The Science of Toys September 7 - 29, 2011

Using everyday toys and toys that they created themselves, students in this first unit of the year got to play with toys and learn important science principles of motion, force, energy, and pressure. Toys such as the Flip-a-Frog, the Ball-and-Cup, cardboard airplanes, and Cartesian divers were assembled and observed closely to understand what forces in nature make them behave the way they do.












A toy that the children built called the Whimmy Diddle, a wooden stick with notches filed into it with a propeller on one end that gets rubbed firmly with another stick, was a striking example of friction and its uses. Newton's three laws of motion were discussed and observed directly with each new toy the class investigated.



Based on what they learned from these experiences with toys on earth, students then predicted how they thought the toys would behave in outer space! All predictions were then checked when the class viewed a video taken by NASA astronauts within the space station. Do you know how a spinning top would behave in space? Do magnetic balls act the same in space as on Earth? What about a bouncing ball? Ask the students from this class!

Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year!

This year the first PM unit in science that I will offer the children is called The Science of Toys. It should be fun-filled and full of science concepts. Stay tuned for more.

Classroom Pets -- Pros and Cons

Mast Landing School held its Health Fair in April, and this unit was done with that in mind. It was all about staying healthy around pets, keeping pets healthy, and why certain pets are fine for a classroom setting and others are not.
Through research, discussion, and classroom visitors (human and non-human), the class learned about the desirable qualities of pets and about the needs of different pets. Their research covered our responsibilities toward our pets too. Students read the MLS pet policy of no fur, no feather and researched the health reasons for this policy.
Microscopes were brought out to take a close look at dander from different pets, bacteria, feather dust, and some other common allergens. A nurse from Mid-coast hospital visited to have the children learn about hand washing and germs.
Students' posters of their research and some pets were then on display at the Health Fair.

Buyer Beware!

In February, students in this class became consumer scientists as they tested to learn if certain product claims actually held up. Students worked in teams to set up tests that followed an experimental design. They experienced different forms of scientific experimentation first hand and from beginning to end with each different product test.

Bubbles! Yes, we decided to test two different bubble solutions to see which one made the biggest bubble! SuperMiracle brand seemed a good choice given its name. It was pitted against our own homemade bubble solution. Actually measuring the bubble size was almost as fun as blowing them. Students blew a bubble on a solution-wet table top until it popped and measured the remaining soap ring. All other variables were held as constant as possible. After 100 bubbles were measured, and all data analyzed our results showed that -- Wow! Our homemade solution made consistently bigger bubbles, and it cost way less than SuperMiracle solution!

The next consumer test was was even more exciting -- to compare bubble gum. From soap bubbles to bubble gum! The question was, "What happens to the mass of gum after chewing it for 10 minutes?" Do you know? You could ask the class because after devising a fun experiment of weighing, chewing and weighing again, they determined that it decreases dramatically. So did the sweet taste and the pleasure of chewing! After inspecting the package labels of the different brands and flavors, they learned that the #1 ingredient in bubble gum is sugar. So guess where all of that mass went. In all cases, the mass decreased over 60%. Some lost a whopping 75%!

Paper towel testing was the last experiment. Do you know which brand of towel is the strongest and most absorbent? This class now has a good idea. Again working in groups, each chose a quality of towel to test and devised their own experiment to do so. Absorbency or strength were chosen. They tested 4 brands of towel. Bounty was a winner in both categories, but our school brand towel was the strongest!

Lots of learning, lots of fun, and some many more experiments the class wants to do!

Crystals, Rocks and Minerals Unit

No outdoor rock hounding during this snowy January 2011! We did, however, spend cozy afternoons inside having fun learning about what this planet Earth is all about. The class started deep within looking at the amazing things going on, and the changes that produce big events on the surface, such as volcanoes, mountains, and earthquakes.

Using the school's beautiful crystal and rock collection, students learned about the difference between minerals and rocks and about different kinds of each. Some of the most fun came with using the mineral and rock test kits.

The rock cycle was explored and added to their list of abiotic cycles that occur on earth.

Everyone also learned how to "grow" their own crystals!

Digging Up the Past -- Archaeology

With this introduction to the tools, techniques and wonder of archaeology, students spent all of December learning about the way of life of people in Maine starting about 20,000 years ago. They learned about the three main archaeological periods -- Paleo, Archaic, and Ceramic Periods and about the major geologic and climate changes.

A huge highlight was to have Mr. Dave Backman as a guest teacher for four sessions. Dave brought with him his expertise and experience with this subject to the classroom, along with many, many artifacts for the children to observe, handle and try to figure out what they were and what they were used for.

Here students are finding artifacts in a mock dig, with authentic artifacts found in Freeport, that he devised.Would you know from looking that these are ancient stone tools?




















Have you ever seen woolly mammoth teeth? The black one is fossilized!









Students then made their own pinch pots using a technique that our ancient ancestors used.
They also built an outdoor brick kiln to fire them in!

The pots were placed carefully in layers of sawdust by Mrs. Christie, art teacher.
She and I lit the fire and quickly capped it so that the fire would smolder many hours until the pots were done.



















Here's what they looked like after the firing...










And here they are all cleaned up and ready to take home.

Ecosystems -- Nature's Communities

Rain forests, deserts, grasslands, tundra, coniferous and deciduous forests were the topics of study during the month of November. Students learned what makes each biome different and about the many cycles within the biomes. They also built terreria of the biomes and ate foods from each area. A really great website for children that is all about the major biomes is:
http://mbgnet.net/index.html