Thursday, May 22nd: We finished Goodnight Oppy and there were some wet eyes in the crowd. We then played a Kahoot! to test the kids new found knowledge of the Solar System.
Wednesday, May 21st: The kids performed wonderfully at the Spring Concert this morning. Back in class, we discussed past human exploration of space and what can possible lay ahead. We start watching Goodnight Oppy and will finish that tomorrow. It is a documentary about Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit. By the end there will not be many dry eyes in the class, becuase they will become attached to this hunk of metal that seems to have a life.
Tuesday, May 20th: We talked about models throughout the year, and today, we tried creating a model of the solar system. We started the day by looking at Ptolemy's geocentric model (Earth at the center), Galileo's heliocentric model (Sun in the center) with only six planets, to modern textbooks, 3D representations, and posters. What did we find out... they are all bad! Today was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the students to create a good model. First, we had to develop the scale. 1 kilometer to 6,000,000 kilometers. Then we did the math. Because of time and age, each group did the math for their planet and one or two more. We then shared the data and confirmed the work. In the end, we had the scale diameters of the Sun/planets and the distance of the bodies from the Sun. We started with the Sun at the end of College Ave (across from the school). We next walked out the planets. 9.7 meters to Mercury. Another 8.3 meters to Venus. A short walk to Earth of 7.0 meters. Onto Mars, another 13 meters from Earth. The model would keep going to the amphitheater at Montclair State, where Neptune would be 750 meters from the Sun (4,500,000,000 km). We would have to go much farther to account for the Kuiper Belt (where Pluto lives) and the Oort Cloud. We would have to walk to Relais-Gabriel, Quebec , to include the rest of those in our model. Where is that? About 700 miles north of Quebec City.
At the end of this unique learning experience, our students gained a profound understanding of the solar system's vastness, its emptiness, and the fact that the Sun contains a staggering 99.86% of all matter. They also realized the challenges of creating an accurate model, a task they may never encounter again. This understanding deepened their appreciation for the complexity and scale of our solar system.
One last note... with the best possible model the kids will ever see of the solar system... ours could have been better because we had all the planets lined up.
At the end of this unique learning experience, our students gained a profound understanding of the solar system's vastness, its emptiness, and the fact that the Sun contains a staggering 99.86% of all matter. They also realized the challenges of creating an accurate model, a task they may never encounter again. This understanding deepened their appreciation for the complexity and scale of our solar system.
One last note... with the best possible model the kids will ever see of the solar system... ours could have been better because we had all the planets lined up.
Monday, May 19th: I am proud of the work the kids did for their presentations. They have shown significant improvement in their research, slide creation, and especially their presentation abilities (confidence, eye contact, clarity, and audience connection). They took the title "Creative Writing about the Solar System" to the max. There were Hikuis for each planet, debates about if we could survive without the sun, fan fiction brought to our solar system, stories of planets misbehaving and having to deal with their dad (the sun), plays... plenty of plays performed with enthusiasm and one even included an original song with a choreographed dance.
Friday, May 16th: The kids spent the class completing their creative writing project from yesterday. They will present on Monday.
Thursday, May 15th: We started class by finishing up the writing lesson on ThinkCerca. Once they were done, they had another writing project that they were not happy to hear about. However, once they found out the details, they were excited. The assignment is a creative writing project. They have a lot of leeway on what they can produce... a story, a play, a group of poems tied to one topic, a graphic novel, a brochure, a debate... The kids will have a few days to work on this and share.
Wednesday, May 14th: A few weeks ago, they did a writing assignment for the new program, ThinkCerca. The results came back with suggestions for the kids to improve their writing skills, but two pieces were universal... they did not cite evidence from the readings, and the writing could have been more cohesive. Yesterday, the kids read about scientists' obstacles in building a probe to go to the Sun. For practice, they needed to write down any evidence they came across. Today, we shared the evidence. Hoping they understand, the kids tackled another ThinkCerca writing assignment. This also focused on finding evidence and writing a summary. The article was about gravity, so it worked nicely with our classroom work. Some of the kids need a little more time, so we will spend part of tomorrow's class finishing up. We will go over the results and look more into gravity.
