The specialists of Davis Elementary School have been working very hard to make sure that our students still have access to amazing, fun, and rigorous specials content. We continue to try and demonstrate our amazing teamwork and lead the students by example. More importantly, I know for a fact that all of us miss our students very much, but we have some very special messages for our students... But wait, there's more! We've created a short acapella project for students to check out. Click the button below to download it.
0 Comments
Today's challenge was inspired by Olivia in Mrs. Lowe and Mrs. Houck's kindergarten class. Olivia found a really cool insect while on a hike and wanted to learn more about it. I shared a picture guide to help identify it, when a cool idea struck me. I want to see who can find the weirdest, coolest, buggiest insect. Head out into your backyard or look around your neighboorhood. If you were a bug, where would you hide? On a leaf, near a puddle of water, Under a rock or log? Remember to be safe while searching for bugs as some bite or sting. To look under something roll the rock or log toward you so that anything hiding underneath can run away from you, and don't touch if you can help it, only look with your eyes.
If you find something, take a picture. Now it's time to do some research. On the links page you will find a link to a picture identification guide to insects in Georgia. Use the database of pictures to learn what weird bug you have found and share it on the STEM Seesaw or send me a picture! Mr. Hanft This stuff is AWESOME!!! Kinetic sand is a polymer material (see blog post about slime for more information on polymers) that has a sandy texture. Over the weekend, I thought it would be a cool idea to post a method of making your own kinetic sand at home when I stumbled across a mystery. There seems to be a debate on the internet as to whether or not these homemade kinetic sand recipes actually work. This led me to today's STEM challenge. We're going to determine which of these recipes makes the best kinetic sand and determine if they are real or fake.
The first thing you will need to do is find the different recipes on the files page. Then gather your materials and get ready to mix up some kinetic sand. Make sure you have a mat or something to prevent a mess. Once you have tried both of the recipes compare and contrast how each one turned out. How do the textures of each recipe feel? Do the grains of sand stick together? Is the recipe too wet or dry? Share your findings with a video on the STEM Seesaw or send me pictures or videos. Both recipes can be stored in a ziploc baggie. If they dry out, you should be able to add a small amount of water to give them some more life, though I have personally not had much luck with that... Mr. Hanft Hello Everyone!
Escape rooms are one of my favorite things to do on a free weekend. For one hour, my friends and I solve puzzles together to try and "escape" a room. Since we're supposed to stay six feet apart from non family members right now, it can be difficult to be in a room together to try and solve puzzles. Breakout EDU has heard my problem and developed a super cool solution. Digital escape rooms! If you haven't tried this, I cannot recommend them enough. Breakout EDU has published a number of kid friend puzzles that could win our school some awesome prizes. While some of these may be tough for our younger students, they could also be used as a fun family activity since we can work together to solve the problems. If you would like to try them, they have an archive of older puzzles, and they post new puzzles on weekdays at 2PM. Instructional videos are found with each puzzle, and if you want to team up with a fellow classmate I cannot encourage it enough. Be creative, think outside the box, and have fun! Check it out at Breakoutedu.com/live. Mr. Hanft Hello everyone, Today I want to continue to looking into food science by taking a closer look at one of the most staple foods in human history, BREAD. According to historians, the first bread was made around 8000 BD in Egypt, and closely resembled modern day tortillas. Since then bread has played an important role in human history, for example, The Great Fire of London in 1666 was reportedly started by a baker and the French Revolution is thought to have started because mobs of people demanded more bread. But what is bread? Basically it's a doughy paste made of flour, water and, sometimes, yeast. Yeast is a single-celled fungus that is so small it takes 20 billion yeast cells to weigh as much as 1 paper clip (1 gram). When added to the dough, yeast eats sugars present in the dough and releases carbon dioxide. That's right, they fart! This carbon dioxide inflates the stretchy dough and creates air pockets (which you can see when you cut bread) in a process called leavening. Our fifth graders used yeast this year to create elephant toothpaste (directions can also be found on the files page, in case you have any extra yeast after today's challenge). Today's challenge is going to be another family challenge. Find a recipe for making a simple bread. If you can find the ingredients at the local grocery store during your next shopping trip, give it a try and share a picture. This is my first attempt at the recipe, as you can see I didn't have a loaf pan so I used a deep oven safe pot. Those air pockets in the cut bread where created by the yeast farts!
