Blow Up A Balloon!

Blessings to you this beautiful resurrection Sunday!  Happy Easter!

This past week before our 2 1/2 day spring break, we conducted one of my favorite solids, liquids, and gases experiments!  Can you guess which one?  Clue:  it involves a balloon.  Clue:  it involves vinegar.  Do you know yet?  Okay- Clue:  it involves baking soda.  Still don't know?  Last clue:  it involves an empty water bottle!  HOORAY YOU GUESSED RIGHT...Blow Up A Balloon!

Our wonderful Teacher's Aide 1/4 filled up 17 balloons with baking soda!  The first step to getting this experiment ready!  Next we collected cleaned and emptied water bottles, got vinegar, and our science notebooks!  I quickly walked around and 1/4 filled the bottles with vinegar.

Finally, we predicted what the result would be...why...how?

Then we gently stretched the neck of our balloons and stretched it over the rim of the bottles and gently poured the baking soda into the vinegar!  AND......WOW the excitement that filled the air-along with the distinct smell!

One student was correct in his predictions but he kindly told me he also read about this in a book :-)  Many were eager to try this again when they got home and they all took their experiments with them!  Hopefully the preparations that lead up to the experiment for them did not leave a scientific mess in their kitchens!

SMILES!!!!

Skittle Math

Spring weather is coming...right?  Happy thoughts...happy thoughts...warm thoughts...

Yesterday we used Skittles to complete a Skittle math lesson!  First, we made arrays and demonstrated our understanding of repeating addition!  Next, we made shares of our Skittles.  We pretended to share the Skittles with 2, 3, and 4 friends.  We discussed what happens to the Skittles that cannot be equally shared.  We related this to our life experiences at home and at restaurant.  Finally, we graphed our results and analyzed our data!

Colorful Smiles,

Congrats to our Trucker Buddy!

Sunday and Spring, what do they have in common-not 50 degree weather in Wisconsin!

Congrats to our Trucker Buddy who accepted his Trucker Buddy of the Month award:

Next month, he will be visiting us!  WE ARE HONKING WITH EXCITEMENT AND ANTICIPATION!
Smiles,

Belated St. Patrick's Day Math

FRIDAY IS HERE AND SO IS THE SUN!!!!!

Today my Youngers-1st Graders used numbers on Shamrocks to put in order from greatest to least, least to greatest, and also to make greater and less than statements!  It was a lucky time :-)
Here is the fantastic Teacher's Blog who posted this activity and shared it with Blogger land!  KUDDOS TO HERE:  click here

Green Smiles,

Cheerios and the States of Matter!

It's Sunday!  Are you fighting a cold???  If not, let me tell you about mine- just kidding.  Am I the only one who is fighting a third one this winter season? Guess I am keeping Vicks in business!

On to states of matter and a heart healthy cereal-Cheerios!  What?  Solids, liquids, and gases what do they have to do with Cheerios?  Give up?  They represent the molecules/atoms inside each state.
Before we began the below activity we did the Matter Dance!  We acted like we were solid molecules and huddled very close together and demonstrated how solids have a definite shape, volume, and size.  Next, we branched out a little and moved our bodies around while still high fiving fellow molecules-representing the liquid atoms!  No definite shape, but a definite volume (we still had 17 molecules in the end).  Finally we super sized our energy and spread ourselves thin across the room and did Bust A MOVE-gotta love those gas molecules- no definite shape, size, or volume!

This lead us to our Cheerio assisted lesson!  How would we represent the molecules with Cheerios inside a sock, glass of water, and a balloon...keep reading to find out our answers!

Hmm...what should we do?

Finished project with definitions below

I got this!

Yep, this is it...just a few more Cheerios!

Here is a wealth of ideas on a Pinterest Board:  Click Here

Cheerios,

Disguise for the Leprechaun!

Come find me Leprechaun?  Can you?

