Friday Fun

Aloha Friday!!  One of my favorite days of the week.  This week was a very short one for me.  No school on Monday and no school for me on Wednesday.  I decided to stay home because of this.

On Wednesday Hawaii was hit with a Super Swell! 40-50 waves were predicted to hit the North Shore where I live and work.  I have to drive along the coast to where the waves were that high, so I took the day off not only to stay safe, but also to avoid the crazy traffic from all the people who wanted to see the waves.  The last time this happened was about 5 years ago and I got stuck in traffic on the way home for 3 hours!!

So I only worked 3 days this week.  I think I need a 3 day work week every week!!

Today we finished up our matter unit.  I had the kids explore different ways that matter can be changed.

First, I gave them a piece of paper and I told them to change it.  Some cut it, ripped it, crumpled it and folded it.  We also discussed whether it was a reversible change or an irreversible change.

Then we did the old baking soda and vinegar experiment that I talked about earlier in the week.

They were so excited when they watched the balloon fill up!  One balloon didn't stay put and exploded at one of the tables.  They thought that was a hoot!  There was baking soda everywhere!

Then we mixed another liquid with a solid.

I had them mix 4 Tablespoons of Cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons of Water.

They had a lot of fun mixing it and playing around with it trying to decide if it was a liquid or a solid.

 We wrote all the ways to change matter in our Science Notebooks.

I really love some of their artwork!

I saved the last experiment as a surprise.  My good friend Sheri from Kindergarten To The Core let me borrow her Geyser Tubes that she had from Steve Spangler.  What a handy dandy tool this was!!

Steve Spanglers Geyser Tube

You put seven Mentos in the tube and it has a little peg that holds them in.  You pull the string and can get away while the mints are dropping into the soda bottle!

It was a gorgeous day and we went out to the field.  I used Diet Coke and Regular Coke.  I stood back with my camera while my volunteers pulled the strings.

They were thrilled with the results!  As soon as it had settled they ran to the bottles to check them out.  I had a few extra Mentos that we all tasted. We decided it would NOT be a good idea to eat Mentos and drink Coke at the same time!

We ended our fabulous Friday with a fun art project to get ready for Chinese New Year.  We made these cute dragons from Teach Kids Art. 

They came out really cute!  I plan to attach them to a ruler next week so we can carry them in our parade.

Thanks to my 3 day week I have a lot more energy than I usually do on Fridays! I hope your week was a fun one and that you are  enjoying your well deserved weekend.