Mystery substances 2

These next two jars were a lot harder to try to figure out.  They looked almost the same, moved almost the same, and felt almost the same.  

Substance 3 was not a liquid like the first two.  It was a white powder.  We called it many things:

• grainy
• white
• powdery
• bumpy
• sugar
• soft
• nothing (sounds like)
• strong (smells like)
• sandy
• grainy

It reminded us of salt, sugar, and sand.  It had a strong smell we just couldn't name.  It was a mystery.  I gave the children a hint saying it was something you could use in recipes and something that is very good at getting stinky smells out of things.  

Did you guess it yet?  It is baking powder!

When I brought out substance 4, the children thought it was the same exact jar with a afferent number on it.  Upon further inspection, it moved differently and looked differently in the jar.  It smelled strange to some children, and some children said it was a different feel.  We used a lot of the same language when describing this powder.

• crumbly
• stinky
• white
• smooth
• yucky
• rubbery
• nothing (sounds like)
• stinky
• sugar
• soft
• powder

Figure it out yet?  This substance is great for making liquids thicker in the kitchen.  People use it a lot of the time for gravy.  It's corn starch!

The Venn Diagram became very useful when comparing these two powders.  There were subtle differences that came out when we sorted our adjectives.

Knowing what the names are and properties of the four substances, we have already started thinking about mixing them.  I will be sitting down with the children and going over their procedures in mixing two of the jars together.  A little bit of  corn starch with a big scoop of vinegar?  One part baking soda with one part vegetable oil?  What materials are needed?  What is your prediction?  We will have to do our best to wait unit after Thanksgiving to follow through with our plans.

And as experienced grown-ups, I am sure you have some knowledge on how these materials might interact with each other, but try your best to keep that wonderful secret with you so the children can learn as scientists.  Thank you!

Mystery substances 1

Two weeks ago I brought in some "mystery" jars with unknown substances inside of them.  I brought out the first jar and discussed ideas on what it could be.  "It's apple juice!"  "It's car oil!"  Before going any further, I encouraged the children to think like scientists.  A scientists doesn't just make guesses.  A scientist uses his/her senses to learn more about the world around them.  

To the child who said it was apple juice, I asked them to smell it.  Did they still think it was apple juice?  I then asked if they wanted to taste it to make sure.  If they were absolutely positive it was apple juice, why not taste it?  If you were wondering, the student declined as did everyone else.  Would a scientist taste or touch something if they thought they knew what it was?  "Ms. Sarah, what if it was poison?  It looks like apple juice and could smell like apple juice, but it could be a dangerous chemical!"  I agree!  I then assured the group that I would never bring in a dangerous chemical. After all, we were to use our senses to describe what we could about what was in the jar.

Off we went.  Taking turns in small groups, we used four out of five senses to come to a better understanding of what was in the jar.  We recorded our observations and came up with a variety of descriptive language:

• yellow
• smooth
• silky
• gross
• clear
• nothing (sounds and smells like)
• eggs
• yummy
• slippery
• doughy
• nothing

Have you figured out what it is yet?  It's vegetable oil!

The mystery substance we used next was obviously different.  It was blue.  Using the same strategies, sea tried to learn more about it.  Here are some of the things we came up with:

• blue
• wet
• yucky
• cold
• no sound
• water
• cleaner
• sour

Do you know what this one is yet?  It's vinegar!  I added blue to make it a little bit tricky.

After discussions on both liquids, we spent time comparing them so we could really notice the differences.  This will come in handy when we come up with ideas for experimentation.  I have a feeling the next two substances will have more in common.  Look forward to that post!

The 5 Senses

In order to become thoughtful scientists, we have to understand how our 5 senses help us.  We took some time to think about each sense and use them during multiple investigations.  Here is some of what we did.


We took eggs filled with various materials and described what we heard.  Loud, soft, crinkly, clangy, booming, splashing, high pitch, and empty were words we used to describe what we heard.  We then matched the eggs with pictures and were surprised at how accurate we were!

Before we analyzed our sense of sight, we started discussing adjectives we could use to describe objects.  We did this with each sense before we investigated.  What does an apple look like?  How about a peacock feather?  A bowl of jello?  We stretched our brains and looked at zoomed in pictures of everyday objects.  Without knowing what the object was we couldn't call it a strawberry, but we could say it is red and looks wet with yellow spots.

It is easiest to think of adjectives for the sense of touch because it is something we are all very familiar with.  Things can be soft, hard, smooth, rough, moist, rigid, jagged, hollow, squishy, fluffy, and gooey.  We can feel things with our hands, but also with our skin on other parts of our body.  Ever felt a cool pillow on your cheek?  Or how about a brush through your hair?  We took familiar (and some unfamiliar) objects and put them in a bag.  Using just our sense of touch we tried our best not to guess what the object was and only describe what we felt.  

Smells are all around us.  When asked to describe the smell of something, we often use the words good or bad.  Trying to use a variety of words is hard and relies a lot on experience.  With help of a thesaurus we came up with more descriptive language.  Putting those words to use was harder when we were "out in the field."  





We then took something we all knew and analyzed it like never before- an apple.  Using all of our five senses, we came up with lists of adjectives.  Apples are round, red, smooth, hard, cool, squishy inside, gooey, sweet, delicious, juicy, fruity, and shiny.

These experiences with our 5 senses will come in handy when we start experimenting soon!