Object Drop Experience

Today in class we had fun being scientists again!  Students were given many objects, and a record sheet and got to conduct their own test on how quickly objects fall through space.  After we collected our data, we came back together as a group and wrote down all of the questions we still had about our tests.  We will be exploring this more in an upcoming unit!   Can't wait :)

Crystal Making

Yesterday was an exciting day in our classroom!  Our friend, Oakley, came to show us what she has been working on for her STEM fair project!  We got to make our very own borax crystals!  Here is the recipe we used.

1 cup of hot water
3 tablespoons Borax
String
Skewer (or pencil)
Pipe Cleaners
Large cup

First we got really hot water and put it into the cup.  Then we stirred in the Borax until it was mostly dissolved.  Then, we made snowflakes out of the pipe cleaners and tied them with the string to a skewer (or a pencil).  We made sure the pipe cleaners weren't touching the bottom or sides of the cup.  Then we let them sit overnight.  When we came today our crystals were formed! 

If you want to make your own, but don't have Borax, you can use sugar or salt!  If you use salt, use 1/2 cup of hot water and 1/2 cup of salt.  For sugar crystals, use 3 cups of sugar and one cup of hot water.

We hope you have fun making crystals at home!

A Very Merry Grinchmas!

Our 2nd Grade Christmas party was a huge success this year!  Our room mom planned a super fun Grinch themed party, which went along great with our Dr. Seuss themed room! 

First, each student decorated a Grinch ornament with green tissue paper.  Then, in order to get a heart to go inside, they had to pin a heart on the Grinch! 

After the craft, we watched the cartoon of How the Grinch Stole Christmas as we ate cookies, cuties and hot cocoa! 

We had a great time! 

Halloween!

I am about a month late in posting these pictures but things have been crazy!  We had such an amazing Halloween party this year!  Our room mom, Melanie Fowler, did an awesome job planning and organizing the activities for our party!  We had five different centers with the following activities; a spooky experiment, a fun art project, Don't Eat Frank!, Pin the Tail on the Cat and donuts on a string!  Here are a few pictures of the party!  We also had fun in our annual Halloween Parade around the school!  A big shout out to all the moms who came and helped!

Baby J Comes to Visit!

A few weeks ago we had a fun surprise when Mrs. Blair's baby stopped by for a visit!  We've heard a lot about him, so it was fun to get to see him in person.  He even brought us some Twinkies!

Fire Safety

This week we had a fun experience visiting with some local firefighters!  They brought a firetruck and an ambulance for us to see and taught us about what it is like to ride in one!

 Don't worry, it was just a demonstration! :)

We also got to do a relay race where we practiced shooting a fire hose!  It was a fun, and WET, adventure!

Science Girl!

We had a fun experience last week when one of my former students, a 4th grader now, came and helped us with science!  She had prepared an experiment to demonstrate how water can travel up the stem of a plant.  It was called "Walking Water".  Here are the instructions, in case you'd like to try it at home!

You will need...
* 3 clear cups
* 2 different colors of food coloring
* 2 paper towels
* warm water

Instructions:
1. Place the three cups next to each other so they are touching. 
2. Fill the cups on each end, 3/4 full with warm water (leave the middle one empty!)
3. Drop 5-7 drops of food coloring into the water (one color for each cup with water in it)
4. Fold the paper towel into a long hotdog shape
5. Create a bridge from the outside cups into the center cups

We let our experiment sit overnight and when we came to school the next morning the water from the outside cups had traveled into the middle cup and formed a new color!