Tuesday, May 13th: We did it. We reached the end of our solar system. We closed by learning about the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. The kids have gotten used to working with distances in AU (astronomical units) instead of miles. The distance become to great to talk about miles, so scientists came up the the Astronomical Unit or the distance of the Earth to the Sun or about 93,000,000 miles. So when they found out the Oort cloud is thought to be 100,000 AU from the Sun, they could really understand of the tremendous size of the solar system.
Monday, May 12th: More presentations today. We are almost to the end!
Friday, May 9th: NJSLA testing is done. We used the rest of our class time with student presentations.
Thursday, May 8th: Day One of NJSLA-ELA is in the books. One more day to go. We had some more class time today and were able to cover Earth, asteroid belt, Jupiter, and Saturn. Making progress.
Wednesday, May 7th: NJSLA-Science... Done. NJSLA-Math... Done. The kids started presenting their solar system projects to the class. We didn't get to far today, but space is really big... HaHa. We covered the Sun, Mercury, and Venus.
Tuesday, May 6th: Day two of NJSLA Math is in the books. We started class with an overview of the universe and galaxy. Huge topics, but we only a small amount of time to cover them... very briefly. This set us up to begin our presentations on the solar system.
Monday, May 5th: Short class because of the NJSLA. Today was the first of three days of Math. The assessment is only 60 minutes, but it takes some time to get started. It was faster than last week. The kids put the finishing touches on their solar system project, which they will begin to present tomorrow.
Friday, May 2nd: Revolution test over in Social Studies today. When the kids finished, they worked on the solar system project.
Thursday, May 1st: Day one of the NJSLA-Science in the books. The kids handled it well and are ready to wrap itup tomorrow. Next week, we will be testing ELA and Math.
Back to science class... The kids were put into random groups and given a planet to research. They will present their work to the class later this week.
Back to science class... The kids were put into random groups and given a planet to research. They will present their work to the class later this week.
Thursday, March 20th: It is done! The kids took their Earth's Systems unit test today. I started grading while kids were testing and they look pretty good. Come back in a month or so when we explore our solar system.
Wednesday, March 19th: Class time was split between reviewing the Earth's Systems and an introduction to the American Revolution. The kids should be ready for tomorrow's test. If you want to test them or yourself... click here for our Earth's Systems Kahoot!
Tuesday, March 18th: We went over the whole study guide and the kids should have a perfect piece to study from for the test on Thursday. Here is an example of a completed and corrected student study guide.
Monday, March 17th: In my absence, the kids worked on their Earth's Systems study guide. Tomorrow, we will go over it as a class.
Friday, March 14th: The heavy lifting is done. We completed our atmosphere model! This was the end of the Earth's Systems unit for science. I will be out on Monday for the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade. It's not what you think. I work at the Cathedral for the Mass and then escort the Grand Marshal up 5th Avenue. I have left a study guide for the kids to fill out with answers from their notebooks. On Tuesday, we will go over the study guide and review it in a couple of different ways. The test will be on Thursday, March 20th.
Thursday, March 13th: Atmosphere. It was all about the atmosphere today. The kids were put into groups of two and given a question to research. Next, we got together and started building a model of the atmosphere. This is a two-day project, so the kids will finish it tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 12th: We finished discussing the Water Cycle and focused on the distribution of water on Earth. This was half refresher and half new information (going deeper). The kids then created a model of the distribution of water on Earth. Spoiler alert: There is a lot of salt water. But why? Ask your kid. All the water on Earth started as freshwater (from space). Take a look at the model that we made below.
Tuesday, March 11th: The kids presented their water cycle research and completed their models. It turns out there are more steps than they thought there were.
Monday, March 10th: In the next few days, we will dive into the Water Cycle. Sure, the kids know evaporation, condensation, and precipitation... but there is more! The kids worked in pairs or alone (the sticks decided the groupings) to become the experts for one part. We started presenting at the end of class and will finish up tomorrow.
Friday, March 7th: The kids had to escape from a mad scientist's lab. They used their knowledge of rocks, the rock cycle, and their wits to escape from room to room until they were free! The kids had a lot of fun and reinforced the items we discussed this week.
Thursday, March 6th: We finished our wild ride on the rock cycle. What at first seemed wildly confusing today came together to make sense.
Wednesday, March 5th: The kids learned more about rocks than they thought possible. We began our study of the rock cycle and defined the terms and processes. They should be able to tell you the difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rock. Fingers crossed. We were even able to tie the rock cycle to plate tectonics.
