The Lily Pad: Student Scientist

We kicked off our year in science with some engaging, hands-on science explorations. On Tuesday, our student-scientists were asked to predict how many drops of water could fit on a penny. Our predictions ranged from 2-17 drops.

Partnerships took turns using an eyedropper to see how many drops actually fit without spilling over.

To the amazement of all, the prediction of 17 drops, while close, was on the low end! Students were able to fit well over 25 drops on the top of the penny.

This experiment demonstrates the polarity of water. The attraction of the water molecules on the surface is called surface tension. There are many fun experiments students can do to demonstrate surface tension. Here are a few ideas to try at home:

http://buggyandbuddy.com/science-experiments-kids-exploring-surface-tension/

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/floatingpaperclips.html

Our second experiment for the week was to discuss the properties of liquids and solids and then to use this knowledge to determine if an substance was a liquid or a solid.

Student scientist explored oobleck (corn starch and water) to determine if it was a liquid to a solid.
This was a fun and messy process!

Our student scientists did some great thinking as they tried to determine if the oobleck was a solid or a liquid. After much discussion the decision was made that it was both! Oobleck actually is a non-newtonian substance. It acts like a liquid when it is poured and a solid when force is applied. Again, this is a great activity to do at home!

Rounding in order to find an estimate

We have been learning how to round to the nearest tens place and hundreds place. We use these rounded numbers to get a ballpark estimate addition and subtraction equations.

An anchor chart to help students remember the rounding rule.

Mr. Rudolph created a fun game called scoot. Students armed with a pencil, a grid and their brains. They made their way around the classroom and rounded numbers to the nearest tens place or hundreds place.

An anchor chart used to help students with place value.

Other Happenings in the Lily Pad

Pen Pals

On Friday, students received a pen pal from a school in New Orleans. We wrote letters to them and introduced ourselves. We cannot wait to learn more about our new friends and their city, New Orleans.

Math

During math these next few weeks students will continue with rounding to estimate answers, work on problem solving, work on telling time and elapsed time, and begin math fact fluency groups. My goal is to continue to include anchor charts as a part of my blog updates. My hope is that this will help your child while he/she is working on homework. As always, please let me know what you think!

Writing

We will begin our personal narrative unit on Tuesday. During writing for the month of September we have been working on various poems. We will continue to work on poems throughout the school year. Poems will be collected and then we will celebrate our work with a year end Poet-tea celebration. More details to follow.

Reading

Reading groups are starting. Students will be reading a variety of texts this year with the focus being reading comprehension. During our reading block students will be reading books at their independent level, listening to books on Raz-Kids, reading with peers and adults, and meeting in book groups. We have worked hard with students to increase their stamina for independent reading and independently choosing what their literacy week will look like.

Social Studies

Our first official Social Studies unit will be to explore the Madison area and how the glacier affected our landscape. Students will learn about glaciers during this unit, too.