Viscosity Races

During our study of volcanoes, viscosity became an important word in each sixth grader's vocabulary.  In order for students to have a good grasp on how viscosity is a property used to describe liquids, we hosted Viscosity Races!  After introducing the word and discussing some examples, I gave students a list of materials that would be available to them during this lab.  Students worked with a buddy to brainstorm a procedure the class could use to compare the viscosity of various liquids.  After working in pairs, we discussed our ideas as a class and agreed on a procedure.  The next day, students worked in groups of four and were given four liquids.  They worked together to build a ramp and have the four liquids "compete" in a viscosity race.  Below are some pictures and the guided lab I used.

Illinois State Standards:

11.A.3a  Formulate hypotheses that can be tested by collecting data.

11.A.3b  Conduct scientific experiments that control all but one variable.

11.A.3d  Explain the existence of unexpected results in a data set.

11.B.3b  Sketch, propose and compare design solutions to the problem considering available materials, tools, cost effectiveness and safety.

11.B.3e  Evaluate the test results based on established criteria, note sources of error and recommend improvements.

12.C.3b  Model and describe the chemical and physical characteristics of matter (e.g., atoms, molecules, elements, compounds, mixtures).

Objectives:

Students will:

-design a controlled experiment

-create a data table to record results of experiment

-identify possible sources of error 

-compare the viscosities of various liquids

Assessment:

Students were assessed based on their data collection, analysis, and conclusion in their lab report.  Students were required to identify two possible sources of error, identify two ways to improve their experiment, explain how the different viscosities affected the results, and confirm or disprove their hypothesis.

How? Why?

  Last Friday I heard about the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School right before I went to the teacher's lounge for lunch.  As I joined the discussion in the teacher's lounge, I was truly in shock.  Unfortunately, it is not unfamiliar to hear of shootings in public places.  Just recently we have heard about shootings at a mall and a movie theater, but how could something like this happen in an elementary school?!?  I didn't understand how anyone could intentionally harm an innocent child, no taller than three feet.
  When lunch ended, I was still in shock, but I don't think it had quite settled in yet.  I did not say anything to my students, first of all, because I did not have all the facts and second of all, I honestly did not know how to tell them something like this.  At the end of the day, our principal asked us all to pray for those in Connecticut.  My students immediately turned to me with a confused look.  I told them to pray and I would explain it to them.  After the prayer, heads immediately turned my way, waiting for an explanation.  It was in that moment that all of this actually hit me.  I barely held it together as I told my 7th grade class that someone had entered an elementary school and killed approximately 26 people, a majority of them being around the age of 6.  My voice was shaking as I tried to answer any questions.  The hardest thing was seeing panic set in for one of my students who has cousins in Connecticut.
  I truly do not think I will ever forget the moment I told my class about this horrific incident.  It was hard to tell children that other children were murdered for no reason.  I felt as if I took away a piece of their innocence that day.
  As Monday rolled around, I was still having trouble grasping how something so terrible could happen.  I continuously pondered how I was going to approach this topic with my students.  I decided to initiate an open discussion.  I asked students to first share what they have heard about the incident and then to share any thoughts, opinions, or questions they may have.  It turned out to be a beneficial discussion and many of my students knew a lot about what had happened.  We had limited time to discuss the topic, but I did not want it to end there.  I decided to give my students the opportunity to reflect on what had happened through writing.  To get them started, I suggested they may write letters.  These letters could be written to the victims, the victims' families, the shooter, the shooter's family, or the teachers.  The students had powerful and thoughtful words to share.  Many expressed anger and confusion, while others wished the shooter to be forgiven by God because "everyone deserves to be forgiven."  The words of each student showed both their maturity and their innocence.  It also showed me how extremely lucky I am to be a teacher working with extraordinary children.
  My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected in the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Optical Illusion Art

So I came across this art project on Pinterest.  It turned out to be super easy and looks really cool.  I actually got tons of compliments from other teachers.

