Solutions on the Playground?

After three labs of learning about mixtures and solutions, students explored elements on the playground that might be able to be dissolved and made into solutions. From grass, to bark, to leaves and more, students made a mixture of water and the solute. Shaking the bottles vigorously, they tried to dissolve some of the solute into the solvent. Next, groups filtered their mixture. Many groups noticed a coloration to their filtered water. The water is now sitting in evaporative trays. The final test will be to see if some solid material (the solute) is in the tray after the solvent evaporates.

Strings in Music

We are learning some really great things in music recently. We are working on a unit that teaches students how to care for stringed instruments and an introduction on how to play them. At the end of this year, students and their families choose the elective music class for next year. They will have a choice between choir, strings, and band. This gives a great opportunity for the class to experience what strings might be like.

New Tools in Science

This week we continued our Mixtures and Solutions unit. Students learned to use new tools, including: a balance, a screen, and a filter as they attempted to separate mixtures and get me back the materials we started with. At this point, 2/3 of the materials have been returned, including the gravel and the diatomaceous earth. We have set up evaporation dishes to attempt to retrieve the salt back from the sodium chloride and water solution. A few more days will determine if they were successful. It is looking good so far though!