The students were very excited to hear that Mrs. Normand’s cousin, Mrs. D.N.A., would be coming to the school in the afternoon to do another science experiment to teach about Matter. Today Mrs. D.N.A. and the students raced 4 different liquids. In the race was water, syrup, molasses, and ketchup.  Mrs. D.N.A. reviewed what the students had already learned about matter.

Solids – Have their own shape (If you put them in a container the shape stays the same). They don’t change their shape on their own, but you can break (or squish in some cases, like play-dough) a solid.

Liquids – Take the shape of the container they are in.

Today students learned that liquids also flow. Mrs. D.N.A. took a few pictures and had one of our lovely students take a video (so Mrs. Normand could watch what the class did while she was away). Unfortunately the video was too large to put on the blog post. If I can figure out how to load it over the weekend I will add it. If not feel free to come in one day before or after school to watch it. It is really very exciting to see! There was a lot of cheering as each liquid finished the race.

If you are interested in finding out the results ask your child and I’m sure they would be very happy to tell you but below is a recap of the race in case they cannot remember all the details.

*Spoiler alert – Race results below*

Water was the fastest and finished the race in less than a second taking 1st place. For awhile it looked like Ketchup was going to come in 2nd, but then it lost stamina and Syrup pulled into the lead taking silver. Ketchup managed to continue flowing and finished in 3rd. And finally after much cheering, Molasses finished the race in 4th place. It was very exciting to watch how the some liquids flowed fast and some were much, much, much slower.

Unfortunately in her efforts to allow enough time for the students to write about the race Mrs. D.N.A. forgot to take pictures of the mess she created at the end of the race. Thankfully there are so many wonderful helpers willing to help her clean up at the end of the experiments.

Please continue to practice counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s with your child. For counting by 2’s focus on counting forwards starting on any even number between 0-100. If your child has this mastered have them start on an odd number for more of a challenge. When your child counts by 5’s have them start at any number with a 5 or a 0 in the ones place and focus on counting forward. When you practice counting by 10’s with your child feel free to start anywhere between 0-100 and have them count forwards (and backwards if you feel they are up for the challenge). Your efforts make a big difference in our classroom learning time!

If you noticed I highlighted the ordinal numbers, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th above. Ordinal numbers are another part of our Math unit that we will be learning about. Have fun with your child lining up toys, having races, and putting objects in order. Have them practice writing ordinal numbers up to 10 and reading the words for ordinal numbers as well. There are many great games you could make around this concept.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs. N.