The Hurricane (Class story using Storybird.com)

The Hurricane on Storybird

Science Experiment: Making Ice Cream! (By N.R.)

I did this experiment so that, 1) the kids could have ice cream and, 2) to show what ingredients I had to use.

Directions:

·       Step 1: Put ice in the Ice Cream Ball on one side, and add ½ cup of ice. Close the side.

·       Step 2: Mix these ingredients in a bowl: 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1/2 cup cream and ½ teaspoon vanilla.

·       Step 3: Open the other side of the Ice Cream Ball and pour in the mixed ingredients. Close the side.

·       Step 4: Have a “ball”! Roll the ball to your friends for 10 to 15 minutes (but no kicking or throwing, or it can break).

·       Step 5: Open the ice cream side and use a spatula to empty out the ice cream. Serve and enjoy!

How does it work?

First watch the video to see what we did. The secret was to lower the freezing point of the ice! How did we do this? With salt! When salt is mixed with ice, it lowers the freezing point of the ice and causes it to melt. The more salt added, the lower the temperature will be before the salt-water solution freezes. Another way to say this is that the heat (energy) of the cream was sucked up (absorbed) with the help of the salt, and it’s called “endothermic”.

P.S. (An explanation for older kids) A 10% salt solution freezes at 20 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

If I Were a Pilgrim on the Mayflower... (Written by E.P.)

The Floating Candle Experiment (By J.P.)

When I was the P.Y.P. Very Important Person I wanted to bring an experiment into the class to show my friends. My mom and I looked for an experiment on the Internet and we found one that was about a candle.

The materials I needed were: a candle, bowl, water (with food color), and a glass.

Instructions:

1.    Pour some water into a bowl that can hold water. (I added blue food color to the water to make it easier to see).

2.    Place a lighted candle in the bowl (have an adult do this part).

3.    After lighting the candle, turn a glass upside down onto the bowl.

4.    Watch the water level. What happens?

Explanation: The water level goes up! The candle makes the air hot and the heat makes it expand (get bigger). When the flame goes out, the air gets cold and “shrinks”, and a “vacuum” is made. This vacuum (or air pressure) makes the water get “sucked up” inside the glass!

It was cool showing my classmates this experiment because they didn't know that the candle was going to float! After the first time, they wanted to do it again and again! Watch the video to see for yourself.

Migration Interviews (written by each group)- Where we are in Place & Time unit

Belgium: Belgium is next to France, Switzerland and Germany. We interviewed A. J’s mother, who was born in Belgium, and she told us of a story about a witch who wanted to freeze a boy. This is a famous story in Belgium, and there are different ways to tell the story. Another version of this story talks about a war and the boy peed on the bomb so that everyone would stop fighting. A.J.’s mother has maintained some things from her country, like pewter plates and crocheted placemats. What she had to adapt to when she moved to Ecuador was speaking in Spanish. In the end we all got to eat Belgian waffles!

Canada: We interviewed C. M.’s mother, who is from Canada. She showed us pictures in a book and explained things about Canada, like what the houses are like. She also explained the national animal of Canada (the beaver), and showed us their flag, which has a maple leaf in the middle of it.  We also asked her questions about her country.  We asked her what she needed to adapt to when she moved to Ecuador, and she told us that she needed to adapt to cooking new food and speaking Spanish. Then she gave us some Canadian pancakes with maple syrup to eat!

Venezuela: We learned that Venezuela has the biggest waterfall in the world, and it is called Angel Falls.  We even got to see a video of it!  In Venezuela they also have an instrument called the Cuatro, and it looks like a guitar. They also eat hallacas in Venezuela, and we think that they look like tamales. We learned all these things from A.C.’s dad, who migrated from that country.

Mexico: E. H.’s mother migrated from Mexico, so we interviewed her to find out what it was like to move from that country. The reason she migrated was for her husband’s job. It was hard for her to adapt at first, but then she got used to living in a new country.  We found out that in Mexico everyone says, “Hola!” (hello)  when they meet you. We also learned about Mario Moreno, who was a famous comedian known as Cantinflas, but he died in 1993. E.H.’s mother also brought us a statue of Cantinflas so that we could see what he looked like and sometimes he wore a mini gun. She brought many things for us to see, and she also made quesadillas for everyone to eat! If you ever go to Mexico you will have so much fun. We love Mexico!!!

Dr. Andrade Teaches us About Microscopes (Written by the Whole Class)

Open publication - Free publishing - More education

Excellent Student Experiments for Show & Tell (written by the whole class)

N.R.'s experiment shows us a "volcano" (made out of Playdough) exploding by using baking soda and vinegar. It was cool that, as she put more of the white powder, it "exploded" more and more! This taught us about the science of chemisty.

With M.M's experiment he put food color in milk. Then he put soap on a stick, and when the soap got close to the colors they moved away and mixed! A.J. did some research and found out that the soap isn't as dense (or "thick") as milk, so the colors just stayed on the top and mixed together that way. P.F. thought that this experiment was awesome because it was fun to see the colors move around and combine together. It was like magic!

