Glacial Fun

In Science, we are discussing glaciers and the erosion that occurs by "glacial plucking". Ultimately, this is what happens when glaciers freeze around rocks, boulders, or other sediments as they slowly move along.

How do you represent this visually?

Ivory Soap=Glacier

Ivory Soap with Hot-Glued "Boulders"=Glacial Plucking

As the glacier "slides along the hillside" (down our playdough mountain), the boulders that have been frozen in leaves behind "scars" or "striations" in the rock (the playdough).

The kids liked it. :) And I got to play with my favorite toy--the glue gun.

I love this project....

Variations on a theme....

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

--Sir Isaac Newton

Gone Marbles!

Magnificent Marble Maze

Supa Subs

You know, like a supa star....

The Wind

Ever have a week when you just need a song, something, to make you feel better?  I have my iTunes on shuffle right now as I work (11 pm for the fourth night in a row), and The Wind by Cat Stevens just came on.  I needed this.  

Vice Grip

This is what happens when you put a quarter through the vice grip...

Rocket Rally Fall 2008

Happy Veteran's Day

It was another beautiful Fall day out there, kiddies.  I spent my afternoon riding around.  

Crayon Lab Final Analysis

Awesome.  These kids rock.

The Rock Cycle Simulation: Crayon Lab Parts II and III

Picture one shows a sample of what our "sedimentary" and "metamorphic" rocks look like.  

Notice the sedimentary rocks, formed by W.E.D.C.C. (weathering, erosion, deposition, compaction, and cementation) have the following characteristics:

1. Thick Layers
2. Loosely Compacted
3. Distinct Particles
4. Dull Surface

Whereas the metamorphic rocks (formed by heat and pressure) have these characteristics:

1. Thin Layers
2. Tightly Compacted
3. Blurred Particles
4. Shiny Surface

• Parts II and III of our rock cycle lab simulated the processes by which metamorphic and igneous rocks are formed.  
  

The second picture here shows part II (the process by which metamorphic rocks are formed), during which we used our hot plate to subject our "rocks" to heat.  We used a vice grip then to add pressure (simulating the process by which rocks undergo pressure inside Earth's surface).  

Part III of our lab simulated the process by which igneous rocks are formed (melting and cooling).  

• First of all, we heated water to use as our "cooling" device.  
  

We had four beakers, marked with the following tags:

1. Very quickly cooling=ice cubes
2. Quickly cooling=ice water
3. Slowly cooling=warm water
4. Very slowly cooling=hot water
   

• Intrusive igneous rocks (formed deep within the surface of the Earth) were simulated by the "molten material" that was cooled over warm and hot water.  
  
• Extrusive igneous rocks (formed on or near Earth's surface) were simulated by the "molten material" that was cooled over ice water and ice cubes.  

In which she dreams in fault lines....

I had a dream the other night that referenced the Carizzo Plain.  Really?  

Today....

Is a good day...Obama 2008

The Crayon Lab

This is a great rock cycle simulation we do every year. 

1.  The first picture (the crayons with wrappers) represent a rock in nature. 

2.  The second picture represents the weathering process in nature (or, when rocks are broken down into small pieces). 

3.  The third picture represents the erosion and deposition process in nature (or when rock fragments are moved from one place to another and dropped in a new location). 

4.  The fourth picture represents the compaction and cementation process that rocks undergo as they become sedimentary rocks.

Parts 2 and 3 of this lab will take place on Wednesday, when we subject our sedimentary rocks to heat and pressure (metamorphic formation), and finally melt and cool our rocks (igneous formation). We will post further pics then!

My Lil' Pumpkin....

Sam brought me a pumpkin, and we decorated it!

Which one tastes the best?

Four wheels....

But now I like two...

Pools of Light

My favorite time of day is just at dark, when all thoughts of what must get done stop. Thereafter, small pools of light come alive on tired faces everywhere. This makes me smile.

Mentos + Diet Coke

Holla! I love this experiment. And this group had a lot of fun with it. I love this class. I will miss these little kittens.

Here's how it all went down: