TCPS Science

Mixing water and cornstarch makes the non-Newtonian substance known as oobleck.  Students in all grades loved exploring the properties of it so much that they created Odes to Oobleck.  These were read or performed for the class with a selection posted below.  Check back soon for more.

Ode to Oobleck (to the tune of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer) by M., grade 6

You know silly putty, paint, clay, and bouncy balls

Crayons, and markers, and tinker toys, and lighters

But do you know the most fun non-Newtonian substance of all?

Oobleck the messy batter (batter), how we love you so.

We love how you smell (smell) very much like bad milk.

Almost everything about you (about you) is fun in some sort of way.

From your white color (color) to your silky texture

Your thick and thin smooth like batter, tough and also watery

But when it’s time to wash you off, we do it all over again!

Oh oobleck, we love you so!

 

Ode to Oobleck by C., grade 6

When I rub my hands through your silky, white substance I feel a batter that is wacky. You are messy and fun, and crumbly when you go from powdery to gloppy, but white and smooth.  I don’t like your texturing once you are dry and crusty, but I like how you can go thick to thin, when speeding up or slowing down the way I move my hands.  You smell like spoiled milk and look like it too, but most of all I like the way you act like goo.

 Oobleck by R., grade 6

A powder

smooth to the touch

and white

when mixed

with water

it morphs

into a

smooth

silky

mixture

and then

dies

quickly

in my hands.

 

Oobleck Oh Oobleck by C., grade 6

Just like its name,

constantly changing

never the same.

It’s silky, it’s milky, it’s smooth, and it’s hard.

It’s somewhat like a batter though not appetizing.

It could make me feel like my insides were rising.

Oobleck oh Oobleck oh

Oobleck oh Oobleck

 

Ode to Oobleck by T., grade 8

It’s ooey and gooey

It’s chunky and bunchy

Slimy and creamy

It’s hard to hold

It’s grimy and slimy

It’s icky and sticky

Oobleck, oobleck everywhere

On the table and on the chair

On my clothes and in my hair

Oobleck, oobleck everywhere

It’s fun to play with

With one or two

The only thing is

It makes a mess on you.

 

Ode to Oobleck by T., grade 8

Oobleck is chunky,

It’s white and it oozes.

It’s sticky and wet,

And hard to hold.

It’s fun when it’s wet,

While it oozes and gooses.

It gets hard when you squeeze it,

And soft when it sits.

Oobleck is slimy,

Creamy and light.

It glazes your hands,

And give you delight.

Oobleck is gooey,

And it taste kind of bad.

But I promise you this,

It’s totally rad.

Touching Oobleck is fun,

But making it is too.

‘Cus everything gets wet,

and your hands get covered in goo.

 

Oobleck by C., grade 8

Mushy gushy, chunky funky

Hard to hold and fold.

It’s sticky icky silky milky

It’s fun in the sun.

Powder just like clam chowder

Dry just like the sky

Sand but in it in my hand

It’s like bleach but at the beach

Ooze hard to choose

Hold it tight with a hint of fight

Rubbery, pretty dang flubbery

We’re writing an ode your gonna have to break the code

Goobery and oobery

Now to clean your hands and wash all away

Oobleck has to go today.

 

Oobleck Ode by E., grade 8

Quicksand upon your hand. She likes to watch the sun dry your skin. Rubbery, yet soft

He’s like a jelly raindrop-extremely hard to pin. Silky and smooth, but just when you think you’ve got him, he disappears, slips through your fingertips. Always hard to hold, it’s nothing new though.  He seems to always be so cold.  He’s like a vanishing cloud, white like liquid, always out of reach, until you squeeze his silky skin tight and for a while he stays.  Until like liquid, a white crying cloud he runs so far away.

The San Diego Science Alliance (SDSA) is hosting a Student and Parent Night at their annual High Tech Fair.  This event is designed for middle and high school students. SDSA is the catalyst for improving K-12 science education in San Diego County. They deliver quality experiential programs, build bridges between the region’s diverse business, education and scientific research communities, and foster public/private partnerships to increase science literacy.  For more information, see below or check out SDSA .

 

All science students are currently studying matter.  For the early elementary, this means solids, liquids, gases, and their properties.  Older elementary students are learning about atoms and separating substances into their components.  In class this week, they used coffee filters and markers to do simple chromatography.  Middle school students have been researching atoms and discussing the pro’s and con’s of nuclear energy.

Visit Family Science Days during the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the San Diego Convention Center.

Browse interactive tabletop exhibits, learn about cool science jobs, and have your questions answered by experts convened by AAAS. This free event is open to all, but organized especially for middle- and high-school students.

All events will take place Saturday and Sunday, 20-21 February in the San Diego Convention Center Exhibit Hall B1, 111 West Harbor Drive.

This community science showcase—featuring hands-on demonstrations and other family and kid-friendly activities—shines a spotlight on a broad range of formal and informal science educators who promote an interest in science among the general public.

It is a FREE event for the general public and one of our most popular.