I took "Can't Catch Me" Leprechaun pictures.  After printing them, my Multi-agers needed to decide how to hide themselves. They needed to ask themselves several questions:
Where should I be?
How will I disguise myself?
What will I have in the background?
What is the sneakiest idea and more something that will be more clever than the Leprechaun?

Here are three results:

Smiles,

Matter is on...

Hello!  Yesterday I spent the day grieving at a funeral for a best friend whose battle ended with cancer!  She was the Mom, sister, aunt, grandmother, friend, and teacher that many of us dream we would like to be!  SHE WILL BE DEEPLY MISSED!!!  Still have not overcome my sorrow!!

Now, updates from the classroom! We entered our unit on Matter- SOLIDS, LIQUIDS, GASES?  Can you name three of each-awww gas is always the hardest, but I know you can do it!!!  We started with a brainstorm and identified what Matter is and generated a huge list of S, L, and G.  I was proud of their kids prior knowledge about the properties and examples.We took a walk around the classroom and identified matter examples that we saw...hand sanitizer, air in a bag, windows, desks, air in our tummy :-), blood, ear wax, water, plants, etc.

I also did a gas experiment.  I sprayed Vanilla air freshener and they needed to raise their hands when the smelled the wonderful smell.  It was interesting to see when the smell traveled to their nostrils!!

One of the last things, we need to do is played with some of my science toys and identified properties of them:

Here are some sites for you to visit:
Study Jams
Brain Pop
States of Matter
Great Links

Solid, liquid, and gas smiles,

We Set Out Our Traps!

SATURDAY IS HERE...and so is the sleet!  Double S!

Just a quick update, we've set the traps but we haven't caught him...who is "Him"...that sneaky and silly Leprechaun!  He's been moving and hiding the traps, decorating them, writing on them, and putting little toys inside them!  Once, he even turned our science experiment green!  He's quick and smart!

Sneaky Smiles,

Sad Day but Magnet Experiments to Offer a Ray of Sunshine!

Sad day today my Blogger friends.  Our school community and village lost a dear friend of mine, a colleague, a mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and wife.  She fought hard against Cancer and never lost her smile, but now has a smile bigger than mine-She's dancing with the Lord!

On a whole different note, and putting on my teacher face, we concluded our unit on magnetism.  We questioned, proposed, and then experimented to learn what magnetism would travel through.  How about solids, liquids, or a gas?  Will it travel through my desk?  What about my hand?  How about a glass half full of green liquid; can I pull the magnet through the water? Hmmm...what about my chair? The answer was yes to all of these except one; can you guess which one?

Next unit-matter!  And yes, that does matter!
Smiles,

Lucky Charms-Is Graphing Your Charm?

HELLO OUT THERE!
I think this week might be the first full week without a 2hr delay or cancellation we have had since mid Jan.  HOORAY NO ARROWS IN MY LESSON PLAN BOOK! (do you still use one of those?)
Today we used Lucky Charm cereal to do Lucky Charm graphing!  We used a baggie full of cereal (thank you to a great helper of mine who bagged all the servings) and pulled the marshmallows out to graph the moons, pot of Golds, hearts, etc.  (is the a reason for so many of of my students lacking horseshoes?)
After charting the amount, they needed to assess, answer questions about their data, and summarize their information!  And of course, they were able to eat their servings- HOW LUCKY FOR THEM!

One from Mailbox

Tally Chart

Smiles,

Guest Readers-3 of My Former Students!

It's the eve before Dr. Seuss' birthday!!!!
Today we honored Dr. Seuss by reading a smorgasbord of his books, four poems (Poems), and had 3 Assumption alumni read to us.  Who were our guests??  Three wonderful and talented Red Raider basketball players who were also 3 of my former students-10 years ago!  WOW have then grown...yes more than 2 inches!!!  Our students loved their star reading and literally started the show with a DUNK as they shot three point shots to see what order they were going to read in!
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Smiles