  Explain why."

Next, groups investigated how ramp height impacts the distance the dump truck rolls.  First, students constructed a ramp that was 5 centimeters high and allowed the dump truck to roll down the ramp three times, recording the distance the truck traveled each time (and calculating an average). 

The children then compared these results with results gathered when they performed three more trials raised with the ramp raised to 10 centimeters. 

 

	Ramp Height	Trial 1 Distance (cm)	Trial 2 Distance (cm)	Trial 3 Distance (cm)	Average Distance (cm)
Gentle slope	____  cm
Steep slope	____  cm

The children noticed that the trucks traveled much farther when they rolled down a steep ramp.  Why?

Finally, the children were ready to examine the affects of ramp height on the outcome for a dinosaur passenger.  When I explained this section of the lab, one of the children hypothesized, "Uh, oh!  Those dinosaurs are going to become extinct all over again!" 

The children worked together in their groups to construct a ramp that was 5 centimeters high and allowed the dump truck (with its dinosaur passenger) to roll down the ramp into a barrier three times, recording the distance the dinosaur traveled each time (and calculating an average). 

The children compared those results with results gathered when they raised the ramp to 10 centimeters and performed three more trials.  The children noticed that the dinosaur was thrown from the truck when it traveled down a steep ramp.  They applied what they learned to driving safety.  "Is it safe to ride in the back of a pickup truck?  Explain why or why not."  "Tell about a safety invention that helps protect passengers in vehicles.  Explain why it works."  "What could you do to help your dinosaur?" 

There's a Book for That!
Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw
Picture-Perfect Science Lessons: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry