General Day
Started our day with a group game that the students tell me has lots of different names. I called it Martian Tag- the students said they know the game by 'Rainbow Tag' and 'Octopus'
It was a generally well played game for sportsman(woman)ship and everyone got to run around like crazy for a half hour :)
For Science today a Synthetic Polymer lab was set up. It is the first experiment we are undertaking that uses some reactive chemicals. However, we were safe- glasses, gloves and step by step instructions. I used some of the class budget to buy an eye and skin safety centre for the classroom specifically for our chemistry science unit. Fortunately, we did not have to use it.
The students mixed a 4% sodium borate solution with warm tap water and food colouring and introduced it to a 25ml PVA (polyvinal alcohol) pre-mixed solution and the students created bags of slime.
We examined the differences that were created in the gel like substance with varying amounts of sodium borate. Everyone who wanted to mess around with the substance in their hands got to do just that and some will even be bringing smaples of the gooey mess home. It is not dangerous but must not be ingested OR thrown down a sink as it is a substance that holds water and will block drains!! I had the sudents all wash their hands thoroughly after playing with it and before eating their lunches!! It really was amusing to watch the students ply with the results some was extra runny and other batches were more gel dense. The student wanted to know what would happen if we froze a batch because it reminded them of the gel like substance that is in hot-cold packs. So we froze some and popped it into the freezer at lunch and checked it before the days end- and, yes, it probably could be used as a mini-gel pack for applying cold to minor injuries.
We all survived. LOL
French- I have been skimping on French time, so today I introduced a poster project that answers the question about what the students dream about doing.
Qu'est-ce que vous aimez faire dans votres reves?
The students will use a sample activity which provides suggestions and they can either use the activity ideas OR take a learning challenge (risk) and use a French dictionary (or Internet site) to create 10 things they would love to do in their dreams.
continue Monday.
DEAR time - reading our new novel- it seems to be interesting many students :)
I also allowed students to continue with the posters quietly.
At our computer session today we were busy
- looked up Holocaust information (our novel)
- found and showed a short video on the side effects of too much aspatame (science this week)
- looked up alternative recipes to create a 'slime' mixture which doesn't use the chemical ingredients we used in our lab today (there's one that uses Borax and Elmer's glue)
Then I gave them some free time for individual pursuits and games. It is really interesting to see all the different games and sites that the students frequent during 'free time'
We cleaned up and played a game of vocabulary 'Hangman' to finish our Friday. I won with the word polyvinal alcohol. Ha, Ha
Mrs Paxton let us know the grad hoodies were here and the students who had paid got theirs at the end of the school day- they look really nice. The $25 ayment can be made in the next few weeks.
That's all folks- gotta run
Have a great weekend and see you next week.
Mrs. J.
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