What’s the ‘matter’ in Room 2?
In Room 2 we have been studying the Chemical Sciences this term. We have been learning to recognise and discuss how things have changed. This is so we can understand that some changes are reversible, and some changes are irreversible.
We had a mysterious package delivered to our classroom. The packaged had a note that told us we needed to solve the mystery of what had happened.
When we opened our package we found some ice-blocks but they weren’t cold and hard like they should be; they had melted. As a class we discussed what might have caused this change. We thought maybe the package had been left in the hot sun, just bought from the shops or left out of the freezer for too long. We learnt about reversible and irreversible changes. We weren’t too worried about our ice-blocks because we now understood this change could be reversed.
We brainstormed how we could reverse this change so we could all enjoy the ice-blocks.
Once we had discussed how things can melt we became ‘Spaghetti Scientists’. We learnt all about properties and that properties can describe the: size, weight, temperature and texture of materials.
We compared cooked spaghetti with uncooked spaghetti. We brainstormed a list of verbs we could do with cooked spaghetti. Then we created some abstract spaghetti art, used informal units to measure cooked spaghetti.
As a class we read the poem by Shel Silverstein:
Spaghetti, all over the place, up to my elbows—up to my face,
Over the carpet and under the chairs,
Into the hammock and wound round the stairs,
Filling the bathtub and covering the desk,
Making the sofa a mushy mess.
The party is ruined and I’m terribly worried,
The guests have all left (unless they are buried)
I told them, “bring presents” I said, “throw confetti.”
I guess they heard wrong because they all threw spaghetti.
We responded to the poem by creating our own spaghetti all over the place pictures.
We completed our spaghetti science by learning that properties of materials make materials more or less suitable for specific tasks or things. We used uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows and worked in small groups to build the tallest tower. As a class we discussed the shapes that made the strongest structures and how to work together as a group.
We had so much fun making these towers.
We are really enjoying our unit on Chemical Sciences.
