I am frequently referring to atoms during my science lessons and I wanted a model to use in my lab. I decided to make one!  This is a helium atom.  (Note:  This is not to scale and the protons, electrons, and neutrons are not these colors.)

Many of my first grade students thought that apples turned brown because they were dirty.  We learned that oxidation occurs when the flesh of the apple is exposed to oxygen.  Rust is also oxidation.  We tried to prevent oxidation using a variety of liquids.  We had a control apple that we didn’t submerge in a liquid.

We took this experiment through the scientific process.  First grade students completed their first lab reports.

Miss Vermont did a science experiment for her talent during the Miss America competition!

Pollen can travel to the pistil by wind, rain, or pollinators, such as bees or butterflies. We pretended to be pollinators. Just like real pollinators, we were attracted to the colors of the flowers, drunk the sweet nectar (sugar water) and as we sipped the nectar, pollen stuck to our hands (Cheetos). Watch the video below for additional information.

Popping popcorn was a fun way to review the way we use our senses!

We also learned that the Native Americans first popped corn.  Corn grows on a stalk and we eat the seeds.  Inside a kernel is a small drop of water. When the water is heated inside the kernel, the water turns to vapor and expands which causes the kernel to explode and turn inside out.  Watch the video below to see this happen in slow motion.

First grade is studying living and nonliving things.  We put this turtle in water.  I asked the children to watch it for me and to tell me if it was living.  It grew and grew!  The children told me that although it grew like a living thing, it wasn’t living because it didn’t move on its own, didn’t need food, and couldn’t reproduce. 🙂  So how did it grow so large?  They had lots of thought provoking ideas.  One student said that it must be a sponge, but we squeezed it and no water came out.  Hmmm… We took it out of water and now we are watching to see what happens.  Will it return to the original size?  If so, how long will it take?  If there is water inside, where will the water go?