Mr. Hanft Microscopes were first thought up by the ancient Romans. Their writings spoke about two lens at opposite ends of a tube. These original plan gave rise to the microscope in the 16th century. Aaton van Leeuwenhoek discovered that carving glass into certain shapes made pictures look larger. He continued to try new shapes and improve the quality of the glass he used, and eventually became the first person to ever look into the microscopic world. It would be another 100 years before the next major improvement was made to the microscope. Improvements in glass making techniques also improved the quality of microscopes and allowed the microscope to become more powerful than ever before. It wasn't until the early 19th century that the modern microscope was created. Today, microscopes use electrons to scan the surface of objects that are only nano-meters big. Aaton van Leeuwenhoek could never have imagined a microscope like the electron scanning microscope. Today's challenge will be an investigation into the microscopic world. On the Files page you'll find a number of images taken from different types of microscopes. Try to identify what each picture is. Furthermore, you'll find a really interesting website on the Links page called Scale of the Universe. This website compares relative size of different objects, from the very small to the very large. Spend some time exploring the size of different objects in the universe.
Mr. Hanft In order to learn about nature, you need to experience nature. One of my favorite ways to do experience the great outdoors is through nature walks, but taking a hike or walk at the local park is difficult during this period of social distancing. To that end, I've created a couple of fun activities that will get you outside and exploring.
The first is a scavenger hunt of things to look for on a nature walk. Then second is a nature bingo board. If you complete either of the activities, take pictures and post them on the seesaw or the send them to Mr. Hanft. Mr. Hanft American use an estimated 100 billion plastic bags a year, and many people may not realize that they are not recyclable in your home. While some grocery stores can take them back to recycle them, often they end up in landfills or worse, as litter in the environment. Once in the environment, plastic bags can be mistaken as food by animals. Birds, fish, and turtles are some of the most affected species of plastic bag pollution. If the bag doesn't get eaten, it could take 500 or more years to degrade and scientists think that more often than not they will become microplastic instead of completely breaking down like other substances. Microplastics, or microscopic pieces of plastic, can release toxins into the environment which can cause even more problems.
But now for the good news, this weeks project aims to help your reuse plastic bags you already have so they don't end up as pollution. This week, we're going to turn our plastic bags into plarn! What's plarn you ask? Plarn is "Plastic Yarn". Plastic is a strong substance that can stretch and bend. It's durable and light weight. These are some of the reasons plastic become such a popular material to build with. Once woven together Plarn can be used like yarn to create a number of useful tools. Some folks have used plarn to create bedrolls for homeless people to use. Others have turned them into reusable shopping bags they can bring with them to the grocery store instead of using more plastic bags. Some people have even turned plarn into clothing! In the files section, you will find instructions on how to create plastic yarn. You will also find a video about how to use plarn on the video of the day link. I want to see what cool ideas you can come up with. Mr. Hanft Starting today and continuing through the remainder of the school year, Mr. Hanft will be hosting live 1 hour challenges in Minecraft Education Edition. These challenges will be from 11AM to Noon. Students will be asked to build something in one hour, but they won't know the topic until they begin. Students can work alone or with friends. To participate, Mr. Hanft will post the 4 picture code students will need to join at 10:50 every Friday on the Files page. Please email Mr. Hanft if you have any questions.
Mr. Hanft
Rube Goldberg was an artist who created drawings of wacky, complicated, and crazy machines that would use chain reactions to achieve a simple task. His drawings were so inventive and extraordinary that many people started to build them to see if they were possible and today an entire culture has developed around one artists drawings. Engineers who specialize in designing and building complex Rube Goldberg machines have become increasing popular with the invention of the internet, and many can be found on Youtube.
Today's challenge actually comes from the granddaughter of Rube Goldberg, I'll let her explain:
A Rube Goldberg machine can take lots of practice and patience. Do some research first and look to see what other people have created and then test it out for yourself. If you see an idea you like and you can get it to work, then add it to your plan. For ideas to get started check out the video of the day or check out some videos on youtube with mom and dads permission.
Speaking of which, make sure that you have your parents permission before turning your house into a Rube Goldberg machine as they can be quite messy, and be sure to take lots of pictures or video. Even if it's a simple one or two step machine, I can't wait to see what you can come up with! |
Archives |