Welcome back!
It sounds like many of the P1 families had some great adventures and also found time to relax over March Break.
Today, we started a visual arts project to support Earth Hour. Earth Hour is a worldwide event organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Households and businesses are encouraged to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change.
This year's Earth Hour is Saturday, March 23 at 8:30 p.m. Swansea will hold our own Earth Hour Friday, March 22 from 2-3 p.m.
Earth Hour 2013 Official Video
Monday 18 March 2013
Friday 1 March 2013
More Messy Science
We wrapped up our unit on rocks and minerals with a few quick hands-on activities today.
The first was our graham cracker earthquakes. The graham crackers represented the tectonic plates (part of the earth's crust) and we used blobs of white icing as the earth's mantle. The experiment demonstrates the forces that create earthquakes. It also shows the tension that can build up before a quake and the resultant debris created along a fault.
Our grand finale was the baking soda-vinegar volcano. Though it doesn't really demonstrate a true volcanic reaction, it was a fun way to wrap it all up.
I promised the students I would post the directions so they can, with permission, try a larger volcano at home (I kept them quite small and contained -- minimal cleanup!)
So, here they are:
1/4 cup vinegar (up to a cup if you have a large bottle)
2 tablespoons baking soda
jello granules (about a tsp or two; add more if you want more colour)
Mix the baking soda and jello crystals and use a funnel to get the mixture in the bottle. That's it. When you're ready for the erupting volcano, use a funnel to pour all the vinegar into the bottle at once, then take the funnel out quickly. The key is to get all the vinegar into to bottle as fast as possible and move out of the way. It won't explode, but lava bubbles do ooze out pretty fast once the reaction starts.
Have fun!
The first was our graham cracker earthquakes. The graham crackers represented the tectonic plates (part of the earth's crust) and we used blobs of white icing as the earth's mantle. The experiment demonstrates the forces that create earthquakes. It also shows the tension that can build up before a quake and the resultant debris created along a fault.
Our grand finale was the baking soda-vinegar volcano. Though it doesn't really demonstrate a true volcanic reaction, it was a fun way to wrap it all up.
I promised the students I would post the directions so they can, with permission, try a larger volcano at home (I kept them quite small and contained -- minimal cleanup!)
So, here they are:
1/4 cup vinegar (up to a cup if you have a large bottle)
2 tablespoons baking soda
jello granules (about a tsp or two; add more if you want more colour)
Mix the baking soda and jello crystals and use a funnel to get the mixture in the bottle. That's it. When you're ready for the erupting volcano, use a funnel to pour all the vinegar into the bottle at once, then take the funnel out quickly. The key is to get all the vinegar into to bottle as fast as possible and move out of the way. It won't explode, but lava bubbles do ooze out pretty fast once the reaction starts.
Have fun!
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