Little Electricians!

by Tricia Colaprete

Today in science we did an experiment. We got to wire switches to try to make a three way switch!

  The idea was that you could walk through a room, turn on the light, then go through the other door and turn off the light. So, they gave us our equipment and we got started. We had some wire, some pliers, two switches,  a bulb, a screwdriver,and some other things.

                 

First we took the black wire from the battery and connected it with a screw on the switch. Meanwhile, we took the white wire and strung it through the hole in the switch box. Then we connected the first white wire with another white wire. Then, we took a different black wire and attached it to the screw on the other light switch. Then we the same white wire and put it through another switch box. Then we had to connect it again. There were two wires coming out of light bulb piece. There was a white one, and a black one. We attached a black or white [I can't remember] to the black one on the light bulb piece. Then we were ready! Would it work? You could hear yells as the lights turned on! 

Hopefully, it would turn on. If it didn't you would look back and see what went wrong. 

I couldn't believe it! We were mini electricians for 40 minutes! That was an awesome project and I thank Ms.Condron and Ms.Kris for setting that up. If you think about it though, we thought that was challenging, think about what real electricians must go through every day!

Density Intensity

Happy New Year!!!  We are so excited to be posting our first class written blog entry!!  We hope you enjoy it as much as we had fun collaborating to write the entry!

Over the last 2 days the class has had the opportunity to experiment with different liquids and solids.  We started out with several different cups of liquids.  We observed how some seemed much more fluid than others and some that barely moved at all!  Next we tried to determine what the liquid was by it's characteristics.  We smelled the contents by wafting carefully,  then looked at it, and swirled it carefully.  We made some guesses about what it could be and Mrs. Condron let us know when we had the correct answer to the liquid.  Finally, we slowly and carefully poured our demystified liquids into a glass.  First we poured in thick, golden honey, then a layer of corn syrup, milk, bright yellow liquid soap, red-tinted water, pale yellow veggie oil, rubbing alcohol dyed green and finally some bright blue lamp oil.  To our amazement, they stayed in their brightly colored layers!!

 We wondered why did this happen?   Density!!  That's what made them stay separate!  To take this experiment to another level, we dropped solids into our column to see what would happen.  Lo and behold, they stayed at different levels.  The ping-pong ball stayed at the top, the glass beads landed in the bottom layers (depending on which type of bead you picked), the bolt sank to the bottom and the die stayed on top of the honey layer.  A plastic bottle cap settled at the rubbing alcohol layer and the cherry tomato settled into the milk layer.  What an awesome way to see how different liquids and solids have varying densities.  The class recommends that everyone should give this experiment a try.  They said it was a lot of fun and was a truly colorful experience.  What a wonderful way to start off the school year!  :)
Dragon love,
5th Grade
P.S.  Do NOT drink your experiment when complete!

T-Minus 2 Days...

I can't believe that it's only 2 days till we start school!!!  Presentation Night and Open House were AWESOME!!  It was wonderful to see all the families making themselves familiar with a new room, seeing friends, joking around, and just having a fun time together.  I loved watching my group of girls giggling together in a circle.  My boys were running around doing boy stuff, talking about their adventures over summer.  I heard camp, beach, and fishing, sounds like they had good time!  It was also great to meet our new families, we have 3 new friends this year.  Already they feel like part of the family!  I know that I gave out a lot of info at Presentation Night, and it might take a little time to absorb and assimilate all of it, but it will happen gradually.  As with all things new, it takes time to make adjustments.  Before you know it, it's like it's always been that way and things run smoothly.

Anyways, I want to keep this short, we are out of town with family and about to get ready to have our last big picnic of the summer season...in other words, I've got to get cooking!!  I hope everyone has something special planned on this last "official" weekend of summer.  I'm looking forward to seeing all those happy, smiling faces in my room on Tuesday!
Dragon Love,
Mrs. Kris.  :)

Getting geared up!!

The sun is shining in my classroom window and the room is starting to take shape.  This can only mean one thing...school is getting ready to begin!!  I've been busy getting desks arranged, names put on things, organizing supplies, and wrapping up my summer to-do list.  (Unfortunately, there's still a lot left on it!)  I've talked to some parents and they are excited about the start of the year with so many adventures to embark upon.  How can you not be excited about a new school year?  It's the thrill of the unknown and new expectations!!

While I'm excited, I'm also anxious for the first week to be over and get to the regular days of class.  I like routine and the first week is just chaotic.  The second week is my actual favorite.  We all know each other, expectations have been laid out, and the coziness of things familiar is setting in.  With that said, we will have our first class post the first week of school to demonstrate what we want to do with this blog and then we will allow our guest bloggers to take it to new heights each and every week!!  I'm so excited about this, I hope the kids think it's fun!

We shall write more...after the holiday!  I hope everyone has an enjoyable, relaxing, and safe Labor Day!!
Mrs. Kris.  :)

Starting to feel like fall!

As I sit here it is raining outside and doesn't feel like summer very much.  It's hard to believe that it is August and school is right around the corner!  The back to school ads have been running non-stop on t.v. and the sales flyers are chock full of school supplies.  I'm not sure my boys appreciate the t.v. commercials, but I find them amusing!  Maybe it's the music that harkens back to my school days?  I'm sure some marketing analyst got paid big bucks for that clever idea!  It's working!!

Anyways, the air is feeling cooler and the sun seems to be shining through the windows at a different angle in the evening.  Football practice has started, and the constant running to and from the field...along with the extra loads of dirty football laundry.  So it can only mean one thing ~ school is about to begin!

I hope everyone has had a relaxing time and enjoyed the beauty that is the Eastern Shore...or wherever you may have enjoyed the time off.  Things are starting to gear up at school and I'm starting to get my brain back in school mode, too.  I'm looking forward to a fun, exciting, and adventurous year with a great group of students (they shall be called my "kids" from this point forward).  The gala planning is well underway, it is such an amazing event!  I hope everyone can attend, it's such a fabulous time...and is for a great cause!!

Can't wait to see everyone at the Open House!!
Much love,
Mrs. Kris  :)

Welcome to my adventures!

Well, as the summer is well under way, I felt it was time to get started with blogging.  I've been reading many different blogs this summer and I feel it's time for me to take the plunge and try my hand at this tool.  Plus, I'm participating in a webinar on web 2.0 tools and one of the challenges is to start a blog...so I'm just completing my homework!!  I'm sure I'll make plenty of mistakes, but isn't that how we learn?  Bear with me and I will get this thing up and running in no time!  I'm being optimistic!  :)  

To give you an idea of what I'd like to use this space, I want it to be a place where I can brag about my "kids" (a.k.a. my students) and their amazing accomplishments.  Also, I want to keep parents informed about all the incredible things we do in class...especially since so many families have both parents working and they aren't always able to be involved in class activities.  I want to let my "kids" guest blog and write about something amazing in class.  What better way for a child to share their enthusiasm for school than to broadcast it to the world?!?

So hold on to your hats and get set for this adventure we call life!!! 
Love, Mrs. Kris.