Protect An Egg From Breaking

Students get hands-on with science

The halls and classrooms of Cecil Manor Elementary School were packed full of students flying wingless paper airplanes and playing with Oobleck on Monday afternoon.

What sounds like nonsense was really the school's 510 pre-kindergarten to fifth-grade students getting their hands on half a dozen different science experiments during Cecil Manor's first all-day "Science Day."

In past years the school has run the event in the evening to encourage family participation, Cecil Manor Principal Denise Sopa said.

"The students would practice the events in class during the day, so that everyone could participate, but the idea was to have students come back in the evening with their parents for a few hours," she added. "We just weren't seeing large numbers come back after school though, so we tried to facilitate it during a school day."

Parent volunteers Kathy Davis and Steve Matsen have helped the school plan and run the annual event for four of the past five years.

"It's really a day where students can get hands-on with science and do some scientific investigation on their own," said Davis, who is also a geologist.

"Today, students are exploring ideas like surface tension, wind resistance, balance, gravity and basic chemistry. Hopefully, it sparks an interest and they take some of these ideas home and expand on them," Davis added.

First-grader Alexis Finley said she really enjoyed making Oobleck with her class. Oobleck is a mysterious gooey material of Dr. Seuss fame. The class recreated it using water, glue and borax.

Third-graders tested for their dominant side in the school gymnasium Monday afternoon by seeing how far they could throw and kick balls with each arm and leg.

"For the younger kids, the exercise just kind of touches on their curiosity, but for the older students we talk a little bit about how the right side of the brain controls the left side of their body and vice versa," Davis said. "Each of the day's activities is coordinated to each grade level's learning ability."

At the end of the day, Cecil Manor's fourth and fifth graders tested their comprehension of the day's learning with the "Recycled Egg Drop."

Students had to devise a contraption that would protect an egg from breaking after being dropped from about 30 feet. A competition was created by Matsen to find the least amount of material needed to protect the egg, by assigning imaginary dollar values to each material.

Learn How to Make Lesson Plans and Science Fair Projects ...

Planning A Lesson

Learning how to bring science alive in the classroom or at home is a task that many educators and parents can use some help with.

In a mini Systems Unit scientists (students or kids) learn to think systematically about how the parts of objects, towers or galaxies are connected and work together. They learn about systems and that there are mini systems known as subsystems. These are the parts of the whole that when put together work as one operating machine that is to perform a specific function.

Exploring the connection between the project and the guiding vocabulary words is what leads to curiosity and a keen interest in science. "Systems" is a topic visited frequently in elementary science. It provides students a diverse way to experiment and experience important science vocabulary words in action and helps to make science incredibly meaningful.

Title: Super Structure Straw Towers

Vocabulary: system (a collection of items working together to perform a function) subsystem (s) (tiny bits of the system that are part of a whole but functional on their own), input (items that make up a system) output (the end result or function of the system), dysfunctional (this is what happens to the system if any of its parts become worn out or missing)

Material: Plentiful amount of plastic straws, hard surface such as a desk or floor, one roll of masking tape.

Objective: Exploring the functional sense of the vocabulary by designing and building a tower out of interlocking drinking straws and tape.

Procedure: Introduce each of the vocabulary words and relate the words to the tower and structure itself. Create two square bases by using 16 straws total (8 and 8). Interlock each straw together to form an outer square (base), affix the inner square (slightly smaller) with tape to the larger one. Turn four straw- ends upward on smaller one so that the structure can be built up - Allow kids to build, build and build while using tape. Straws can be creased and stuck inside of each other. Once the base is sturdy kids should be given the chance to experiment with their designs.

Some towers in my room were up to four feet high! The thrill of this investigation is to let the kids build whatever tower they want while they experience the vocabulary words in action. I found it helpful to visit each "construction site" and talk with the student-engineers about their towers and to ask them to identify the working vocabulary in their parts. This interaction was incredible and allowed me to not only track individual performance levels, but to also check and monitor for those who were struggling with the terms. ELL students found these coaching moments tremendously clarifying because not only were we talking about new words, we were also living these new words by putting meaning to their definitions.

Classroom cupboard, lessons, activities & culinary concoctions for kids

Daily Reading Comprenesion, Grade 5

Daily Reading Comprehension: Grade 5

Daily Reading Comprehension Grade 5

Beyond the classroom, exploration of schoolground and backyard