Tuesday, March 4th: We started class with the kids on IXL ELA. Ms. Cuppari needs to focus her 90 minutes on the CKLA lesson, so that is why the kids will begin my class with this work. Once we started, the kids looked into their crystal balls and saw what the Earth would look like in 300 million years. They used what they learned about plate tectonics and their imagination to create models. We also got a preview of the rock cycle and watch a parody video that also laid out our upcoming work.
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Monday, March 3rd: All the classes finished learning about Plate Tectonics. We spent time using Google Earth to find the plate boundaries by looking for mountain ranges, ridges, trenches, and volcanoes. I think the kids have a new view of the Earth's surface. There was also a couple of new parody videos. Check them out by clicking on the "VIDEOS" tab.
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Friday, February 28th: It turns out Alfred Wegener was not a crazy, crazy man (you kid can explain this or check out the video under the "videos" tab). In 1910, he couldn't prove his hypothesis about Continental Drift in his lifetime. Geologists needed a better understanding of the broken crust and the reasons behind it. It all started coming together with the US Navy in the 1960's... Hopefully, your kid can fill in some of the blanks. This planet is truly amazing!
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Thursday, February 27th: Check off biomes. The kids completed their models and we spent a good part of the class discussing why different biomes exist where they do.
Wednesday, February 26th: Almost done. We will need the start of class tomorrow to finish the Biome Model. Then, on to continental drift... or is it plate tectonics?
Tuesday, February 25th: Biomes. It was all about Biomes today. We began making our World Biome Map based on the kid's research from yesterday. Each kid has a copy of the map below for their notebooks and will keep adding to it tomorrow.
Monday, February 24th: We put our knowledge of the Earth's System to the test today. The kids looked at the picture to the right and had to find examples of each sphere in the picture. The kids then shared their work with the class. The rest of the class time was spent on researching for our next model... Biomes. Each group of two or three kids got a biome to research. They will share what they learned tomorrow and create a complete biome model as a class. It should be fun!
We watched a touching video on biomes, which is below.
Last item... In one class, we discussed the big freeze in Detroit last week—crazy stuff. A water main broke, flooded an area, and froze solid with many cars. That led to a talk about Detroit... the good times, then the bad times, and now getting better. This website shows the decline of the city and what happens when half your population moves away... https://www.detroiturbex.com/
We watched a touching video on biomes, which is below.
Last item... In one class, we discussed the big freeze in Detroit last week—crazy stuff. A water main broke, flooded an area, and froze solid with many cars. That led to a talk about Detroit... the good times, then the bad times, and now getting better. This website shows the decline of the city and what happens when half your population moves away... https://www.detroiturbex.com/
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Friday, February 21st: Most of the classes finished the Earth's Spheres Model. Over the next couple of days, we will spend time going deeper into each of the spheres... should be fun! Here's our finished work...
Thursday, February 20th: Today, we actually got into our unit on the Earth's System... four main subsystems or spheres... hydrosphere (water), biosphere (life), geosphere (rock) and atmosphere (air). Today's goal: I can develop a model to describe Earth's four major systems. How did we do... not to bad. We got through the background and two systems. We will finish the other two tomorrow. The students have the same picture in their notebooks that I have on the board and are adding notes and finding examples. I will include a picture of our model tomorrow. I guide the students, but the information we write down comes from them.
Wednesday, February 19th: We began our new unit with an introduction to Earth's Spheres. We will focus on the biosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere and how they interact. It will be a fun unit that will connect the knowledge they already have while introducing greater depth to them. The kids will view the Earth in a whole new light and appreciation.
Wednesday, January 15th: The kids showed what they know about matter and energy in organisms and ecosystems. Once they finished, the kids got to present their symbiotic research. Tomorrow is book chat and back to social studies. Come back in a month or so to find out about our exploration of the Earth Systems unit.
Tuesday, January 14th: Winter Concert Day! The kids got to perform for the all the kids in the school. Tonight, they will do it again for the parents and friends. Just to make sure you are up to date... the Bradford Winter Concert will be in the multipurpose room (gym) at Bradford. Drop off for performers is 5:30 and the concert begins at 6:00. In class, we reviewed matter and energy in ecosystems and played a Kahoot! about symbiosis. We will not be having a "test". More like a quiz. The kids do not need to study.
