Mystery Science

Cloud in a Jar - 
For our weather studies, we used warm water in a jar and put a frozen pan on water on top.  Not much happened.  When we added smoke from a match, however, the water vapor had something to cling to and we made a cloud in a jar!  Science magic!

Four our next mystery,  R.A. brought a glass prism and we were able to use to to divide the sunlight into rainbow colors.  This tied in nicely with the class read-aloud James and the Giant Peach.  The frightening cloudmen were painting rainbow arches in the sky.  

100 Day and 101 Day

Yup, It's Still Winter

Kids using watercolors - a beautiful combination.

It's time for these beauties to come down and liven things up with some Valentines.

December Updates - Better Late Than Never?

Ah.... Sweet, sweet music!  We were lucky enough to have the Jazz Band, Choraliers, and Sterling Strings to entertain us with lovely holiday music.  What a treat!  Equally fun was the fact that several former Lakewood students were in each group!  Bravo!

The Polar Express

a field trip extraordinaire

Schools and families everywhere have loved the story The Polar Express.  We decided to use the book as our theme for December.  We contacted the Duluth Depot to see if we could make arrangements for the Polar Express train ride.  It was by far the best field trip of my career.  

The Bud car was waiting for us in Lakeside.

The conductor greeted us and took tickets when we arrived.  The fanciful lights and decorations brightened our already festive mood. 

We waved to shoppers and sang along with holiday songs.  The conductor walked through and answered questions.  Many students had never ridden a train before and were transfixed by the experience.

The Depot Staff read us the story and projected the illustrations on the big screen.  They presented each of us a bell which hung on a necklace.  We toured the vintage cars pretending we were passengers of old.  We climbed into the engine and became engineers, turning dials and pushing levers.

After a pizza lunch, we headed back to our Lakeside destination to meet up with our bus.  It was a perfect trip!

Our Cozy Blanket

We used a fun monster fabric to make a tie blanket.  We donated the blanket to the silent auction.  We wanted to do our part to raise funds for our school foundation.  THANK YOU to all who bid on it!

Elf on the Shelf

Our elf's name is Tarzan.  He first arrived in our classroom about 5 years ago and was named through the voting process.  He is MUCH older than Mrs. Bartel, and has many children.  He left a note that he will return with his children on Thursday.  We can't wait!

Oobleck

For the grand finale of our States of Matter Unit, we read the Dr.Seuss book Bartholomew of Oobleck.  It's not one of his best known works, but it puts a humorous twist to a serious message that you don't mess with Mother Nature.  

After reading the book, we decided to make this mysterious substance that seems to have the properties of both a solid and a liquid at the same time.  

 The mess and the clean up was time well spent in fostering the love of science.