Paper Airplanes!

Paper Airplane Flight Contest!

We have been learning about the forces of flight.  We learned that planes require four forces to stay aloft:  thrust, drag, lift and gravity.

ANNOUNCING:  Our class will be holding a paper airplane contest on Wednesday, May 16th!

RULES: 
1.  The plane must be made of a single sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch copy paper.  It may be cut smaller, but it cannot be larger.

2.  You may use tape, glue, or paper clips. 

3. The plane must be thrown from level ground. 

4.  Timing will begin when you release the plane and end when the plane touches ANYTHING (the floor, a wall, a chair, etc.)

GOOD LUCK!

Oil Spill!

What's Popping?

Science Fair Participants

  We love learning about science in our classroom!  Here are some of our students with their participation awards for Science Fair:

Questions to a scientist about the moon

1.  Is there more than one moon?
2.  Does the moon cover the sun when it's night?
3.  Is the moon made out of rocks?
4.  Is our moon the biggest moon in the galaxy?
5.  How does the moon control the tides?
6.  Does the moon have a pattern?
7.  Why is there no gravity in the universe and is there any on the moon?
8.  What does the moon feel like?
9.  How does the moon get craters?
10.  Why can't the planets go forward and back, instead of around?
11.  Will the sun explode?
12.  How many craters are on the moon?
13.  Do all planets have gravity?
14.  How many moons are in the galaxy?
15.  How big is the galaxy?
16.  How many shoes could you fit on the moon?
17.  How was the moon created?
18.  How do the planets stay in order?
19.  How does the moon change its shape?
20.  How cold and hot is the moon?
21.  Is there life on the moon?
22.  How many moons could you fit in the sun?
23.  How many astronauts have been on the moon?
24.  Are there craters in other moons?
25.  Why does the moon have phases?
26.  Does the moon have dust?
27.  Why isn't there a blue moon each month?
28.  How many moons could you fit across the earth?
29.  How long does it take to fly around the moon?
30.  What does the moon look like when you are on it?
31.  Does the moon make its own light?

Questions for a scientist...

If you go up in to space and you land on the moon. and if you try to guess how far the earth is from the moon what would you guess?

 from,
    Harrison

Why is the sun yellow?Do you know if the sun is going to explode?  your friend ,Whitney

Do you know why the planets start small to big? Why? Why would Pluto not be a planet? Sincerely,
                                                                                                                                               Jeltzia
Does every planet have an atmosphere?
                                            Nick

Glogging about Popcorn!

Our science teams worked together to create glogs showing what they learned about the science of popcorn:

Group #1

Group #2

Group #3

Group #4

I am so proud of how quickly they mastered glogging : o )

Questions for a scientist...

how is the sun so big?
how is the sun so hot?                                                           
how big is the sun?
how hot is the sun?

Does Earth have a twin?

      Bryce

        How many moons are there ?    Drew                                                                

Questions for a scientist...

how do planets rotate?

                         
                      

Matthew

how dose the planet Jupiter spin around the sun  with out burning?
katherine

Questions for a scientist...

why is the sun big? and  why is the sun  fire? if it is so cold in space can the sun be cool ?what is the sun made out of?is the sun importent?is the sun good or bad?   Lassya

Why is the milky way so big and why is the milky way so wide? And what is the milky for in
space?  And how long has the milky way been in space ?  Monika

Questions for a scientist...

If you had to make a prediction what year will the sun go out?  How hot is the sun?  How big is the sun?

                                                                 your friend,
                                                                        Marcus

Is there any more planets in the sky? How is the sky blue? Who was the first one on the moon? Did you ever go up in space?

how many planets are there?

your friend,

jacob

The mysteries of popcorn...

Today we will begin our investigation on popcorn and which brand produces the most popped kernels.  Hopefully we will make out better than the chef ; o )

*Update on our popcorn investigation:  We took three popular brands of microwavable popcorn and made a prediction as to which brand we thought would produce the most popped kernels.  Then we popped the corn and separated the popped kernels from the un-popped kernels.  Boy were we surprised to see which brand had almost half its contents not pop!  We learned the science behind what  makes a kernel pop as well as the two shapes of popcorn types.  Today we will continue by creating glogs (interactive on-line posters) to show what we learned.

Push-n-Go! toy car investigation

Today we continued our unit on force and motion by looking at the effect friction has on a moving object.

This past week in Science we have been studying momentum, force, gravity, friction, potential and kinetic energy in roller coasters.  We used insulation foam split lengthwise and a marble to test our theories on how a coaster should be designed to gain the speed needed to perform the loops and turns we wanted to see.  Go HERE to Try your hand at designing your own roller coaster. You will be building a conceptual coaster using the physics concepts that are used to design real coasters. You won't need to compute any formulas.

You will decide the following - the height of the first hill, the shape of the first hill, the exit path, the height of the second hill, and the loop.

When you're done, your coaster will need to pass an inspection for both safety and fun!

Simple Machines

Today we learned about simple machines in science.  Simple machines help us do work and make the work easier.  Go HERE to learn more about simple machines.

Mixtures: PBS LearningMedia

: PBS LearningMedia

Mixtures: PBS LearningMedia

: PBS LearningMedia

Secret formula for making ice-cream!

Materials:

Ice

Rock Salt

Sugar

Whole Milk

Vanilla Extract

Plastic Spoons

Cups

Ziploc Sandwich Bags

1 Ziploc Gallon Freezer Bag

Food Coloring

Steps to making ice cream!

1. Take one sandwich sized ziploc and pour 3 ounces of whole milk into the bag.

2. Next, add 5 teaspoons of sugar. *Make sure to add each teaspoon in one at a time and stir before you   add another teaspoon of sugar.

3. Add 5 drops of vanilla extract.

4. Then add 3 drops of your choice of food coloring. Remember a small drop goes a long way! ;)

5. Close the sandwich size ziploc and then place duct tape over top of it to help create a seal.

6. Place the sandwich size ziploc inside of the large, gallon sized ziploc.

7. Next, add ice on both sides of the sandwich baggie inside of the large ziploc bag. *Fill the large gallon sized ziploc bag about half way with ice.

8. Add 1 cup of ice cream salt to the top of the ice that is already inside of the gallon sized bag.

9. Close the top of your gallon sized ziploc bag and wrap and old towel or shirt around the entire bag to help prevent it from leaking. Shake the large ziploc bag for about 20 minutes. 

10. Check on your ice cream to see what it looks like and take time to taste it! Enjoy! :)

Halloween Light Show

I love the computer science behind this! All lights and sound has to be synchronized and programmed together. Very cool!