We have now officially started our study of Solids and Liquids during science. I started with a pre-assessment to find what children already know about the topic and I found that the terms solids and liquids and what distinguishes to two is quite a new concept for most. We spent last week talking about various solid objects and the properties of many types of solids. We ended the week with a "Solids Building Challenge" in which every was given certain materials and asked to build with them. They had two choices for the challenge--to work alone or with a partner and to build a tower or to build a bridge (I said it didn't need to be big--only large enough that a mouse could cross it). Students had to work outside of their comfort zones in many cases, as the materials were (purposely) limited and they had to get creative with what was there. I saw many students start out frustrated and grow more and more excited as they experimented and problem solved. Many worked in teams and were exceptionally cooperative and productive. Our next step is to discuss why some materials work better than others for different parts of structures based on their properties (hardness, flexibility, etc). This week will be devoted to learning about liquids, and then I have many fun experiments planned to explore changing states of matter. It's going to be great!
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