In Science Class . . . Week of 1/31

5th Grade: Since wrapping up our study of evaporation and condensation, we have started to look at the water cycle as a whole. Today, students played a game in which they "became" a molecule of water and traveled to various locations (and through various processes) on planet earth. It was fun, and kids were engaged. There was a little bit of mild frustration about being "stuck" in the ocean from a few "molecules" though : ) We'll debrief a bit more on Friday, and then it's off to science camp next week!

Key questions:

• Where did your molecule "travel?" How did it move to each location from the previous one? (Evaporation, condensation, flowing rivers, sinking into the ground, freezing into a glacier, being ingested by an animal, etc)
  

4th Grade: This week and last, we've been exploring new mineral properties. We found that calcite, a mineral, reacts with acids to form a chemical reaction that results in bubbles. Last week, we tested several rocks for calcite by putting the rocks in vinegar. Two rock types - marble and limestone- bubbled. This week and early next week, we'll examine some new minerals and discuss the properties of magnetism, luster, cleavage, and streak color. We'll fill out a mineral property table and compare it to a table of known mineral properties.

Key Questions:

• What rocks contained calcite? How did you know?
• What knew properties did you learn about? (Magnetism. Luster = metallic or nonmetallic. Cleavage = mineral breaks apart with flat surfaces. Streak color - color of the streak of mineral pieces when a mineral is rubbed against a tile). Why did you study this? (It helps us understand how geologists identify a mineral and also helps with our table-reading skills.) FYI, the new minerals were hematite, pyrite or Fool's Gold, galena and magnetite.