Week of September 24 - 28

Phew! I can't believe it's already the last teaching day of September!

So much has happened in Science Lab this week:

• Kindergarten students learned about germs and proper hand-washing techniques. We put on some special, glowing lotion (to mimic how we can't see our germs without a special science tool, but they are always there!) and held our hands up to a black light to see our "germs" glowing. We practiced washing our hands and then looked at our "germs" under the light again to see what we'd missed. Ask your student to show you how to wash all the germs away at the sink.
• 1st graders learned about the 3 types of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. We even got to hold each type of liquid in a baggie. Our solid was the baggie itself and "Mrs. K's special solid" (an alka-seltzer tablet), the liquid was water, and the gas was the fizz from the combination of two of those items. Ask your student to tell you about what happened to the baggie's shape when we combined the special solid and the liquid.
• 2nd graders also talked about matter. We saw the 3 types of matter on our table, as well, but our matter was in a clear cup so we could exercise our observation skills and write down everything we saw, touched, smelled, and heard in our science notebooks. Ask your student to tell you about this activity and some of the descriptions he/she wrote.
• 3rd graders focused on matter molecules this week. We talked about how molecules look when they're in different types of matter (molecules in a solid are very close together and still, molecules in a liquid are a little farther apart -- sometimes bumping into each other -- and always moving, and molecules in a gas don't touch but are always moving). We played a game where we pretended we were giant molecules and had to move around the room at different speeds and distances from others, according to what type of matter we were. Ask your student to show or tell you about molecules in cold milk, a warm breeze, and a shoe. 
• 4th graders are starting their organisms and environments unit. Last week, we practiced making microscope slides and looking at them under the microscope. This week, we looked at algae from pond water under the microscope to see if we could find any moving protozoans. We also looked at onion slides with a drop of dye and a leaf. We talked about the food chain and how life might be different if certain objects in the food chain did not exist. Ask your student to tell you how to create a slide for the microscope and what some of these objects looked like when magnified.

I've been trying my best to take pictures of the students during their activities, although sometimes I get so caught up in helping and teaching that I completely forget to take pictures! In any case, you can always view our latest photographs on our class Instagram by searching for @MrsKarasClass through the app on your smart phone. You can also view the pictures on the web by using this link.

My classes are also trying to find time to tweet at the end of each class. They would love some readers and even a response or two! You can view our tweets at www.twitter.com/MrsKHasClass. Anyone can read our messages -- not just those that have Twitter accounts. You must have a Twitter account to reply to one of our tweets, but it's quick and easy to sign up!

Have a terrific weekend!