Scientist of the Week

James was our scientist this week. He did an experiment with "Invisible Ink".

This was a tricky one, and he had to do most of it at home. He showed us how he wrote on a white paper with lemon juice. It's invisible! The class made their predictions. Then, he showed us the one that is not invisible. Magic, right?
The instructions say to put it in the oven, but James' dad just held it over a burner, and that did the trick. I told the class, do not to try this experiment without a parent!

Look, you can now see the invisible ink!

Great job, James!

Scientist of the Week

Bekah was our scientist this past week. She did a really fun experiment with an egg we called, Sink or Float?

 Set up and ready to go!

First she put the egg into the water, and it sank to the bottom of the cup.

Then she added several scoops of salt and stirred it into the water.

Can you believe it? The egg floated in the salt water!

The kids had to take a look up close.

Thanks, Bekah, for a great experiment! 

This is a fun and easy one to try at home.

Scientist of the Week

Harley was our scientist last week. She did a great job showing us that air takes up space!

 

 First she put a tissue into the bottom of a plastic cup. 

Then she turned the cup upside down and pushed it into the bowl of water. 

The cup with tissue inside was completely under water.

 

When she pulled the cup out, the tissue was still dry! How did it stay dry?

We tried it a few different ways to see what would happen. 

This is a fun and easy experiment to try at home. 

Thank you, Harley!

Scientist of the Week

Andrew was our #1 Scientist this past week. The kids loved this one! They predicted it would fly, glide, spin, twirl, and/or drop to the ground. Each time he tried throwing one, it did a different thing.

Andrew wore the goggles to protect himself from these flying straws :) 

The kids wanted him to do it again and again.

That was so fun! Thanks, Andrew!

Scientist of the Week

 

What a cute scientist!

Zoey was our scientist the week of Valentine's. She did a whirling twirling experiment with a heart and a smiley face on different sides of a card. It was cool how our eyes took a picture of both when she turned it and we saw a smiling heart! It was perfect for Valentine's Day!

 

 Thank you, Zoey! Great job!

Scientist of the Week #9

McKenzie was our scientist this week and she did a great job! Her experiment was about colors.

Set up and ready to go!

First she put a big dot of black washable marker onto a coffee filter. Then she dropped one or two drops of water onto it. We found out that the color black is made with other colors. In this case, it was mostly blue. But if you used a different marker, it may turn out differently.

Her second experiment, she dropped several different colors of food coloring into a glass of water. She then dipped in a folded coffee filter. It absorbed and separated the different colors. It was really neat!

Thanks, McKenzie, that was so cool!

Scientist of the Week #8

We had another fabulous science experiment this week done by our #1 Scientist, Scottie.


He poured vinegar into a flask (you could use a bottle), added baking soda into a balloon, and then attached the balloon to the top. When he tipped the balloon up, the baking soda spilled into the vinegar and it reacted. The reaction created a gas that filled up the balloon. Wow! Was it ever exciting.


One of the predictions was that the balloon would explode. The kids were pretty nervous as it got bigger and bigger. Good thing Scottie had the goggles on. Even he was scared it might explode!


After the balloon experiment, Scottie did the same thing, but didn't put the balloon on top. We got to watch a volcano erupt! It was fun. Good thing he only brought a small bottle of vinegar, because the kids wanted him to do it over and over, until it was all gone.

Thanks Scottie, (and his mom) for a fun experiment!

Scientist of the Week #7

Heather did a great job being our scientist this week. She did a fun experiment that really surprised the kids. Here she is all set up and ready to go.

She did several experiments with water tension. First she did the pepper. The class predicted what would happen to the pepper. Most said it would fall to the bottom or float. We found out that the pepper floated on the water.

But when a drop of soap was added, the pepper spread out to the sides, very quickly!

Then she did it with toothpicks. We didn't know if it would work, because toothpicks are so much bigger. But it did! They quickly moved to the edge of the bowl when a drop of soap was added.

The last one Heather tried was baby powder. That worked even faster. It was so exciting!

What a fun experiment! Thank you, Heather. You did a great job!

Scientist of the Week #6

This little Einstein was our next Scientist of the week. He did a great job on his Groovy Lava Lamp experiment.

He filled a cup with water and added blue food coloring. Then he poured oil into a jar.

Then he poured the blue water into the jar with oil.
We all couldn't wait to see what would happen!
It made bubbles, over-flowed a little, and looked a little like lava.

We all learned that oil and water do not mix, and that it looks pretty cool together, especially with food coloring. The kids didn't really understand what a lava lamp is. They wanted to see real lava. Maybe for our next experiment. . . :)

Scientist of the Week #5

Halle was our Scientist of the Week on Dec. 11.

She's all set up and ready to go.
First Halle explains what she is going to do.
The rest of the class makes a prediction about what they think is going to happen before she actually does the experiment. This is one of my favorite parts of doing this activity - hearing their predictions. They really do make some good predictions.

I also really enjoy watching their reactions when something
actually happens that they did or did not expect.

Unfortunately, my student teacher was in charge this day and
I wasn't there to see the experiment. I wish I could say more about it.
It must have been so exciting she didn't have a chance to get any more pictures!
I'm sure it was wonderful! Great job, Halle!

Scientist of the Week #4

On Dec. 4, Porter was our scientist of the week. He did a great job explaining the experiment and the science behind it.

Most of the kids thought the book would smash the paper, but it didn't!

Scientist of the Week #3

On Nov. 20 we had our third scientist of the week presentation. This cute scientist did a great job! We had a little trouble because the trip from the freezer, where the bottle and air inside was getting cold, to the classroom was a little too long. So the balloon didn't expand like it should have. Our scientist knew the trick to get the air to warm up was to put it under her arm. So she just squeezed a little extra, and the balloon inflated!



To see if this experiment would really work, I ran and put the bottle back in the freezer. We wrote in our science experiment booklet and drew a picture. Just before recess, we all walked to the faculty room. The scientist and I went to the freezer. We took out the bottle and immediately put the balloon over the top. And it did start to inflate a little as we warmed up the bottle in our hands. So this experiment didn't turn out perfectly, but our scientist wasn't discouraged. She was so positive. She did a great job and we all learned that sometimes you have to try things several times before they turn out. You might want to try this one at home. I wonder if a glass bottle might work better. ?? Try it and see!

Scientist of the Week #2

On Nov. 13, Braden was our Scientist of the Week. This was probably our most exciting experiment so far. Even I was amazed at how many pencils Braden was able to push through the bag of water. Braden was so cute. He took his job very seriously.

Here is Porter trying to push the bag down into the jar.

Scientist of the Week #1

Our first Scientist of the Week did a wonderful job with Magic Balloons. A big thanks goes to her mom for coming in and helping. The kids were all fascinated with the way the static electricity on the balloon attracted the sugar. Our scientist was well prepared and set a great example for the rest of the students.

Scientist of the Week

I introduced the "Scientist of the Week" activity the week before Halloween. It was a really fun experiment, using a blow dryer and a ping pong ball. Only a few students predicted that the ball would actually suspend in the air, yet it did. How amazing! Unfortunately, since I was doing the experiment, no one took pictures!