3-16-15 & 3-23-15

Rags to Paper

 

 Today we made paper from cotton pulp!  We took the paper through a process of getting wet and using a screen and frame to help press the fibers together.  We made two types of paper, one with just water and one with water and cornstarch.
We then let them dry for a week.  Below are several pictures from the paper making process.

A week later after it all dried we made observations and analyzed it under a microscope.  Several pictures show the students using the microscopes and analyzing their paper.

3-2-15 & 3-4-15

Butter and Cheese

Today we made butter.  It seemed to be a huge success.  The kids were given the opportunity to taste the butter they made!  I believe almost all of the students tried their butter and it seemed as though they enjoyed it.  We had to tell them to be sure and not eat it all so they had some to test later =)  The following pictures show some of the process and products made at various points in the experiment.  

 We then meet again on Wednesday and attempted to make cheese.  I say attempted because, unfortunately, our experiment did not turn out.  However, we feel that this was still a valuable learning experience for the students.  We discussed what we could learn from this with them and what we felt went wrong in the experiment.   We also discussed why details are very important to follow in an experiment.  Although, they were disappointed with the outcome the students had a good time during the process.

2-23-15

Marco Polo

 Today we played a game that helped the students to become more familiar with what Marco Polo experienced as he traveled the Silk Road.  The students practiced their math skills at each town they stopped at along the way.  They had the opportunity to buy things at each stop and had to do the currency exchanges.  The game had a similar format as Monopoly.  The students also had to pay for their travels and make choices on how to travel.  There were chance cards that often affected their choices and their budgets.