Friday, January 10th: The kids had half the class time to finish their Symbiotic Relationships Project. We will share those on Monday. The kids participated in a restorative justice circle with the other half of the class time. Don't forget to remind your kid to finish their book chat book.
Thursday, January 9th: The kids began their work on the Symbiotic Relationships Project. Each student picked from a hat a biome that they will research to find example of the three kinds of symbiosis. The need to create a slide that is clear, full of great and accurate information, and looks awesome. All that on one Slide. It will be a challenge, but I know they have it in them.
Wednesday, January 8th: We looked at relationships today. Not the ones that you have to talk about starting in middle school, but symbiotic relationships. We looked at different examples and even heard a couple of parodies. The kids finished the class discussing the upcoming research symbiotic relationships project. Ask your kid if they can explain mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.
Tuesday, January 7th: Ecosystems. Today was all about ecosystems. The kids learned that an ecosystem is all the living and non-living things that interact with one another in a given area. We watched videos of a desert and coral reef ecosystem and figured out what was biotic and abiotic. Those are a few of the fancy science words we have been using. Another fun set of words was autotroph and heterotroph. The idea is that the kids will use the correct terminology and not memorize definitions, allowing them a deeper understanding of the material. They will also sound 10% smarter... haha.
Monday, January 6th: Book Chat took place today, and next week will be the last week for these books. The kids should finish their book for the following Monday's class. We finished our science class lesson on the Flow of Energy and Matter. We compared food chains and food webs to find out which gives us a better understanding of the system. Spoiler alert... food web is better because it shows all possible feeding relationships. Some classes got to a discussion of producers, herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.
Friday, January 3rd: What a waste! We discovered that only 10% of energy is transferred from level to level in a food chain or web. We looked at both of those today. The kids also got a fuller picture of photosynthesis, including how and why. We even worked on the chemical reaction...
Thursday, January 2nd: New year... new topic. We started our unit on Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems. I love this unit because it takes many subjects that the students have learned over the years and connects them. It also connects the kids to everything around them. We started with the basics of energy and matter and how they flow through all living things. We talked a lot about killer whales if it comes up in conversation.
Friday, December 20th: Let the races begin! The kids had time to make final adjustments to their racecars before the timed runs began. We started by timing each car to figure out how to set up the brackets. Maybe it is because today is the last day of school before winter break, or they just loved the races, but either way... they went wild!!! The winner from each class meet at the end of the day to find out who would be the 2024 Bradford International Drag Strip Champion.
Classroom Winners
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5P/A/C
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5th Grade Winner
The car #1 from Mr. Barry's class was the overall victor
Thursday, December 19th: How about engineering project? The kids were tasked with building a racecar while staying within a budget. They designed, built, tested, and went back to the drawing board multiple times. Tomorrow, they will have time to finish "tuning" their cars and then we race! The winner from each class will face off at the end of the day to find the 2024 Bradford Race Champion.
Tuesday, November 12th: Opportunity to show what you know day, or maybe you call it Test Day, is finally here!!! The tests still need to be graded, but I will have them for the kids tomorrow. The quick overview showed that the kids following the labs, taking notes, and participating... did well. Some kids struggled a little, but there is a silver lining. They may realize what they are doing in class needs to be fixed and will make changes.
One class had a little less time because of the speeches in the morning, so those kids will have extra time to finish tomorrow.
One class had a little less time because of the speeches in the morning, so those kids will have extra time to finish tomorrow.
Monday, November 11th: The kids loved our Kahoot! game and it is a great way to review material. We will have our test tomorrow, Tuesday. The kids were allowed to take their notebooks home. They don't need to study them or memorize definitions. They should look over the experiments. Most important... they need to bring the notebooks back to school.
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5L
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Wednesday, November 6th: The kids were intro to the Age or Exploration. We had a pre-assessment to get a feel for what the kids already know and to give them some insight into what awaits them. We then looked at the topics we will be covering over the next month. Science review is Monday and test on Tuesday.
Monday, November 4th: We had a double whammy today: a good number of kids out and shortened classes. I decided to change gears and have the review next Monday (11/11) and the test on Tuesday (11/12). Wednesday (11/6) will be an introduction to the age of exploration. Now, the kids won't have to worry if they are out for this week or need to study over the days off.
