Edible Layers! YUM!

I so badly wanted to come up the perfect, most fun assignment/activity for learning the layers of Earth, and I came up with...nada.  Yes, I could spend a LOT of money on clay or other building material and have the kids build a model.  And building something out of food is fun, but again, with about 100 students, it isn't realistic.  So, I decided this would be a GREAT extra credit assignment and would give us an excuse to eat.  Everyone loves to eat, right?  The requirements for the extra credit assignment were as follows:

• Must be edible and made entirely of food (no added glue, tape, etc.)
• Must show at least the three main layers of Earth
• Must be completed at home.

Students who completed the assignment would receive 10 points on their lowest grade!

Here are some of the results.

*Note:  I made a HUGE mistake with the above cupcakes.  When another teacher sent them over, I thought he said the name of a girl in my second block.  So, we talked about them and ATE THEM in second block.  Imagine my surprise when a girl in my fourth block asked for HER CUPCAKES!!!!  I am STILL trying to think of how in the WORLD to pay her back for GIVING HER CUPCAKES AWAY!  (I gave her two free snacks, extra extra credit, and a glue stick.  I will keep working on that one.)

On a side note, I did find a great foldable at http://mjksciteachingideas.com/pdf/EarthFoldable.pdf to go along with learning about layers.

Solubility

I have been lab crazy.  I just can't think of any way to better teach concepts like density and solubility than through labs (with lots of discussion, of course).  So, after the M & M labs, we tried to see if different substances had difference rates of solubility.  Students had flour, salt, and sugar.  (I tried to find MSG, but I did not have time to make it to an Asian market and none could be found at our grocery stores.)  Students measured water for each container and used equal amounts of each substance, stirring for 20 seconds to see which dissolved first.  They continued stirring in increments of 20 seconds until all three substances dissolved.

More Yummies

I'm off task again.  I wanted something sweet, so I used our ice cream lab (and my son) as an excuse to make some for dessert.  We didn't even have vanilla, but the vanilla soy milk made some YUMMY stuff!  Here is BigLittle when he started shaking his mixture.

Isn't he a cutie?  (I did the rest of the shaking, of course.)
Here he is eating his yummy ice cream (not a up-the-nose-shot)!  It only took about 3 minutes!

And...here is MY yummy ice cream!

(See my Ice Cream Lab post for the recipe/directions!  It's SO easy!)

Junior Scientists

I have been SO thrilled with the results of my Junior Scientist assignments! You can find the details of it here.

Two of the Scientists were absent today, but the other two did a fantastic job!

This beautiful young lady made a lava lamp (testing different amounts of Alka Seltzer in oil and water--SO COOL!).

This young scientist tested different amounts of vinegar in baking soda (amounts being constant), shook the bottles, and measured the "explosion" by the amount of damage done to the bottle.  No, this isn't the most scientific way to measure, but he completed the Scientific Method in the journal, and his enthusiasm for his experiment was priceless.  (Plus, these kids are always asking if we can "blow something up," and he did.)

I was a little cautious, so ALL kids wore goggles when we went outside to watch the presentation.

After "explosion #1", I decided we might move away from windows and buses...

Assessing the damage...

Here are the three bottles...

And here are some of the amazing scientists from weeks past.

I Scream! You scream! We all scream for...

They talked me into it.  The last time I did the "Ice Cream Lab," I regretted it by the end of first block.  Well, maybe the beginning.  This year, it wasn't so bad.

We have been learning about freezing point and how salt lowers the freezing point of water, at the same time making the ice colder.  Students connected this with making homemade ice cream, and I opened my BIG MOUTH and mentioned that they didn't need an ice cream maker.  "You can just make it in bags at home.  It's really easy, and it tastes SO GOOD!"  How can you say no after that?  I did assure them that this would be a lab, not just an "activity."

I gave them a lab sheet that looks like this:

Ice Cream LAB

Name _____________________________

Purpose:  To see if salt will lower the temperature of ice enough to freeze the milk solution into ice cream.

Hypothesis:  If I ____________________, then ________________________.

