This week's lab ... SOIL!

This week in science, we talked about soil. Wednesday, the kids sorted different pictures by what needs soil and what does not need soil. Thursday we did a lab comparing three different types of soil (loam soil, clay soil and sandy soil).

The first thing they did was use their different senses to observe the different soils (except their sense of taste of course!)

 

 After they investigated the different soils, they took a little of each and taped them down in their science journals, then wrote about the color, size and texture of each soil.

 Once we finished our lab, we tested to see which soil would absorb the most water. We put panty hose over a container and placed one type of soil in each one. Then, we poured water over the soil and waited about 30 minutes for extra water to fall to the bottom of the cup.

This Week's Science ... WATER!

This week in science we are talking about water. The kids had different labs this week dealing with water. Their first lab dealt with buoyancy (buoyancy was our word of the week!) and seeing what types of objects will float and sink in water based on their density (another word we learned). Monday we made our predictions.

We went one row at a time talking about the pictures and what we thought would happen. The kids even wanted specifics as to what type of pen, if the rocks were from the playground or volcanoes and if the balloon was blown up or not!

Tuesday, we tested our predictions and recorded our results.

 Students noticing refraction (discussed during light energy).

We discussed the importance of going one object at a time, and recording the results as soon as they are found and not trying to go back after doing them all at once.

At pink group, they took turns testing objects and recording data then sharing with the group. Everyone tested and everyone recorded, not just one person and copying.

After all of the groups did their experiment, we went over the results as a class to make sure everyone had the same results of the lab. The reporter from each group told us their findings and we discussed which objects were more buoyant that others.