Egg-ceptional Experiment this Week

 

The 6th graders are learning about cells.  We are in the middle of an egg experiment.  Yesterday, we soaked the eggs in vinegar for 24 hours.  Today they are soaking in water for 24 hours.  Each day we measure the circumference of the egg and record other observations.  Hmmm...what will tomorrow's egg look like after a 24 soak in water?

Cell Video for the 6th Graders ~ Enjoy!

Cell Video

Making Money With Minerals

 

The 8th graders had a great lab on Thursday dealing with the mining of minerals vs. cost of waste.  The 8th graders were given 5 minutes to pick out the "minerals" (colored beads, sunflowers) from a birdseed mixture.  Here's the catch - along with the "minerals" came "waste" in the form of millet seed.  At the end of 5 minutes the "minerals" were added up and represented a profit.  The millet seeds were also added up and was their cost.  Plus, any millet seed dropped on the floor, on the desk, etc. represented environmental clean-up.  They didn't do too well as business owners ~ they lost about $1,000.  They learned that a few gold nuggets = a lot of waste & it is more profitable to go after minerals abundant in the Earth's crust.

Lesson Plans for October 21st - 25th

Lesson Plans 10/21/13

Animal Cells

 

The sixth graders had fun while learning on Wednesday.  They made a replica of an animal cell creating the organelles out of play dough, pipe cleaners, jellybeans and peanut butter.  Some jellybeans were leftover for a treat.

Mineral Properties

The 8th graders are busy learning about minerals.  This lab had them determining minerals by their properties.  In the picture they are calculating the volume of the mineral to then figure density.

The Best Lessons Are Not Always Planned ~ Praying Mantis

One of our MVCA students brought a praying mantis to school.  It was given to him by his grandmother who was blessed with it from a neighbor.  It was found in a raspberry patch near Avon, SD.  The whole school gathered at the end of the day to watch it eat a grasshopper.  It took awhile, but he finally decided to take a bite!  The video is below.  What a great impromptu lesson for the day!

 

Praying Mantis Video

Proving 1cm Cubed = 1 mL

The 5th graders created a tin foil box, measured it to find its volume in cubic centimeters, and then filled it with water measured by milliliters.  Does 1cm cubed = 1mL?  Yep!

And, The Worms Ate...

The 6th graders finished their "wormy" experiment yesterday by weighing the mass of the food scraps they put into the jars a couple of weeks ago.  The first number indicates the amount put in and the second number represents what was left.

grapefruit - 14.1g --> 11g;      8.6g --> 0g
apple -          5.2g --> 4g;        5.5g --> 2.7g
banana -     11.2g --> 10.8g; 11.5g --> 0g
kiwi -           5.1g --> 0;          5.1g --> 2.4g
orange -                                  4.5g --> 0g

Reasons given by the 6th graders as to why the first group did not have a substantial decrease...they must be dead!

Well, the first group had small, not too excited earthworms in their jar while the second group has some pretty big, active night crawlers.

All the students agreed...it was a FUN experiment!

Munching on Water

This is what you do when you eat celery according to the 5th graders' latest science experiment.  They determined that celery is 95.6% water!  This is based upon their findings.  They cut up a celery stalk, placed the pieces in a beaker, placed it in a sunny classroom window, and waited.  Here is the final result...

Not "munch" left!

Fall Banquet Movie

Fall Banquet Movie ~ "MVCA Fall 2013"

Lesson Plans for 10/7-10/11

Kingdom Protista Anyone?

The 6th graders got some great shots of the critters found in water from our local bodies of water...Marne Creek and Missouri River.

 

 

Thanks Mr. DeRoos for your GREAT microscope tutorial.

 

 



Lesson Plans for 9/30

Lesson Plans 9/30