Fun Items
Skull
Plasma Ball
Summer Trip
Oobleck
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday and fifth grade’s study of matter, we made oobleck. Oobleck is a Non-Newtonian liquid and it has interesting properties. Vocabulary included viscosity and suspension. Watch this video to learn more about oobleck.
DO NOT PUT OOBLECK DOWN ANY DRAIN!
We also discovered that oobleck is similar to quick sand.
Electrolysis
Water is an abundant compound that is essential to life. Fifth grade began their labs on matter with a series of experiments with this unique compound. Using electrolysis, we sent a current through a solution of baking soda (an electrolyte) and water. It is difficult to see, but we successfully separated the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The wire attached to the negative terminal of the battery collected hydrogen gas while the one connected to the positive terminal collected oxygen. There were twice as many bubbles coming from the hydrogen gas because water has two hydrogen atoms to every one oxygen atom- H2O. Other vocabulary included wire stripper, alligator clips, cathode, anode, and 9 volt battery.
Pressure Lab
Third Grade Visit
Third grade wrapped up their unit on vertebrates with a visit from Dr. Roesner from Loving Hands Animal Clinic. She brought three animals with her and spoke on pet care. Love having people in our community share their expertise with our children!
They also offer a shadow program: “Loving Hands Animal Clinic is proud to offer a shadow program which is open to all students ages 6-17 with an interest in veterinary medicine. Students will get to witness firsthand the inner workings of our full-service hospital.”
Beaks
You can tell what a bird eats by examining its beak. The shape of a bird’s beak helps it survive in its habitat. Scientists call this an adaptation.
In our investigation, I prepared a variety of different food that birds might eat. We used our imagination: rubber bands in soil were worms, balls floating in water were fish, beads stuck in Styrofoam were bugs in bark, and water in a skinny vase was nectar. After we examined birds and their beaks, I gave them a variety of tools (beaks) to determine which beak was the best to catch and eat each kind of food.