Kitchen Science

In class on Tuesday I learned a lot of important things and made many notes of ideas that I want to remember. We spent most of the day exploring the scientific method with kitchen science. I had a lot of fun and there were so many things that I found useful. We took notes in a superman book. I loved this idea because the students can be involved in making their workbook, it’s fun, and you don’t need staples or tape!



The first activity that we did was the doughnut hole (or apple slice) mystery. I thought this was fun and something kids would really enjoy. We drew the last doughnut that we ate, then were given doughnut holes and sketched them scientifically. I liked this part because everyone has a different doughnut and will have a different type of sketch. It was also useful to have a model for kids to look at and base their drawing off of. I really liked the social studies connection with this experiment because I thought it was really creative to look at the ingredients and plan a lesson based off of where the ingredients are found and exploring ones that aren’t as familiar.



The next activity, the scientific guy/gal, is something that I will definitely use in my classroom! I loved how it was encouraging classroom participation in coming up with rules for participating in science. It was a positive way to show how children should be when doing experiments. Afterwards we learned about observation and hypothesis through the floating M experiment. This was yet again another “cool” thing to see that children will love. I can just see their faces when they see the M floating and trying to figure out why. I love this experiment because it generates curiosity and makes children want to learn about what happened.



In addition, I think the Abe and taco bell data collection activity is very useful and meaningful. We learned so much during that activity, things that I had no idea about. There are so many opportunities for further exploration there and it can be based off of what the children are most interested in. However, I have to admit that making Oobleck was my favorite part of the day! I would love to use it for a creative writing activity as well as for a state of matter lesson.





At the end of the day when we did the get down, get funky, get loose song I really liked it and will definitely use it in the future. I love to sing and do little dances and I think that is a great strategy for getting kids moving in a productive and not disrupting way. I also liked the graffiti tape for a way of giving feedback. Overall it was a very productive and useful day!

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

Today in class (ED 418/317) we had a full day of first day activities as we got to know each other. We started off the class as Dr. Pangan presented a me bag as an introduction activity. I have seen this idea before and always like it as a way to get to know the teacher and students. I think it is a great way to share a little bit about yourself without getting too personal and it is a fairly comfortable activity for the first day.

The next thing that was did was an observation and inference activity. At first I was a little bit confused about what the purpose was for this activity. I am not a huge fan of science and thinking scientifically is not something that I am used to. My brain is more wired towards English and social studies. But once we got started with the activity I understood why it was so useful and would be a really great teaching tool. It was cool to think about all of the ways the science is present in our daily lives. It made me excited to explore this idea further this semester.

After observing and inferring about what was in front of us we were asked to reach in and grab what was inside though we couldn’t see anything through the clear water. When we grabbed the invisicubes out of the water it was really shocking and fun to see. I can’t wait to try this idea with children and see their reaction. The next step to the activity was walking around, getting toe to toe with a partner, and sharing what we thought was a good metaphor for what we just did. I wasn’t as big of a fan of this part but I could see how it would work and be useful in a classroom. Anything that gets children up and moving is great. After toe to toe some students were asked to stand up and make a live model of a polymer. I thought it was a great visual and something that I will definitely use in a future classroom. The human polymer allowed me to see what was actually happening and remember it better.


When this activity was over the class took some time to introduce ourselves. Though it was a tradition pattern of sharing about yourself I really liked that Dr. Pangan had us stand up in pairs of two. In this class most of us know each other so we are already comfortable but on the first day of school with children this most likely will not be the case. Allowing children to stand up and share in pairs or bigger groups gives them a comfort level and does not make them feel alone.
After introducing ourselves we got to my favorite part of the day, Bubble-ology. We were split up into 10 stations, which excited me because I always loved stations as a child. I think they give you the opportunity to move around and do hands on activities. Being a hands on learner I always remembered those kind of activities. Each group was asked to become experts on their station before we began to rotate. Hannah and I were assigned to the make a stand bubble station. We started out by attaching a pipe cleaner to a clothespin and making a circle on the top of the pip cleaner so we could blow a bubble into it. Then we dipped it in bubble solution, took a straw and did the same, and began to blow a bubble on the stand. I liked this activity because it is very fun and active but it is also a great tool to teach students about surface tension and other scientific ideas. It could even work for social studies. After presenting our station we had the chance to try every station. My favorite one was where we were told to blow a huge bubble with “special solution”. I liked this station so much because it shows the power of the mind and positive thinking. The solution was really the same but we thought it was better and therefore blew a bigger bubble. I want my students in my classroom to feel like they can blow a huge bubble in terms of learning, that they can accomplish anything! Overall it was a great first day and I am very excited to see what this semester has to hold.