Science Experiments and Math combined!

Hi all,

Experiment Friday

Today we had so much fun for our Fun Experiment Friday! I felt like I didn't really hit the science experiments too hard last year except for certain units so I really wanted to bring them alive this year!

 I was thinking of switching off between a foodie Friday and an experiment Friday. We also always read a fun book that goes with our unit (today was a Lego's book on how to build a city) since we are in our Community Helpers unit right now and then they have to write about their favorite part without any help from me (prepping them for those On Demand Prompts). 

Now for the fun experiment!!!

I got it from this book:

Inexpensive Experiments for Young Children

The experiment is called Perfect Pennies which goes really well with our math centers this week since one of the centers was all about exploring the penny. They had to make penny rubbings and then find and circle the pennies.

What you need:

-Pennies

-Soap

-lemon juice

-vinegar

-salt

-ketchup

-plastic cups or bowls

-paper towels

-toothbrush or cotton balls to scrub pennies with

Scientific Method

I started out by telling them how they were going to be scientists and scientists have to think about their experiment first and what they think would work. So, my question was: We have these pennies but they are really dirty. What do you think we could use to clean them?

I wrote down their answers on the board and most said water and soap. One little girl, to try and change it up, said, first you need paper then water and soap. They sure crack me up!

Then, one boy raised his hand and said my mom uses lemon sometimes to clean. I got so excited and pulled out the bottle of lemon juice I had hidden in a bag. I asked if there were any other ideas and since there weren't any we jumped right in. 

Penny scrubbing time!

I picked a special helper to go to the sink and pull our paper dispenser 2 times (that's the max they are allowed to pull it or we will run out of paper the next day).  She came back and I sent her off to her table with the lemon juice. Then I called on another quiet helper to do the same thing, get the paper towel and then take a little of the vinegar. The next person took the ketchup and finally our our last table had to mix up some vinegar and salt. I then sent them off 2 at a time to get their paper towel and get to scrubbing!

They were so excited when they saw their pennies getting cleaned up. They were so engaged and having fun while cleaning!

                                          

After the experiment we talked about why these substances were able to get their pennies clean and learned a little bit about acids! They were amazed and I even let them take their shiny new penny home!

A great Friday!