For the month of November our science focus has been how things change from hot and cold temperatures. So far we have discovered that some of these changes can be reversed and some can not be reversed. We discussed matter and how to determine whether something is a liquid, a solid, or a gas. We began the discussion with a focus on water. When water is put in a cold environment, or a freezing temperature, it changes from its liquid state into a solid state, also known as ice. We talked about how once the ice (the solid) melts, it can be turned back into a liquid (water) if it is heated. When talking about heating water, we also talked about boiling water on a stove and how it creates steam, or in this situation vapor and gas. After the students had made some inferences about water and its changing states, we looked at Jello. We started with just a powdered package of Jello (solid). When we added the water to prepare the Jello for eating, it became a liquid. The liquid was cooled in the refrigerator and became.... a solid? still a liquid? There was some debate in the class about whether it really became a solid or not. Here are the final class results as far as what state Jello is in after it has been prepared.
Most considered it to be a solid because it was something you could hold in your hand and it wasn't something you would "drink." A few others thought it was a liquid because if you did try to pick it up (please note, these were not Jello Jigglers, just regular Jello) the Jello fell through your fingers and seemed to change shape based on the container it was in. One other piece with the Jello was that the class had the opportunity to eat it. I did not have any forks in the classroom, but I did have plastic straws. So, the students "ate" their Jello through a straw. After we started using the straws to slurp up our Jello, there were more students who thought Jello once it is prepared could be considered a liquid. Here is the class enjoying their Jello. (It was not anybody's birthday, but those were the plates I happened to have in my cupboards.)
Slurp!
Our experiment with ice
This week we also had our first "official" rainy day recess. The students seemed to enjoy the activities we had going on in the classroom.
magnets
Snapo Blocks Computers
On Monday, I also had the privilege of eating with Ashlee and Jessica in the classroom since they spent some Class Dojo Points to have lunch with the teacher.
Today's STEM project had a focus on engineering and we used the large amount of Legos that are in the classroom. The students worked with a partner and each person was given a set of pictures of similar items that had some major differences. For example, one of the pictures was of a phone where one partner had a picture of an iPhone and the other had a picture of a rotary phone. The partners had to collaborate and compromise on the design for their item that they were going to create. The idea here was that students were considering the "other perspective" while trying to maintain the basic idea of the object. The designs today were a house (pictures were a very small house and a very large house), a clock (pictures were a cuckoo clock and a digital alarm clock), and a dog (pictures were a German Shepard and a Dachshund). The students compromised very well with these three items and creating them out of Legos this afternoon.
houses
more houses
all the houses
clocks
dogs
dogs
more dogs 
this clock featured a mouse that ran up the clock
Here are some pictures of the students collaborating and working their engineering magic!
Searching for the "perfect" Lego piece
We had a great week in class! Next week the class and I are looking forward to going on our field trip to the Kelseyville Firehouse and our Grandparent/Special Person Event!
No comments:
Post a Comment