Hot Air Balloon Race Fun!

Every September in Reno (about 30 minutes West of where we live) they hold Hot Air Balloon Races.  This year as part of a STEM class I attended over the summer, my class and one other class got the opportunity to go on a field trip to be part of it.  We made model hot air balloons with our class, and then got to launch them with other schools in the area.

We spent the first two weeks of school during science time working on making our balloons using tissue paper and glue sticks.

We used the directions that are posted here.

The big day finally arrived!  It was a Friday, so the kids got to wear their regular clothes instead of their usual uniforms.  Luke and his buddy still ended up wearing matching clothes!  They made me take a twins picture!  Not sure why the Lunchables made a photobombing appearance - lol!

Then we loaded up on the bus. This was actually my first field trip on a bus as a teacher!  We haven't had the funding for field trips, so I was excited to get this one paid for through a grant!

When we got to the hot air balloon races, volunteers were on hand to fill up our hot air balloons and launch them.  Some were more successful than others and we got the opportunity to rethink our designs.

We had a blast chasing the balloons as they came down!

So much fun - but exhausting too!

Luke was definitely tuckered out!

If you haven't entered my 700 follower giveaway, head over and enter!

Five For Friday February 21 - With a Few FREEBIES

Time for Five For Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!  It was a short week, but a busy week nonetheless!

We had fun playing math games this week.  One of the favorites was this freebie from Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge. 

You can download it free (without the badge) here.

We also have been loving this equivalent fraction bump-it  game from Classroom Game Nook.

You can download it free here.

I can't believe that I forgot to post this last week - must have been the excitement from Valentine's Day!  But... I bought my ticket to the TpT conference this summer and am soooo excited!

Is anyone else going?  I am looking forward to meeting some of my bloggy pals in real life!

I have an extra duty position as a drama director for the Intermediate School in our town (5th and 6th grade).  We started rehearsals for our Spring production this week.  They have been amazing - and I am blessed with their talent!

While we were rehearsing, Luke kept himself busy doing his homework.  He got really quiet, and I went to check on him, and I had to snap this adorable picture!

I got a nice surprise mid-week when I stopped at Starbuck's for my usual morning treat to find out that the car in front of me had paid for my order!  It was a fairly big order to because I ordered for me and two of my boys.  The boys thought it was amazing to have someone do that for you.  So... we decided to pay it forward the next day!  Somehow, the Starbuck's tasted even better after our random act of kindness!

We also had our science fair this week, and one of my students was a top place finisher!  She will be going to the regional competition for the third year in a row!  I am so proud of her!

If you have a science fair coming up soon and are looking for some graphic organizers to help your students focus on the scientific process, you may want to check out Let's Enter The Science Fair - Graphic Organizers.  22 pages of science fair goodies!

The first three people to comment with their email address will receive free copy!

Can You Poke a Stick Through A Balloon Without Popping It? Learning About Polymers

During our morning meeting I asked my kiddos what would happen if I poked a bamboo skewer through a balloon.  Of course they said it would pop.  Are you sure? I asked them and then showed them the balloon above. Oohs and Ahhs abounded along with, "Mrs. Malloy, how did you do that?"

So... in my best teacher bribery way I told them that if they worked really hard and productively all day, I would teach them how to do it (of course I planned on teaching them how to anyway since it was in my lesson plan, but they didn't have to know that right?).

When the time for science finally came around, I told them that we were going to practice their skills of observation.  I was going to SHOW them how to do it, but I wasn't going to TELL them how.  I silently demonstrated and then handed out supplies.

Balloons were blown.

And then they attempted to poke.  A few balloons popped, but most of the students were successful on their first try.

And once they tasted success, they had to add a challenge - let's see who can poke the most sticks into the balloon without popping it!

 

Eleven was our class record!

 

 

The trick? Put vegetable oil on the stick to make it a little easier (optional) - then insert the stick at the bottom part (where the balloon is tied) and exit through the strongest part at the other end.

 



We then watched this video to learn about what polymers are:


And finished the lesson by making our own human polymer chains!

 

We will be learning about how scientists use polymers to clean up oil spills using a kit from Steve Spangler soon, but I wanted to give them a brief introduction before.  They loved it!

Why We Shouldn't Waste Water - FREEBIES

We have been working on a unit our unit for Common Core Standard RI.3.3 - Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
We had previously compared the amount of water and land on the Earth.

Today we learned why we shouldn't waste water even though there is so much of it on the Earth.

I started by asking the kiddos to name all of the ways that they used water.  I had them come up to the SmartBoard to write their answers (for some reason writing on the SmartBoard has been a great motivator).

Here were some of their ideas (please forgive their misspelling - I wanted to get through this part without correcting them).

Then I had them look at the inflatable globe to remind me how much of the Earth was covered with water.  I asked them, "If there is so much water on the Earth, why do we always talk about saving water?" I used the inflatable globe as a discussion monitor.  They couldn't talk unless they were holding the globe which I threw to them if they raised their hand.

After we discussed their ideas (which included because water costs so much - in our town it does), I asked them to make a prediction about how much water on the Earth is drinkable. 

They wrote their predictions on index cards.





Then we talked about how much it really was.  They were surprised to see that we really have a small amount - just a drop really!

 Then I had them write a paragraph comparing their original prediction to the results from our model.

 I will be putting this unit together in a complete unit, but, for now, here is the lesson plan from today including how to model the amount of water on the Earth. 



Here is the lesson plan for this activity. 

Comparing Water and Land on the Earth

Today we started our unit for Common Core Standard RI.3.3 - Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

I decided to create a unit that revolved around Earth Day since that is coming up soon.

We started with a scientific and mathematical exploration of how much land and water there is on the Earth.  To simulate this, I threw an inflatable globe for the students to catch.  They had to tell me where their thumbs landed, on the land or on water.

A student then kept a tally of the results on our new Smart Board.  (YES! I am super exicted - we just got it two weeks ago, so I no longer have Smart Board envy!).

After a few rounds, I had them make predictions about how many times it would land on each if we threw it 100 times. I needed to remind a few that their totals needed to equal 100 - a fun little mini-math lesson! We continued on and finished with the results below:

I let them look at the globe and answer how close their predictions were, and why they thought we came up with the results that we did. 

Here were some responses: