Last week friends got into wondering how rockets shoot up with fire. Some friends said it was fire that pushed it, some said there was an engine in the rocket that needs fire to go while other friends were still thinking. So we decided to do a few experiments that might help us get the answer to our question.
THE BALLOON ROCKET
We discussed the materials that we need for the experiment and set out things. We started by placing the straw in the middle of the string since we were unsure of which way the rocket would move. We blew a balloon and taped it on the straw while holding its tail tight.
Setting the rocket...We drew a face on the front of the balloon to tag it as a face and so the tail was clearly understood...
Now was the time friends made predictions as to what side the straw will shoot. About 80% said that it will shoot towards the tail side. While the rest voted for the face side...
At the launch, we asked them to gently let go of the tail and observe carefully as to what happens. First of all, we found out that it moved face side...and on asking them why, to my surprise they all exclaimed loudly that it was the air!
They said that they could even hear the air come out and thus the rocket zoomed forward. Next we wondered what would happen if the string were vertical from ceiling to down, how would the rocket go? They still associated the same knowledge of the air directing the movement and said that it will shoot upwards. That was one great connection! Leaving no room for doubt, we spoke about how the rockets need a lot of pressure to go against the gravity and shoot up...and that when fire starts, it creates that pressure to help the rocket go in the opposite direction of gravity. Yes they were all startled but interested to know about the physics of force and pressure in action.
Fun pictures of our experiment step by step...
Drawing the face :)
Holding on tight to the tail until friends did the blastoff countdown :)
Gently letting go...
Seeing it zoom at great speed, hearing the air escape, and seeing the floppy balloon on the other end...
It was fun to see how some balloons shot straight while some wiggled or swirled until they reached the finish line...
Soon we realized that our balloon had enough air and could cover a larger distance...so the next day to know if we would be successful, we spaced the chairs way apart, almost covering the whole grass area outdoors...
Following the same steps...
And yes it made it all the way to the end... the children were so proud of their hypothesis...
Now this was an interesting self made race by P and L. While A was ready to blast off the rocket balloon, these boys lined up to see who went faster- the boys or the balloon...what an interesting challenge to undertake :) Well they predicted that they will win...hmm!
At the time the rocket left the boys picked up speed as well...unfortunately, they missed it by just a little and the rocket won. But rather than shutting them down, this motivated them to try the race once again and guess what? With practice they got better and now started beating the speed of the balloon rocket! I told them that they would need both their muscle and energy to gear up and there they were, all geared up and proud to face the challenge. They even asked me to check the muscles of their feet to confirm if they were strong or not :)
It was a fun game to learn about speed and energy!
The other experiment we did was the Pepsi and Mentos rocket...
Again talking about how pressure develops due to combination of few materials (in this case Pepsi and Mentos) and how the pressure needs a place to come out and comes out in different forms.
Hearing the gas escape when twisting the cap...
Covering the cap with a wooden piece so that children could stack the mentos....
Each one coming up to drop the mentos in the tunnel...
Just before releasing the wooden piece, children checking all the steps of the experiment to see if it was working as planned...
When we released the wooden piece and all the mentos dropped in, tada! The rocket shot up super high...yes we were prepared to release and run in order to not get soaked. My smart friends all chose to be seated at the side walk to watch the show...hahaha!
Other activities we got involved during the week...
DRAWING AND DESCRIBING WHERE WOULD WE LIVE TO LIVE ON THIS MOUNTAIN SCENE...
Friends got creative in their own ways...they chose amazing places with great reasoning of why they want to live there. Some even added landmarks so that they wouldn't get lost on their way home...
MAKING COLLAGES...
FINGER PAINTING...
TRACING...
L made this after thinking for quite a while...This is sure a neat 12' o clock :)
The 3 year olds were impressed seeing what the 4 year olds were doing and wanted to learn...there was a lot of peer help at the table where older kids wanted to teach and younger ones wanted to learn - the beauty of a mixed age group class...
S finished the entire tracing of all numbers after L SHOWED HER HOW TO TRACE one number....
L tracing a pretzel after a friend showed him once how to....
WRITING WORDS AND SENTENCES...
GROWING CRYSTALS...
The children were interested to learn a bit about the shiny sparkly rocks on the surface of the Earth, so we looked at our books about rocks and crystals. Teacher Rosemary had some shiny rocks for them to see and feel. On Friday, we experimented with growing crystals...following all the step by step directions which we thought was the most essential part of doing an experiment, or even cooking a recipe and for many other day to day things. We left it alone until we could come back next week to check the results!
At the end, we cherish every day of our learning. What is most important is the quality time that we get to spend together to strengthen our relationships! Lately we have been calling ourselves the Purple Room Family!!! :)
Keep seeing you'll around,
Hugs,
Teacher Rashida