Here is the link to the original post: Step by Step Directions

It does a great job of explaining each step :)

I will say if I were to do this again, I would have students make less vertical wavy lines or use a smaller sheet of paper.  I ended up having my students trim each end of their paper because it is a very time consuming project.

Halloween Art Project

For Halloween, we did a printmaking project.  I had a little bit of background with this because we learned how to do this in my college art education class.  Luckily, we had all of the supplies tucked away in our art closet.  We used foam trays, printmaking paint (it was probably very old, but it did the job), brayers, and construction paper.  I instructed the students to carve a simple Halloween design on the back of their foam tray.  Next, they used the brayer to cover it with paint.  From there, students used their foam trays as stamps to print the image on multiple sheets of construction paper.  By making multiple prints, we were able to decorate our classroom and give some prints to PTO to decorate for the Halloween party.  This was a simple project and students gained experience with something other than colored pencils and paint.  The one thing I will keep in mind is to use foam trays/plates without any imprinted symbols or words.  The trays we used had imprints on the side we didn't carve, but it still affected some of the prints.  This resulted in some of the students having to re-carve their image on another foam plate.

The Outsiders Newspaper Article

Currently, our class is reading The Outsiders (one of my all time FAVORITE novels)!  One of the writing assignments the students work on is a newspaper article.  Students write an article describing the events of chapter 4 (when Johnny kills Bob).  Before students begin writing, we read published newspaper articles and discussed the components of a good article.  We also defined bias and students focused on being unbiased in the writing assignment.  After the pre-writing activities, students began their rough draft.  From there, I worked with the computer teacher to help students create a final draft using Microsoft Publisher.

Illinois State Standards:

Objectives:

Assessment:

Journey to the Center of the Earth

As the 6th graders learned about the layers of the Earth, I had them create a diary about their personal journey to the inner core.  I give them basic guidelines like how many entries and the required information.  From there, I encourage them to use their imagination.  I am always surprised at how much the students enjoy doing this project and I always love reading them.  I end up laughing out loud as I read them because they are so funny and creative.

Objectives:
Students will:

-describe how temperature and pressure change as depth of Earth increases

-sequence the layers of Earth

-describe characteristics of Earth’s layers

-compare and contrast lithosphere with asthenosphere

-compare and contrast outer core with inner core

Assessment:

Students were assessed based on the accuracy and completeness of their journals.  Creativity and neatness were also part of the grading rubric.

Here are the directions I give my students:  Diary Directions

Here are some of the final products:

Candy Plate Boundaries and Fault Foldable

This lesson was modified from a lesson on Science Spot (Candy Plate Tectonics).  I chose to use this idea to teach plate boundaries.  We used Twix bars to demonstrate divergent boundaries, AirHeads to teach convergent boundaries, and Starbursts to teach transform boundaries.  Once again, students were excited about this lesson because they were able to eat!

Here is the guided lesson:  Candy Activity

After this lesson, we soon moved on to learning about different types of stresses and faults.  It was great because students had a strong understanding of types of boundaries so they were able to make connections back to the activity as they learned about stresses and faults.  To emphasize these connections, students created the following foldable.

Fault Foldable

Illinois State Standards:

12.E.3a. Analyze and explain large-scale dynamic forces, events and processes that affect the Earth's land, water and atmospheric systems (e.g., jetstream, hurricanes, plate tectonics). 

Objectives:

Students will:

-create models of plate boundaries using candy

-explain movements of different plate boundaries

-compare plate boundaries with stresses such as tension, compression, and shearing

-explain how stress in the Earth's surface results in faults

-identify the hanging wall and footwall

-explain how the plates move in different types of faults

Assessment:

Students were assessed based on their participation in the activity.  During the activity, students answered questions demonstrating their understanding of plate boundaries.  As they completed each part of the activity, they checked in with me to verbally explain how the activity connected to plate boundaries.  Their completion of the foldable demonstrated student's ability to make connections to their prior knowledge and identify types of faults.