Week of January 8 - 11

Hello, everyone!

Our first week back to school went so well. Here's a look at what we did in the lab this week:

• Kindergarten: Because of our Teacher Work Day on Monday, I didn't get to see my kinder friends this week. I'm looking forward to seeing them next Monday, though!
• 1st grade: We learned about clouds this week. Specifically, we learned about the different types of clouds and what they look like. Home extension: go outside with your student and "cloud watch" with them. Allow your student to try to identify the types of clouds in the sky.
• 2nd grade: We started week 1 of our two week project on pendulums and how things move. This week, we answered the question, "Will the mass of a pendulum affect its swing?" Home extension: ask your student to tell you about week 1 of our pendulum project and describe some ways that objects can move.
• 3rd grade: We started week 1 of our two week project over planets in the solar system. This week, we learned more about each planet and how big each planet is. Home extension: With your student, research why Pluto is not considered a planet anymore, and have your student tell you about each of the 8 remaining planets.
• 4th grade: We investigated mass and density by measuring various liquids' mass, and then adding them to our "density tower." Students were able to predict the layers of the tower based on physical properties, and then they had an opportunity to change their hypothesis after they learned the masses of all the liquids. It ended up looking pretty neat! Home extension: if you have any of the liquids or materials listed on this experiment page, feel free to try this investigation at home. Because of time constraints in class, we didn't have an opportunity to investigate all of the materials listed on Steve Spangler's experiment page, so... try it at home!