Bubbles

Early in January we watched a time lapse bubble as it was freezing.

Naturally, they had many questions so we decided it would be a good idea to do our own investigation.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.  In order to investigate we needed freezing temperatures.  On Tuesday, February 13th, the weather cooperated, we had 30 degrees to help us investigate.

The students  blew bubbles, caught them and observed them.  Some of them saw the texture change.  Some students waited long enough until the bubble froze and when they tapped it, it held it's form.

Marble Party

The students earned another marble party!

They voted to have another electronic party. We will have the party after lunch on Friday, February 23rd.  Students are welcome to bring electronic devices from home to use during that time.  They are responsible for them and will be able to choose school appropriate activities.  Students have access to chrome books in the classroom, they can use that for their electronic device also.  They may also bring games from home that they would like to play.

I look forward to celebrating how amazing the students are on Friday.

Football Helmets

After the Superbowl, the students learned about why football players need helmets while most other sports do not.  They wrote an evidence statement explaining why they needed helmets.  Most students wrote about how football players tackle each other and when they are hit their heads can be shaken in their helmets or rattled when they hit the ground.  This shaking can cause concussions.  Concussions can lead to memory loss and the inability of the brain to work properly for a short period of time and sometimes the damage can last longer.

Students also created football players to go with their evidence statement.

In addition, a couple of Environmental Studies students from the high school are currently working on a project to determine if using horse hoof material would make a better helmet that could eliminate or dramatically reduce concussions.  The students loved hearing about their project and how they have had some problems in creating their helmet, but found solutions to their problems.

The high school students sharing their project with inquisitive 2nd graders.

These are the students explanations of why football players need helmets with their football players.

Masks

Yesterday we had the opportunity to learn from Beth from the Boise Art Museum.  She came to our classroom and taught the students about Mexican and African masks.  After the presentation, they got to create their own mask.  Hopefully the masks made it home yesterday so you could see them.  They did a great job!