Pet Rocks

Last week we explored the difference between living and nonliving objects. We discussed how we care for our real pets and how they need someone to watch over them if the pet was left alone for the weekend. Then we had lots of fun decorating our pet rocks. The kids named them and decorated them with lots of materials. Some children even made beds and other items for their rock. We finished the day up with a discussion about what would happen if we left our pet rock for the weekend without anyone to watch over them. The kids made the connection between why their pets need someone to care for them and why their rocks didn't need special care.

Wizard's Brew

What happens when you mix a solid like dry ice with a liquid like water? The kids had a blast watching our "wizard's brew" bubble and float out of the bowl. Did you know dry ice is called dry ice because it goes straight from a solid to a gas? It is one of the few objects that does not change into a liquid before it changes into a gas. This was a great, fun experiment to wrap up our matter unit. Now on to animals and living and nonliving!!

Miss Simpson's Class


Mrs. Gist's Class

Mystery Matter

What a great day we had in class today! One student said, "Mrs. Gist this is fun like science recess!" We used our imagination and imagined that aliens had visited our classroom last night. The aliens left a box with regular objects like a battery, a domino, a key and even some mystery liquids. The problem was that they forgot some of their favorite objects, and they need them back. However, the list they left for me is written in alien language and I can't tell what they want us to keep and what they need returned. The only clue is the information they left about the object's properties. For example, they told us the "burble" they forgot has a mass of 41 grams, is 5 cm long, sinks, is magnetic and is shiny, pointy and small. Your children got to choose an object from the box and analyze their matter's properties to help decide if their matter was the mystery matter the aliens need back. The kids had such a good time and got to experiment with balance scales, magnets, deductive thinking, measuring cups and rulers. I took a few pictures during our experiment, and I know your children learned from this hands-on experiment about the properties of matter!! Make sure to let them tell you about it!