Learning+Experience+2

Learning Targets: • I can use liquids seriously like a scientist. • I can use my eyes, ears, hands, and nose to find out as much as I can about vegetable oil, corn syrup, and water. • I can describe physical characteristics of vegetable oil, corn syrup, and water. This means I can describe what they look like and how they move.

Materials: • Buckets of water • One tray per group of 4 with • A couple of clear plastic tanks • 6 tubes with caps • 6 resealable plastic bags • 6 jars with lids • 4 clear tumblers • newspaper • funnels • sponges • mop • vegetable oil • corn syrup
 * a small container each of water, oil, and corn syrup
 * a plastic bag of each of water, oil, and corn syrup

//**Do outside if weather allows!**//

Science notebook for this unit: [|notebook.doc]

WHOLE CLASS:

 * 1) Introduce long-term learning targets and the premise behind the unit: because the learning targets are about observation, making discoveries, and explaining things clearly in speaking and writing, we will be creating books for kindergartners about liquids. In Kindergarten they study water, but they don't study other liquids, so we are going to make lots of discoveries and then teach them to the K students. But you have to be able to explain things really clearly to the K students in your booklets!
 * 2) Have them look at Learning Targets # 1, 2, and 4 and give themselves a grade for the //Beginning// of the unit.
 * 3) Go over learning targets for today and see where kids think they are. These are skills -- we want to learn new words for describing liquids, make observations about liquids, and be able to explain them clearly. Review long-term learning targets.
 * 4) Introduce trays of materials. Explain that these are the first liquids students will be exploring. Tell them they may NOT open any containers during this first exploration.
 * 5) Go over other rules about buckets of water, etc. ie. only use liquids over newspapers; don’t carry open containers of liquids; liquids NEVER go in the air, etc.
 * 6) Go over the learning targets.
 * 7) Remind students not to open any containers, but that they may move the containers around to see how the liquids move. They need to be gentle with them so they don’t break.

WORK TIME:
Questions to ask as kids explore: Students can record what they observe on the science notebook pages. After they clean up, have them write more observations.
 * What happens to the liquid as you move the container around? How do the different liquids move?
 * How do the different liquids feel in the bags? What is the same / different about them?
 * What sounds do the different liquids make?
 * How do the different liquids look?
 * Which liquids are transparent / translucent / opaque? (remind them of geology vocab)
 * Do you see any bubbles? What do they look like? Can you remove them? Can you make more bubbles?

SHARING:
After everyone is done with the center, do some sharing.

Make a chart of properties of liquids. Have one chart per liquid? (one for water, one for oil, one for corn syrup), plus another chart for other properties of liquids.

(or share every morning a few things at morning circle). What did you observe? What surprised you? What discoveries did you make? Make a chart of their observations. Work on powerful words for how the liquids move and look. How much can you discover? Revisit the learning targets.

Characteristic properties of liquids include:
 * color
 * clarity (how see-through they are) -- opaque, transparent, translucent
 * density (how "light" or "heavy" they are, in layman's terms -- it has to do with how tightly the molecules are packed together)
 * cohesion (how much they stick to each other -- so oil has less cohesive force than water because when you put a drop of oil on wax paper, it spreads out, but a drop of water stays pretty round because the molecules of water stick to each other)
 * viscosity (how thick they are -- water is much less viscous than honey)

Students write one or two things they discovered, in a science notebook. They are writing for an audience of kindergartners, who study water, but don't learn about other liquids. How can you teach the kindergarten students about liquids? You must be able to explain what you discovered clearly so they can understand.
 * WRITTEN REFLECTION:**