Snow Day!

We had a great time playing out in the field. 

Sledding mountain

Go Ike!

Look for the snowboarder.

See the boarder?

 

 

Many Projects...

This video was made by Tim M. tonight.  Great job!

Cracking our geodes!

 

Discovering what they look like under the microscope.

Learning stop animation.

Beginning of play dough set for water cycle animation.

Editing a video.

Working on our music video.

Working on science PowerPoints.

Color Changing Milk: An Explosion of Color

Some very unusual things happen when you mix a little 
        milk, food coloring, and a drop of liquid soap. 

The materials for this week's science experiment: milk, soap (in the cup) and food coloring.

Have fun.  Try all different colors and sizes of drops.

The secret of the bursting colors is the chemistry of that tiny drop of soap. 

Dish soap weakens the chemical bonds that hold the proteins and fats in the milk.

The molecules of fat bend, roll, twist, and contort in all directions
as the soap molecules race around to join up with the fat molecules.

During all of this fat molecule gymnastics, the food coloring molecules are bumped and shoved everywhere,
providing an easy way to observe all the invisible activity.

As the soap becomes evenly mixed with the milk, the action slows down and eventually stops. 

This is why milk with a higher fat content produces a better explosion of color - there's just more fat to combine with all of those soap molecules.

Watch the video.




Don't forget to email pictures of bees this week!

How Much Fun Can A Simple Science Experiment Be?

Science is fun.  No doubt about that.  There are experiments all over and I plan on exploring these interesting activities throughout the summer.

Today's materials list: diet coke & mentos

Such simple materials.  Yet sooooo fun!

Ruby began with putting as many mentos in the soda as she could.

Only 1 mento made it in!

When my brothers saw the reaction of the soda when mixed with mentos, they decided to join in the fun.

 Why do Mentos mixed with soda produce this incredible eruption? 

     When you drop the Mentos into the soda, the gelatin and gum arabic from the dissolving candy break the surface tension. This disrupts the water mesh, so that it takes less work to expand and form new bubbles. Each Mentos candy has thousands of tiny pits all over the surface. These tiny pits are called nucleation sites - perfect places for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. As soon as the Mentos hit the soda, bubbles form all over the surface of the candy.  When all this gas is released, it literally pushes all of the liquid up and out of the bottle in an incredible soda blast.

Watch the experts.

Remember to email your pictures for this week's Photo Friday!
Theme: Summer (or not?)

Last Day of School

We enjoyed today.  The day began with a Bible Trivia game.  Later we had a taffy pull.  I think the students really enjoyed it.

Problems of the Day Revealed

Congratulations to Tim M. for correctly answering the problems of the day.

           What letter comes next?

               1.  D, R, M, F, S, L (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la)

               2.  J, F, M, A, M, J (January, February, March, April, May, June)

               3. What is a four letter animal that cannot be rhymed? wolf

          Unscramble the following.

              4.  SPJMU - jumps

              5.  GWNOR - wrong

         Can you figure out which pro football team each clue refers to?

             6.  Seven squared - 49ers

             7.  747s - Jets

             8.  Dollar for corn? - Buccaneers (Buck-an-ear)

             9.  Credit card users? Chargers

            10.  Suitcase stuffers? Packers

Problems Of The Day

Try to answer these questions/puzzles correctly.  The answers will be announced tomorrow.

           What letter comes next?

               1.  D, R, M, F, S, ______

               2.  J, F, M, A, M, ______

               3. What is a four letter animal that cannot be rhymed?



          Unscramble the following.

              4.  SPJMU

              5.  GWNOR



         Can you figure out which pro football team each clue refers to?

             6.  Seven squared

             7.  747s

             8.  Dollar for corn?

             9.  Credit card users?

            10.  Suitcase stuffers?


                  Check back tomorrow for the correct answers.

Animation

While in science, we were learning about the video cameras.  Lots of film cameras shoot in 24frames per second meaning that there are 24 separate pictures taken for each second of video.  The children made animations by drawing 10 pictures, and when the pictures are flipped through quickly, the result is a little animation.

A few pictures from today.