Thursday, October 31st: We answered our final Focus Question: How can we identify the products from the baking soda and calcium chloride reaction? The kids applied the practices and knowledge they learned over the last few weeks to answer the question. They know that calcium carbonate will not react/be soluble in water but will react with vinegar. Today, the precipitate was dry, and we mixed it with the vinegar, and it reacted! Lots of bubbling, which the kids knew was carbon dioxide and signs of a chemical reaction. The last part was the evaporation of the solution which has NaCl crystals forming... squares with an "x".
Next week, we will start reviewing tomorrow, and depending on how that goes... we may have our test on Wednesday. If the review does not go as well as expected... we will take the test the following week. Don't worry about studying. The kids will use their notebooks for the test, and all the questions come from the experiments/investigations. It will be OK.
Next week, we will start reviewing tomorrow, and depending on how that goes... we may have our test on Wednesday. If the review does not go as well as expected... we will take the test the following week. Don't worry about studying. The kids will use their notebooks for the test, and all the questions come from the experiments/investigations. It will be OK.
Wednesday, October 30th: After going over the chemical equation below again with the kids, they said they knew what was in their Cup 1. But how? Because I told them there is salt, water, and calcium carbonate? I asked them to prove it to me. The class discussed ways to determine the substances. They used their new knowledge gained from the lessons over the last couple of weeks and came up with...
* Use a paper filter to separate the precipitate from the liquid. Calcium chloride is not soluble in water, but is with vinegar. If it dissolves... proves that it was calcium chloride.
* Weigh 50mL of the solution. If it weighs more than 50g, it must be a salt solution.
* Pour solution into evaporation dish. If salt crystals form in the shape of a square with an "X"... proves the salt solution.
* Use a paper filter to separate the precipitate from the liquid. Calcium chloride is not soluble in water, but is with vinegar. If it dissolves... proves that it was calcium chloride.
* Weigh 50mL of the solution. If it weighs more than 50g, it must be a salt solution.
* Pour solution into evaporation dish. If salt crystals form in the shape of a square with an "X"... proves the salt solution.
Tuesday, October 29th: The kids mixed two substances with 50mL of water today. The difference this time was what happened... a chemical reaction. The kids recorded what they observed from each of the three mixtures. It could be temperature change, gasses formed, or precipitate settling out. Sometimes, it was all of them in one cup! The kids were left wondering about the precipitate. We saved that cup and will later figure out the new substance! Here is the chemical reaction equation for the cup with the precipitate...
Monday, October 28th: Chemical reactions will be our final area to cover. We had shortened classes today because of our trip to MSU and class pictures, but we got some excellent work done and will be ready to hit the ground running with our lab work tomorrow. I showed the kids a chemical reaction equation. Equations are not something they will need to know at this point in their science careers. Some kids find it interesting, some don't care, and others want to know more and try other equations. Here is the chemical equation for photosynthesis...
Friday, October 25th: The kids have reached saturation with the study of saturations. We learned that soluble substances could be identified by the mass it takes to saturate 50mL of water. They finished the unit by identifying a mystery substance using this method. They were given a solubility table and saturated 50mL of water. Ihe 67g of mystery substance saturates 50mL of water, so of course, it must be citric acid. Next week, we will investigate chemical reactions, which will close out science.
We will have our test the week of 11/4. To be fair, there are only two days of school that week, so it will be Monday or Wednesday. We will review prior to the test, and the kids will use their notebooks for the test. The answers to all the questions should be in their notebooks. Fingers crossed!
We will have our test the week of 11/4. To be fair, there are only two days of school that week, so it will be Monday or Wednesday. We will review prior to the test, and the kids will use their notebooks for the test. The answers to all the questions should be in their notebooks. Fingers crossed!
Thursday, October 24th: We know it takes about 15g of NaCl to saturate 50mL of water. Is that true for all soluble substances? Epsom salt or magnesium sulfate heptahydrate was today's solute. The groups add one scoop of Epsom salt at a time to 50mL. They were not surprised that it dissolved in the water. They were astonished at how much was needed to get the solution saturated. The picture to the right shows the saturated solution. You can see the solute that could not dissolve in the solvent and fell to the bottom. It took more than three times as much solute today. So, the answer is... no, it takes different amount of solutes to saturate 50mL of water.
