Dancing Raisins

Our final experiment in our matter unit was Dancing Raisins.  Our first step was to make a hypothesis about what would happen if you put raisins in a cup of sprite.  Some students thought the raisins would sink and some thought the raisins would float.  As learned in our rainbow experiment, more dense items will sink.  What we discovered is that the raisins initially sank, but they gathered bubbles and floated to top.  Once the raisins came to the top, the bubbles popped, and then the raisins sank.  The carbon dioxide in the pop made the raisins dance between the bottom and top of the glass.

Rainbow Science Experiment

We have been studying matter in science.  We recently tried a science experiment that focused on the density of liquids.  We took 2 different tries at this experiment.  Our first try turned out great until our last layer.  We discussed as a class that we could try a different method of how we poured in the layers on our second try.  We found that the last layer of rubbing alcohol needed to be poured down the side of the cup so it wouldn't go through the oil layer.  Our second try was a success!   We learned that if an object is more dense than another, it will sink.  The most dense liquid needed to be on the bottom all the way up to the least dense layer being on top.  This was a super fun experiment and very easy to try at home!

Gather supplies:
corn syrup
blue dish soap
yellow oil (vegetable oil, olive oil, etc.)
rubbing alcohol
food coloring
glass jar
measuring cup

Directions:

Purple layer:
Pour 1/2 cup corn syrup into measuring cup and add 1 drop red food coloring and 1 drop blue.  Stir.  Pour the corn syrup into the jar going down the middle and not down the side.

Blue layer:
Pour 1/2 cup blue dish soap on top of purple layer.  Again down middle of jar.  Very slowly!

Green layer:
Measure out 1/2 cup water and add 2 drops green food coloring.  Pour into middle of jar very slowly!

Yellow layer:
Measure 1/2 cup yellow oil and pour on top of green layer very slowly!

Red layer:
Measure out 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol.  Add 2 drops red food coloring.  Pour down SIDE of jar VERY SLOWLY!  We found this to be the most delicate layer!

Now you have your rainbow in a jar!

Community Reader and Comfy Day

On Friday we had a community reader visit our classroom as part of I Love to Read Month.  We want to give a big thank you to Police Chief Schultz for taking time out of his day to share a story with us!

For our banana bingo reward the students chose "comfy day."  All the students were welcome to wear comfy clothes and bring in a small blanket or stuffed animal to make their learning on Friday super comfortable.  We had such a fun day!

Winter Authors' Celebration

We ended February with an Authors' Celebration.  We read and wrote our own circle stories throughout the month.  The class was very proud and excited to share their published writing with their families!