Magic Magnets

We have learned a little bit about magnets with Rocket Ryan this year and we've also learned a little bit about force and motion. Last week we learned how these two things go together. 

To get started, I put a whole bunch of different things on the tables for the children to explore. They had scissors, tuna cans, coins, batteries, erasers, crayons, paper, aluminum foil, paperclips, and staples. 

By the way, these 1$ seasonal chip and dip plates from Wal Mart are life savers! I use them for snacks, crafts, experiments, you name it! 

Before they could dig in to all of the fun stuff, they had to look at it or touch it and decide whether or not they thought that it would be magnetic. We talked about predicting again and that sometimes what we think might happen might not actually happen. I emphasized again that it's ok to predict something and not get it "right". To help them remember, we used pens this time! We talked about how when you don't predict the right thing you are learning about what really happens and making great observations. 

After we made our predictions, I let the kids just dig in and try out their stuff. They had to record whether or not the item was magnetic and whether or not their prediction was correct. 

After everyone had a chance to try everything out we discussed what we found. We talked about what surprised us. We learned that most of us (including me until Mrs. Smith taught me better!) thought that anything that was metal would be magnetic. The children shared that they thought that the coins would be magnetic and they were surprised when they weren't. They also didn't really expect the battery to be magnetic, but it was. I explained to them that even I thought that anything metal was magnetic for the longest time and that now I know the saying "Magnets inc." (Thank you Mrs. Smith!). Only items that have iron, nickel, or cobalt are actually magnetic. I loved having this conversation with them and showing them that even adults sometimes don't know everything and have misconceptions about the world around us! I also loved having them share the things they didn't understand so that we could learn why we weren't correct. 

Afterwards, we joined back up and group and learned how magnets can make an invisible force. We remember that a force is a push or a pull and while we were working some of the children noticed that magnets "pull" on magnetic objects and attract objects to themselves. 

I gave each partner pair magnets and had them try to put them together. When we put the different poles together we noticed that the magnets attracted or pulled toward one another. 

Then I had one child flip their magnet over and try again. That's when we realized that magnets can actually "push" as well! 

 

Here's a fun magnet trick! Magic Magnets! I showed the children how magnets with like poles will push away from each other like magic!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

As most of you know, I just love Dr. Seuss's birthday. What a fun excuse to have a good time reading!

To celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday we had a fun activity each day with a favorite Dr. Seuss book to go along with it. 

On Monday we read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and all of the children got to wear their favorite hat to school. 

Tuesday we read Bartholomew and the Oobleck.. What is Oobleck you ask?? Well, it is a gooey, icky, sticky green substance that covers the whole kingdom!

Or a non-Newtonian substance that has both characteristics of solids and liquids. 

Whichever. :)

We read the story, which has a great moral. The king is not very nice and he is very prideful and can only save his kingdom by admitting his guilt in the situation and apologizing. 

Afterwards, we made our own Oobleck. 

Want to make some at home? Here's what you need!

First, add a few drops of green food coloring to your water if you want authentic Seuss Oobleck. You can use any color that you'd like. Then add one cup of cornstarch and one cup of water in a large mixing bowl. 

Next, stir and stir and stir and stir and stir. Adding cornstarch and water as necessary until it is almost impossible to stir anymore!

 Finally, dig in and enjoy playing with this crazy stuff!

After we made our Oobleck and experimented with it a little bit, we discussed whether or not it was a solid or a liquid. Many of the children seemed to think it was both. When I asked them why they explained that you can pour it like a liquid, but you can make it into a ball like a solid. It will mold to the shape of its container like a liquid, but then feels hard to the touch like a solid. What smart Oobleck scientists!

Wednesday's fun book was The Lorax. We read the story and then we talked about what the word "Unless" really means. We all wore green and talked about ways that we can help keep our Earth from meeting the same fate as the Truffula Trees. 

Then we made our own Truffula trees to help us remember. 

Thursday we read one of my absolute favorite Dr. Seuss stories, I Wish That I Had Duck Feet. The children were allowed to dress up in animal clothing of their choice. Don't they look adorable?!

We also did a fun writing activity. The children had to choose which animal body part they would like to have, what would be good or fun about it, and what would be the downside of having it. They modeled the style of the story and did a fantastic job writing about which animal parts they would like to have!

We ended up missing our PJ day on Friday because of snow, but when we got back on Monday we read 

I Am Not Getting Out of Bed Today. 

We had so much fun reading these fun stories and interacting with the text!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!