P.F. says that his "underwater volcano" experiment was excellent because it exploded better in class than it did in the house. He used cabbage juice to make the liquid red, and it was fresh because it exploded  so much and then it turned pink.

We think that chemistry experiments are like magic, and they also help us to understand our world better!

Wordle and Weather

Hello, we come in peace! We are the new second graders for Ms. Margot's class of 2011-2012. Ms. Margot always wants us to work with technology, so she taught us how to use Wordle (see the picture). Our PYP unit is on How the World Works. We're learning about weather, so we put in weather words!

Launching Rockets! (By C.H., S.S. and C. V.)

Rocket Launching (By S.S. and C. H.) on Prezi

Guest Speaker: Mother and Daughter Teach Napkin Design Folding (By Z. G.)

When I was the PYP Very Important Person my mom came to the classroom so that she and I could teach the class how to fold napkins in creative ways.  We used cloth instead of paper napkins, because that way we would be recycling instead of wasting, which is bad for the planet.

One of the designs we showed the kids was called The Envelope, and here are the directions in case you’d like to try it at home:

1.     Open up the napkin.

2.     Fold it in half, corner to corner, so that it is a triangle.

3.     Fold the left corner inwards, half way.

4.     Fold the right corner in half way also, so that it looks like an opened envelope.

5.     Fold the top part downward.

6.     Done!

Here are the directions for making The Fan:

1.     Open up the napkin.

2.     Fold it in half so that it looks like a rectangle.

3.     Fold it vertically, four times, like a fan – forwards and then backwards.

4.     Fold the napkin in half, so that the accordion-like folds are on the outside.

5.     Open the napkin so that the folds open up.

6.     Fold over the tail section, twice, to help it stand up.

7.     Done!

Maybe the next time that you have a party, you can make the Fan or the Envelope for your guests!

Field Trip: Ecuador's Army Aviation Brigade #15 (By J.F.P. and J.E.V)

Open publication - Free publishing - More army

Guest: Class Dad Plays Guitar for Us (By J.M.C)

A Trip to an Orphanage (By C.H. and Z.G.)

Trip to For His Children (By C.H. and Z.G.) on Prezi
Note: Authorization was given to take photos of children at the orphanage that included views from the back, side and from afar when with a group.

Live Video Chat - Ecuadorian Astronaut and Pegasus Satellite! (May 2011)

Ecuador's First Satellite: Digital Storytelling (By T.Y. and L.M.)

Guest Speaker: Owl Presentation by Mark (By J.E.V. and I.L.)

Imagine if a sixth grader came to your grade to teach you. Well that is what happened in March 2011, as part of our unit on Sharing the Planet (Animals)! What Mark did was teach us about owls. From Mark’s research, he taught us that after owls eat, they cough up the bones and fur of their prey! He also showed us videos and pictures about owls. We saw different kinds of owls, and even pictures of baby owls. He also told us that owls are nocturnal, just like our hamster. We thought that his presentation was EXTRAORDINARY!

Making Bracelets with Thomas' Grandmother (By I.M.)

Sharing the Planet Unit (Animals): By L.M. and T. Y.

In our unit on Sharing the Planet (Animals) our class made a lot of animal books and Kidpix presentations (like Power Point for kids).  Liam chose to learn about the cheetah, Thomas chose the sting ray, and Jose Antonio chose the Komodo dragon. To learn about these animals we needed to do research. We found information in library books, encyclopedias and on the internet at www.sandiegozoo.com. Everybody in our class liked this unit on animals because animals are interesting, and we even got to visit the zoo!  It was really a fun unit for us all!

Guest Speaker: Ms. Maya the Wildlife Expert (By J.A. and L.M)

For our Sharing the Planet (Animal) unit in February, a wildlife expert named Ms. Maya came to our class and she taught us about a turtle with a location system attached to her back. Her name is Dawn and wildlife experts found her in the waters of Panama. She even migrated past Cuba to eat food that is…JELLYFISH!!! Can you believe it? You can see her migration map at this link:

http://www.conserveturtles.org/satellitetrackingmap.php?page=satlb_dawn

Ms. Maya also taught us about animal instincts. It was a fun presentation because at the end she gave us animal stickers!

Fluffy, Our Class Pet (By I.L)

Fluffy is our class pet. One day we played with Fluffy and we put out dividers so she wouldn’t escape.  I thought it was fun because we put a hamster bus, house and tree with holes, and everything was for Fluffy to get inside of.  Then we put her in a ball, and she was rolling all around. She also did poo all the time she was rolling around!  It was funny for me because I laughed!

Guest Speaker: Mr. Howard Teaches Us Birdwatching (Written by T.Y.)

For our February PYP unit on Sharing the Planet (animals), my dad came to my class and we went outside to look for birds with his telescope. We saw 1 – 8 birds! They were common birds but they were cool.  Afterwards we tallied how many of each bird we had seen. I had fun with my dad!