Procedure:

1. Pour 1 cup of milk into a ziploc bag.
2. Pour 2 tsp (or more to taste) in the same bag.
3. Pour a dropper of vanilla into the same bag.
4. Seal the bag after removing all of the air.
5. Write your name on a gallon size freezer bag.
6. Pour one scoop (about 2 cups) of ice into the large bag.
7. Pour two hands full of rock salt onto the ice into the large bag.
8. Place the small bag into the large bag, making sure it is covered with the ice and salt.
9. Wrap the bag in a towel.  
10. SHAKE!  SHAKE!  SHAKE! (Continue shaking for about 5 minutes, or until mixture is a solid.)
11. Cut the corner of the small bag and pour ice cream into a cup or bowl. 

Conclusion:

(Yes, the materials would have cost a small fortune so students very kindly brought in all of the supplies.)

Making ice cream requires a lot of shaking...

...and a lot of mixing.

Overall, it was great, the kids had fun, and I think they understood why we were making the ice cream.
I asked them at least 100 times.

(I also did this at home with my 5-yr-old.  He LOVED it and now thinks I make the "best ice cream in the world.")

M & M's!

Ah, so many lab choices with solubility.  So many things one can do...

I stumbled upon this GREAT website: http://www.inquiryinaction.org/classroomactivities/topic.php?topic=Solubility

DAY 1:  So, we started out by finding out if temperature makes a difference in the rate that an M & M's colored coating dissolves in water.  Students designed their tests, and most of them chose to test the SAME colored M & M (controlled variable) and the SAME amount of water (controlled variable).  They filled one container with hot water and one with cold.

Here is a picture of one group's containers:

It's not hard to see that very little of the colored coating is left in the hot water, and more is visible in the cold water.

This lab led to a discussion about what students already know about molecules and how they move when hot vs. cold.  Students quickly understood why the hot water would dissolve the M & M colored coating faster.

DAY 2:  Next, students had to see if a solution of sugar would make a difference in the rate that the colored coating of the M & M's dissolved.  The controlled variable were the color of the M & M's, amount of water, and the temperature of the water.

Put the M & M's in...

It doesn't take long to see the color on the bottom of the bowls.

You might not be able to tell in the picture, but the bottom of the "no sugar" bowl is covered lightly in green, the "1tsp sugar" bowls is green around the outside, and the "3 tsp sugar" bowl is green in a crescent shape.  Therefore, the "no sugar" M & M coating dissolved the fastest, and the "3 tsp sugar" bowl dissolved the slowest.  This happened, because the sugar solution is MORE DENSE than the water, so it is harder for the candy coating to "push" on the solution than the water.

More FUN in science!  Learn on, kids!

D=M/V

Sunday, while perusing the wonderful Pinterest, I stumbled upon this:
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/colorful-convection-currents .  Check out the video.  (It is blocked at my school.  Grrr.)

So, I decided to try this today with my students, since we are learning about Density.  You must have containers with equal size openings.  I luckily found some and filled two of them with cold water and two of them with hot water.  I then put blue food coloring in the cold water and yellow food coloring in the hot water.  (Forgive my pictures.  I did not have my camera today, so these are phone pictures.  My phone unfortunately does not take great pictures.)

My intention was to show the demonstration just as in the video, but we ended up just using the taller containers.  (This was quite exciting for my first block.)  I covered the cold water container with a note card and flipped it over.  If you do this quickly, none of the water will spill, and the card will suction to the container.  Then, I placed the cold (blue) water container on top of the hot and gently pulled the card out from under it.

Students remembered what they knew about cold and hot water and their density, and they made predictions about what would happen when the two mix.  (Most actually predicted that I would make a terrible mess and didn't work.  I proved them wrong!)

Students can easily see that the warmer water rises to the top, because it is less dense.

Next, students rapped (Yes, rapped.  I forced them.) the formula for density:

Density = Mass

                 Volume

I found this great handout with practice exercises:

http://home.comcast.net/~judkinsscience8/Files/Forces%20in%20Fluids/1_5_Density_wksh.pdf

Rap on!