Frozen Fun

Dr. Browder, a physics professor at JU, and grandfather to Sara, joined us on Friday to provide us with some frozen fun! He brought liquid nitrogen and the fun began. We were able to watch as he dipped a balloon and a glove in the liquid nitrogen...and even his tie!

After watching the demonstration we were able to dip big marshmallows in chocolate and then in the liquid nitrogen to freeze it. It was a yummy treat! At the end of his visit he made "clouds." This was by far the funniest moment ever...to watch all of the kids disappear into the clouds.

Thank you Dr. Browder!

Rock On

Rocks are the focus in Science now! We brought in our own pet rocks and completed a number of activities. The students were asked to measure, find the mass and do a scratch test. They were also asked if their rock would sink or float in water.

Mrs. Lundquist had a rock that would float...Pumice!

The students had a great time discovering their pet rocks.

We will be focusing on how rocks are formed after the new year. We also will be studying weathering and erosion (there is a distinct difference between the two).

I was amazed at how interested the students were in rocks!

Water Cycle Part 2

We have spent a week exploring the water cycle. The vocabulary has become real for the students. They have observed water evaporating...Well, not really since water vapor is a gas and cannot be seen. They have even observed condensation. We have explored at least 3 different models of the Water Cycle.

A Water Cycle Test is scheduled for Tuesday, December 9th!

Topics: Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, water cycle and water vapor. Make sure you can explain what conditions cause evaporation and condensation.

Water Cycle

We are diving into the water cycle. Students should be observing their mini one at home and recording results in their Science Journals.

The final observations are due on Friday!

Today, we made a big model of the water cycle. Your scientist should be using the vocabulary: water vapor, evaporation, condensation and precipitation.

Our model was made of a hot plate, pot, water, cookie sheet and ice. Once the water was boiling in our pot and turning into water vapor, we placed a cookie sheet of ice over the vapor. Then condensation began forming under the cookie sheet. Eventually it began to fall as "precipitation."

Hoecake?

Why is it called hoecake? Because the natives would leave for a long day in the field and would take along corn meal, flour and a small bit of milk or water. They of course had their tools for the day. When lunch time came, they would take the iron part of their hoe off and heat it above a fire. Then they would mix up the ingrediants and VOILA make hoecake. A flat cornbread made on a hoe on a open flame. My grandfather has made hoecake as long as I can remember, so in honor of Thanksgiving, we made hoecake. We were able to tie math in as well, measuring out ingredients.

The result was a class full of "MMMMs" and "YUMMY!" So much so that they have requested the recipe... Here it is

Ingredients
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup self-rising cornmeal, or from a mix (recommended: Aunt Jemima's)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease
Oil, butter, or clarified margarine, for frying
Directions
Mix all ingredients together, except for the frying oil, in a bowl until well combined. Heat the frying oil or butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Drop the batter into the hot skillet. Use about 2 tablespoons of batter per hoecake. Fry each hoecake until brown and crisp; turn each hoecake with a spatula, and then brown the other side. With a slotted spoon, remove each hoecake to drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
Chef's Note: Leftover batter will keep in refrigerator for up to 2 days.

They even licked the plate!

Fun Math Day

Today, we spent some time creating line plot graphs using our Cornucopia of Candy Corns. The kids enjoyed this yummy math assignment. After they wrote in their math journal, making sure to include their data, they were able to eat their data.

We asked ourselves questions after looking at our data.

• What is the difference between the amount of yellow candy corns and the amount of chocolate ones?



• How many candy corns do I have in all?



• Which candy occured the most (aka, the mode) in our data?