Winter Walk and Liquids!

Students in Room 2 and 3 made lots of observations about winter today during our winter walk.  Children noticed evidence that our temperatures have been high recently, noticing that the snow was melted off of the roofs and from the ice on the ground.  We saw evidence of salt and sand on the sidewalks used to prevent people from tripping.  In the snow we saw some tracks of animals, people and even a few bikes.  We also noticed what we didn't see.  For example, the bike rakes were almost empty and no one was sitting out at Starbucks on the patio. We saw several birds, and noted that there were some berry trees with fruit still on them by the mall.  We saw empty feeders in Discovery Gardens and wondered why they were empty.  We may investigate that further.
Most of us, uploaded a picture and a sentence to iris after our walk.

At the end of the day, we did an experiment to compare the viscosity of 7 different liquids.  Organized like a race, we lined up: Ketchup, mustard vegetable oil, corn syrup, liquid soap, liquid tempera paint and water(with green food colour) to see which would flow the fastest.  Children made predictions before the race.  Children wondered if they would turn directions, other predicted some liquids would be "zippy fast" and others would be slow depending on how thick(high viscosity) or thin they were.  Water was the clear winner, with oil slowly coming in second.  It took another 10 mins for the liquid soap to hit the finish line.  Right now, corn syrup is almost there....will it finish?

The children noted how interesting the shapes of the streams were.  Water branched into two streams, the corn syrup got thinner and thinner, the oil continued to spread out sideways and the mustard stayed in a blob.  Compare some liquids at home and think about how they move and flow.

Reminders: 
Look in your child's folder for a Valentine's Day notice with the students' names. I checked and the school board wishes that food treats are not given out.  (Stickers, erasers and tattoos are great alternatives to candies if you want to send something along with a card.)
School finishes early tomorrow for conferences.  See you tomorrow!