Welcome back parents & students

          Well it's another great year at Blue Ridge Elementary and I'm glad to be back as the Science Specialist!  Time surely does fly, I can't believe this is my 7th year at Blue Ridge, as I am truly blessed to be here.  The Science Lab is fully operational and ready for experimenting, exploring, evaluating, and analyzing!  The first couple of weeks of school I'll be reviewing Science Lab Safety procedures with the students and informing them general guidelines to adhere to while in the Lab. Here is a quick video, I'll be sharing with the students about safety in the Science Lab.  Although the Science Lab is in full operation the broadcast team is not quite there yet.  I'm still waiting on the equipment to be connected back together (Which should be very soon) and then I will hold auditions for crew members with our 4th and 5th graders.  I was really impressed with the dedication our students showed last year being apart of the inaugural year of BRE Eagle News.  Most of the students came everyday at 7:30am to prepare, rehearse, and film the news.  Two of our students even received district recognition for their efforts as news anchors, and spoke this summer at a teacher training about how they prepared for and enjoyed being a news anchor. The News station was truly an enjoyable experience for me and I can't wait until I get my new news crew.  Remember parents and students, subscribe to this Blog to get updates on what activities/investigations your students are doing in the Science Lab and to keep abreast with the upcoming Science Fair!  Until next time, have a great day!

The soon to be functional Broadcast area! (positive thinking)

Half Way to the Finish Line

      I equate a science fair project to running a marathon.  When you initially hear about the project you are excited and can't wait to start, then somewhere in the middle of the race you start to realize "Wow, this is a long ordeal what did I get myself into".  But! then you see the finish line and get a burst of energy knowing that all your hard work and preparation is going to pay off.  Well maybe your thought process didn't happen exactly like that but some of you might be feeling a little anxiety right about now.  Don't fret, you have help!  Use the resources I have given you to complete your project and this best thing to remember is that you are Half Way to the Finish Line (if you have been keeping up with the items off your Science Fair Time Line).  This week and next week is all about your purpose you are investigating.  If you are doing a plant growth project, you need to be growing your plant(s) and tracking the progress.  If you are doing a project on the solar system you need to be building your model and researching the galaxy.  If your researching the effect junk food has on your health you need to be eating as much junk food you can possibly devour. Just kidding = ) I would hope you would already know the answer to that research question.

     Just remember students I am here to help you. Several parents have emailed me regarding the project and I am glad to work with them to ensure your success.  But No Last Minute stuff! Do not wait until February to try to put this all together. The next two items due off your Science Fair Time Line, is your Materials Listed (due today) , & Procedures (due 1-15-13).  I am discussing these steps in the Lab this week and next  so you should get them into me on time.  Before I go to a look at two completed display boards from last year so you can get an idea on how to construct your display board.
 

Your Hypothesis......

     Greetings parents, children and educators!  Our students at Blue Ridge are fully engulfed in their science fair projects and that’s great.  I look forward to seeing their finish projects.  The next item due off your Science Fair Time line is your Hypothesis (due 12-19-12).  Simply put, your hypothesis is an educated guess on what the outcome of your experiment will be prior to you actually performing your experiment.  An educated guess uses your prior knowledge on the subject were as a random guess is something you just come up with that doesn't have to make logical sense. 

     The key thing to remember students is to keep up with your Science Fair Time line, and also ask questions to your parent, teacher, and myself if you don't understand a step.  Do not come to your science teacher or me the day of or the day before something is due off your Science Fair Time Line. Your experiment & investigation step should be perform during you winter break so make sure you gather all your materials during the upcoming weeks.  Well I hope this post helps, and remember I am here to assist you with your project but you are the captain.

            

The Science Fair is Coming!!!!

To all Science Fair participates, below is the Science Fair Student packet you have received from me.  Please pay close attention to the 2012 Science Fair Project Timeline as it details what specific components are due to either your Science teacher or myself and the date that it is due.  Remember what I said about the Science Fair, have fun creating your project but do not wait until the last minute to complete it.  The first item due to your teacher is Your Purpose (due 12-17-12).  Parents if you have any questions regarding the Science Fair, please contact me via email or telephone.  Also this Science Fair Website is very informative as well!  Have Fun!

What do you prefer, Open Ciruits or Closed Ciruits?

     As we approach the Christmas Holiday, I hope all my readers have time to reflect on all the great things that happen to you and our country this year, and also enjoy spending time with your family and love ones over the Winter Break.  Now onto the Science Lab!  For the last two weeks I have focused my lessons on electricity. Students are learning what exactly is electricity and how to use it to power devices we use everyday. Doing this lab investigation I gave our students a  1.5 volt battery, a small lightbulb in two insulated wires.  Using their knowledge of what conductors and insulators, students constructed a Closed Circuit and discussed among themselves what Closed Circuit are.  Next,  I gave them a "Bag-O-Stuff" (simply a small zip lock bag with small materials in it) which they tested with the battery & wire to see if those item were conductors or an insulator.  Conductors allow electricity to pass through them, which resulted in the light buld coming on.  Insulators holds in electricity, which produced the light buld not coming on.  The students final project was to design a complex Closed and Open Circuit.  This required for the students to use (4) 1.5 volt batteries, (7) insulated wires, (2) lightbulbs and (2) throw switches, and a sound box.  It took some students a while to construct this circuit, but through teamwork and tapping into their problem solving strategies most students prevailed.  Below are some snapshots of the two week lab assignment. Also, if you want to learn more about electricity, check out this kid friendly Website

Its Heating Up in the Science Lab!

Its typically known that the boiling point for water is 100 C (Celsius) or 212 F (Fahrenheit); however, must liquids boiling point vary based on what chemicals and elements are in them.  This week in the Science Lab, students were given three unknown fluids in test tubes and determined each liquids boiling point.  For this experiment students recorded the room temperature of each liquid and the boiling temperature of each liquid.  They also recorded the time it took for each liquid to boil.  Using other physical properties of matter such as; smell, color, and viscosity the students determined which liquid is cooking oil, corn syrup, and dish liquid.  Like true scientist the students charted their data and collaborated with each other prior to making their predictions.  Since we were using the Hot Plate and several glass science tools (Flasks and Test Tubes) students exercise great caution while conducting this experiment. I’m proud to announce that nobody broke anything this week = ) Below are some picture of Blue Ridge’s young scientist.

Solar Power!

Well we are two months into the 2012 - 2013 school year and the students are enjoying their time in the Science Lab.  This week we extended the distilling water experiment and made Solar Water Distillers. We discussed what solar energy is and where it comes from, then compared Solar energy effectiveness to the Hot Plates we used last week, which is converting electrical energy to thermal energy.  The students really enjoyed this experiment and are working better with problem solving in groups rather than asking me for all the answers (creating independent thinkers!).  Parents ask your student about this project, you can do it at home too!  Well until next time.............I wonder what experiment will we do next week, maybe something with Ice Cream.   O.O   ( :