Category Archives: general studies

Innovation Day 2023

What an awesome morning we had, continuing our explorations of density and our sink or float investigations. We kicked off our week by following the scientific method. We asked a question (Will it sink or will it float?), made predictions (hypotheses), conducted experiments, made observations, and discussed our conclusions (what we learned).

We then started discussing density: What is it? Can we see it? How does density make something sink or float in water? We used bingo stampers to show what density looks like: lots of dots very close together means more dense, and dots that are farther apart are less dense.

We experimented with all kinds of objects that we found around our classroom. This morning we got to test out our hypotheses/predictions with our guests!

Then, we progressed to asking if we can change the density of water so that an object that previously sank would now float. We tested it out with an egg (an egg-cellent egg-speriment, if you will). We discovered that eggs will sink in water. We talked about how we can try to change the density of water by adding something to the space between the “dots” (from our density art). We poured in some salt, and let it dissolve and the egg… SANK! So we added more salt. LOTS. And the egg still sank! Because we are great scientists, we didn’t get discouraged, and we didn’t give up! After our guests left, we added EVEN MORE SALT and finally…. The egg FLOATED!!!!

If you’d like to recreate the egg-speriment at home, we highly recommend using a tall glass.

The inspiration for our experiments came from learning about the story of Passover, when baby Moses floated in a basket along the river. We also noticed that we were using salt water for our egg-speriment, just like we have salt water at our seder! JK didn’t want the experiments to stop, so, tomorrow they will be bringing a package to use at home. Send us your photos or comment below so we can share with the class!

Tu Bi’shevat higiya! Tu Bi’shevat is coming!

JK has been very busy getting ready to celebrate Tu Bi’shevat on Monday! We talked about the importance of trees to people, animals, and the environment, and created some beautiful handprint tree art. We also started to germinate some beans and lentils, and learned about the life cycle of a seed: seed – sprout – root – plant. On Monday, we will join our grade 4 reading buddies and have a Tu Bi’shevat seder and a little surprise project!
Stay tuned!

This Week in JK

This week in JK we finished our ‘animals in the winter’ unit. We learned about hibernation, migration, and adaptation. Please check your child’s backpack for artwork, a game, and a song! To wrap up our unit, we had Let’s Talk Science from Ottawa U visit us for a fun workshop where we compared how well fur, feathers, and fat kept our hands warm in the snow compared to an empty bag. JK decided that the best one to keep their hands warm was the fur (also because that’s the coziest!)

 

Magic Fizzy Dinosaur Eggs

This morning we got to hatch a fossilized dinosaur egg. It was made out of baking soda, water, and food colouring. We helped the egg dissolve by pipettes and vinegar, and found a T-rex fossil inside! Then, we got to make our own dinosaur eggs and hatch them! We used our 5 senses to check out all of the ingredients – except taste because that would be yucky – and throughout the reaction.
(Listen with the sound on.)

 

We had so much fun! If you’d like to repeat the experience at home, here is the link to the experiment.
Comment below when you try it at home!

 

Dinosaurs

Today we listened to the story “Dinofours It’s Snowing!” by Steve Metzger. The dinofours are dinosaurs that are four years old, just like us! We were inspired by the footprints that they made in the freshly fallen snow in the story and we created our own dinosaur footprints using our classroom toys and some paint. Check out our awesome work! 

 

If you’d like to listen to the story again at home, here it is! Enjoy!

 

TIL…

Today I learned (TIL) about dinosaurs:
Netasaurus: Dinosaurs were HUGE!
Reuvisaurus: Kentrosauruses lived millions of years ago.
Joshuasaurus: I forget what the name is but I liked looking for dinosaur bones (paleontoligist).
Livasaurus: One of them (herbivore) cannot bite people because their teeth are not sharp they are flat.
Joeysaurus: Bones are the only part left of them. (Fossils)
Moishesaurus: Finding the bones was the best!
Ivrisaurus: You can’t touch them because they’re not alive anymore.

We had a visit from Isabelle and Ahmad from Ottawa U’s ‘Let’s Talk Science’ program. We talked about fossils and became paleontologists. Then we went hunting and found a dinosaur skeleton in our class. We collaborated to put it back together and named it “Rex”. We then made two dinosaur puppets (check your child’s backpack!): one herbivore and one carnivore, and we talked about the different shapes of their teeth. Then, we used toothpicks to dig fossils (chocolate chips) out of rocks (cookies). It was so much fun! We can’t wait for their next visit in the winter!

   

 

Homework!

Shalom JK Families,
We are having a visit from Ottawa U’s ‘Let’s Talk Science’ program on Monday. Our scientific exploration will be about dinosaurs so I’ve given JK some homework for Monday morning: they need to bring in a dinosaur stuffy, figurine, or book. If you don’t have one at home, don’t worry, we have plenty in the class! There is no need to buy anything.
Thank you for your support!
Shabbat Shalom

RESULTS!

Here is what we observed and what we now know about what happens to snow when we bring it indoors:

  • when the snow melts, there is less water than there was snow. That’s because the air spaces between snowflakes dissapear when the snowflakes melt!
  • at the bottom we found sand, gravel, and dirt – ewww! This is why we should not eat snow! (Unless it is falling from the sky directly into our mouths)
  • red snow becomes red water
  • the snow outside didn’t melt and that’s because it’s still very cold outside.

We are now headed out to repeat the experiment! Enjoy your day!

Before  After  The dirt
Ewww!