Wednesday, October 23: Is there a limit to the amount of salt that will dissolve in 50 mL of water? That was our question to explore today. The kids used prior labs to assist in getting to about 15g by using filters, digital scales, logic, math, and a whole lot of shaking. Tomorrow we will find out if other salts saturate 50mL of water at the same rate.
Tuesday, October 22nd: We completed the investigation about Liquid Layers. The kids were given four different concentrations of salt solutions. They know that density is based on the mass per unit volume, which means that the greater the concentration, the greater the density. They had to stack the liquids in the correct order, or the column would mix. It took a bit of work and logic, but they got there.
Can you see the different density layers? Blue is the most dense, so it is on the bottom. That is followed by yellow and green. Finally, the least dense is the red sitting on top.
Their Focus Question was "What is the relationship between salt-solution concentration and density?" Their experiment could answer the question of density. They made the connection that concentration must go hand and hand with density. How can we prove this? The kids came up with getting 50 mL of each solution and finding their mass. Bingo! The solution with the greatest mass was the one with the greatest density.
Can you see the different density layers? Blue is the most dense, so it is on the bottom. That is followed by yellow and green. Finally, the least dense is the red sitting on top.
Their Focus Question was "What is the relationship between salt-solution concentration and density?" Their experiment could answer the question of density. They made the connection that concentration must go hand and hand with density. How can we prove this? The kids came up with getting 50 mL of each solution and finding their mass. Bingo! The solution with the greatest mass was the one with the greatest density.
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Monday, October 21st: We started class by reviewing last week's lessons since the new labs are based on prior work. Our final lab for concentrations is liquid Layers. The kids learned that density is based on the mass per unit volume. The kids had to explain why the 5g weight sunk in on solution, but floated in the other. For our new work, this means that the greater the concentration, the greater the density. To prove this, tomorrow, the kids will build a density column. The colored solutions will layer based on the density of different solutions.
Friday, October 18th: We finished the week with mystery solutions. The kids had to work out their procedures to find the most and least concentrated of the three solutions. This time, they couldn't taste or smell a difference or see a color difference that would help. They had to get the answer from what they learned over the last week's experiments. They used balances to get their results and then checked their work on the scales. They did it perfectly!
Thursday, October 17th: How can you determine which salt solution is more concentrated? The kids thought about yesterday's lesson, but realized a salt solution has no smell, is clear, and we can not taste it. What to do? After much hands-on work, the kids understood that we could determine the more concentrated salt solution by comparing the mass of equal volume. The heavier one is the more concentrated.
Wednesday, October 16th: Concentration. Not the game, but the ratio of solvent to solute. Your kid can tell you what those two words mean. Ok, we did have Kool-Aid today, but it was for science. The Kool-Aid or solute was used in different ratios to the water or solvent. We created both diluted and concentrated solutions. The solutions helped them understand the concept and it is Kool-Aid, so they enjoyed the experiment. Today was the exception to the rule for tasting in labs. They did not have to drink the Kool-Aid or taste it if they did not want to. If they did, I am sure they would not go wild with sugar, because they had maybe an ounce or two.
Different concentrations of Kool-Aid
Tuesday, October 15th: We were supposed to go to the Iris Gardens to paint pumpkins for the Gardens Aglow this Friday, but there was no nurse for the walk to the park. New policy says we can not leave the grounds without a nurse, and we have a limited number of trips we can take. Very limited. The kids made do and painted in the courtyard. Some parents volunteered to drive the pumpkins back to the park and place them for viewing.
Your kids might have complained about our class on Friday and maybe even... I am the worst teacher ever. They are not wrong. I am not a terrible teacher, but in order for them to understand the concept of a Black Box... I can not show them what is inside. I made a deal that they could ask me for one thing or one question, but it couldn't be to open the box. They asked if I could show them what is inside. That I could do. They saw the possible pieces inside their boxes and returned to their models. They were able to produce a better model with the new information, but I still won't show them the setup inside their boxes.
Your kids might have complained about our class on Friday and maybe even... I am the worst teacher ever. They are not wrong. I am not a terrible teacher, but in order for them to understand the concept of a Black Box... I can not show them what is inside. I made a deal that they could ask me for one thing or one question, but it couldn't be to open the box. They asked if I could show them what is inside. That I could do. They saw the possible pieces inside their boxes and returned to their models. They were able to produce a better model with the new information, but I still won't show them the setup inside their boxes.