To see a list of presenters and for more information: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2010/program/fsd/#schedule

All TCPS students are studying matter.  Early elementary students are focusing on the main phases of matter (solids, liquids, and gases) and making measurements of solids and liquids.  Fourth and Fifth grades are studying atoms and have learned about the fourth and most common phase, plasma.  A great website is to check out more info is

http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_intro.html

 

Middle school students have conducted experiments to answer the questions does mass (the amount of matter) change when there is a chemical or physical change?  They are deep into their investigations of the really small–atoms.  Some interesting facts about the size of atoms–  If an apple were magnified to the size of the Earth, then the atoms in the apple would be approximately the size of the original apple.  A human hair is about one million carbon atoms wide.  A single drop of water has 2000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms of oxygen and twice that number of hydrogen atoms.  It takes only 5 million (5,000,000) hydrogen atoms to cover the head of a pin.

 

Do you know what season it is?  The calendar says that the first day of winter was December 21.  All the children’s books say that we should be playing in the snow and wearing coats and mittens. 

In science classes, we have discussed the European seasons and how they do not always make sense outside of Europe and New England.  We studied the Aboriginal seasons from around Australia.  Some tribes have five seasons that last between two and four months while others have only three seasons. 

TCPS students created their own seasons for San Diego.  Some were based on surfing, shopping, gardening, sports, or travel.  Ask your student to explain his/her seasons and see if you can create your own calendar of different seasons with your favorite weather related activity.

The lesson was about weather and what happens when warm air meets colder, denser air.  The students were so fascinated by the dispersion of the food coloring in the different temperature waters, that we suspended the weather activity to explore and photograph the diffusion patterns.

For great references check out the TCPS Library Research Guide.

We have begun a new unit on weather.  The students from all grade levels come into class and excitedly ask, “what are we doin’ today?”  We have been brain-storming (pun intended) to discover what we already know and what we want to find out.  As always, the science curriculum follows the California standards for grade level competencies and the TCPS curriculum goals.

Below are overviews of how the material will be covered by grade level.  If you have any questions, please contact me.

  1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd graders:

For early elementary students, the focus is on observing the sky and noticing the weather.  Weather measuring devices such as thermometers, barometers, and wind vanes will be used to obtain data about the weather.  For these instruments, we will make simple ones in class from common, household materials. Constructing the instruments helps the students understand the processes being measured.  Once they understand the concept, we will also use commercial instruments to make accurate readings and record our data.  The water cycle and clouds will complete our unit.

 4^th and 5^th graders:

We will review and extend the material for early elementary.  We will make some of the weather instruments. Additional material will include air pressure, the role of the sun in creating weather, convection currents, storm formation and severe weather.  We will also learn how to read weather maps.

Current Events: Students in 4^th and 5^th grades have done a great job of reading and writing about current events. In order to better teach the process of reading and writing about science, I selected the first articles so we were literally all on the same page.  We discussed each one in class and I modeled note-taking.  We discussed what a summary is and the students wrote one in class.  The analysis (thinking about it) was challenging for many of the students.  Where this has evolved to is the students are to imagine they get to meet the scientists who did the work.  What would they say to them?  What questions do they have?  If they could work with the scientists for a week, what experiments would they like to do?

Now that the students have learned the format, they are ready to select their own articles.  Students may receive assistance in reading and understanding more challenging material.  Dates for articles will be assigned in class.  I’m looking forward to having the students teach me and the rest of the class about the new discoveries in science they read about.  For more information, click Weather Current Event.

 Middle School Students:

We will cover the atmosphere, weather, climate, and climate change.  This includes a lot of vocabulary and concepts that will be addressed through reading of the text.  We will also do laboratory experiments every week.  The overall emphasis at this level will be on understanding cause and effect relationships of the complex system of air surrounding the earth. 

 World Weather: The weather in San Diego is fairly consistent compared to most other places.  Therefore, we will be tracking weather around the world.  All homerooms have selected pen pals from Australia to Uganda.  To enhance our understanding of these diverse places, middle school students will track the weather in each location and report weekly.  (Be sure to check out the World Weather Board in the science room.)  This information will be part of the students’ weather journals.  Students will also collect articles about weather incidents to include in their journals along with reflections about all they are learning. 

Student Selected Experiments:  In the petrology unit, middle school students selected methods for growing crystals and brought them to class.  I procured the materials and the students worked in groups to complete the experiments.  Students enjoyed the process of trying things out even though some procedures did not work very well.  This time, students will find simple weather instruments or experiments they would like to try.  I will obtain the necessary materials (I’m on a first name basis with the staff at my local Home Depot) and we will have a few lab days devoted to completing as many as possible.  Look for photos in future postings.

A big thank you to all the parents who sent in sand from their  trips and vacations.  The students are enjoying analyzing all the samples.  Using the microscopes, mineral resources, and web information about each beach, students are determining the make up of individual grains.  As budding geologists, they are seeing sand not as one thing, but an entire rock collection in miniature form.  Many of the sand samples will be on display for open house.  See you then.