This year, the first graders have Science Demo Team. Science Demo Team is made up of a team of about 15 sixth graders. These students are divided into two teams - the AM team and the PM team. They stay after school and work with a sixth grade teacher who teaches them to present a science topic. There is a short direct instruction/introduction time, and then a longer experiment time. We have the team come about eight times during the year. The lessons are adorable and the kids love having science with the sixth graders! We, of course, supplement these lessons with additional lessons throughout the year. Today was our FIRST! Science Demo Team lesson and experiment. They learned how scientists use their five senses to figure out what something is. The something was in Styrofoam cup covered with tinfoil that had a small hole in the top. The students weighed it (about 3 oz), took its temperature (0*C), smelled it (wafting) (sweet, vanilla, fruity), tasted it with their eyes closed to make a guess as to what it was, and listened to the soda fizzing as it was poured into the cup. Any guesses?
Here's one student's reaction to having science this morning:
"Teacher!!! When is science, when is SCIENCE?????? I've never been teached science before!!! When is ScIEenCe???"
" In about 10 mins."
The same student later decided that he just HAD to know what would happen if he unplugged the orange cord from the outlet at the front of the room, so he crawled around me on the floor while we were having a lesson at the SmartBoard and unplugged it. The screen went blue. I happened to glance down to see him plugging the cord back into the outlet! Yeah...perhaps we should leave scientific experiments for more appropriate times.
And the answer to today's mystery is: strawberry and vanilla ice cream with 7-up.