Friday, October 12th: This was the most frustrating day the students ever had a Bradford. Why? We learned about Black Boxes, which are explanations of objects, events, or systems that cannot be observed directly. This lesson is to help the kids understand that there are phenomena that can be explained but not observed, like the atom, the core of the Earth, the Big Bang… So why was it so frustrating? The kids got a literal/figurative black box with something inside it. They had to determine what it looked like and create a conceptual model. They worked very hard and did a pretty good job, but they could not open the boxes and we will not. For some reason, this drives kids crazy. We will finish that lesson next Tuesday and continue to work on models to help explain matter.
Thursday, October 11th: The water evaporated from the salt water solution, leaving the kids with just the salt. However, it didn't look like the salt they initially added. The crystal structures created were pretty fascinating...
Separating a dry mix was today's lesson. The kids used everything they had done over the last week or so and had to devise a way to completely separate a cup of salt, powder (diatomaceous earth), and gravel. Each group started by agreeing on a procedure and recording that in their notebook. I checked to see if they had a procedure, not if it would work. Failure is okay in our labs. Quitting is not. The kids couldn't get a new cup of salt, powder, and gravel. They had to figure out how to make it work with what they had... and they did! A couple of groups were successful on their first attempt, however, most needed to figure out what was not working and make corrections. In the end, all the groups could separate the three substances.
Separating a dry mix was today's lesson. The kids used everything they had done over the last week or so and had to devise a way to completely separate a cup of salt, powder (diatomaceous earth), and gravel. Each group started by agreeing on a procedure and recording that in their notebook. I checked to see if they had a procedure, not if it would work. Failure is okay in our labs. Quitting is not. The kids couldn't get a new cup of salt, powder, and gravel. They had to figure out how to make it work with what they had... and they did! A couple of groups were successful on their first attempt, however, most needed to figure out what was not working and make corrections. In the end, all the groups could separate the three substances.
Wednesday, October 10th: How do you separate a salt solution? I told the kids that salt disappears when you mix salt and water, which must be true because I can't see salt in solution. The kids told me I was wrong, but I would not believe them unless they could scientifically prove their theory... the salt is still there, just dissolved in the water. Each group came up with procedures to prove that the salt was still in the solution by finding the mass of the water and salt and then comparing that to the mass of the saltwater solution. Boom! The weights were equal. The solutions are evaporating as we speak, and I hope for much progress tonight. I am working on the students using the correct terminology (solute, solvent, solution, mixture, dissolve...). Tomorrow, we will discuss how the lesson demonstrates the idea of the conservation of matter.
Tuesday, October 6th: The kids finished their first investigation of matter by making and separating mixtures. They had to make observations of their substances, which were Kosher salt, diatomaceous earth, and gravel. The different materials were mixed with water, and the kids had to separate them back out. It was interesting to see their thought processes on what would not work and why and what would work and why. The tricky part was separating the salt that had dissolved (not disappeared) in the water.
Monday, October 7th: We had beautiful weather for the MSU Field Day. The college students in the physical education program set up 9 stations for the kids to perform some type of activity. It is a win-win because the college students get firsthand experience while being observed by their teachers, and the Bradford students just plain love trying all the different stations.
Field Day is great for getting the kids out and moving around, but class time pays the price. We had to cut all the classes shorter, but we still got at least an hour of instruction time. Today, we transitioned from social studies to science. We started by going over The Land and Early People test on Wednesday. The kids did great, and the average grade was 88%. The kids taped their tests into their notebooks and were allowed to take them home to show you. They just need to make their way back before we start social studies again in a few weeks. The kids were introduced to our science topic, Matter, and set up their notebooks. We will begin using hands-on experiments to help us understand this topic tomorrow.
Field Day is great for getting the kids out and moving around, but class time pays the price. We had to cut all the classes shorter, but we still got at least an hour of instruction time. Today, we transitioned from social studies to science. We started by going over The Land and Early People test on Wednesday. The kids did great, and the average grade was 88%. The kids taped their tests into their notebooks and were allowed to take them home to show you. They just need to make their way back before we start social studies again in a few weeks. The kids were introduced to our science topic, Matter, and set up their notebooks. We will begin using hands-on experiments to help us understand this topic tomorrow.
