What's the "MATTER" in Room 111

Room 111 and the entire first grade have been learning about matter through many experiments and activities.

We started by using our bodies to illustrate how closely the molecules in matter are in solids, liquids and gasses.

Solids have molecules packed tightly together, so we packed our bodies tightly together.

Liquids have molecules a little further apart so we separated ourselves a bit.

Gasses are made up of molecules very far apart from each other so we
spread out to all areas of the classroom.

Next we took classroom objects, sorted them into the categories of solid, liquids and gas and drew pictures of each matter category:

The Tissue Experiment:

First the class had to guess (or hypothesize) what would happen when we turned over the cup with the tissue in it:

2.  We turned the cup over and put it into the water:

The tissue remained dry!!!

3. We wrote about what had happened and what caused the tissue to stay dry:

4. We learned that the tissue stayed dry because the gas (air) took up space and pushed the water away from the tissue.

The Snow Experiment

After taking a cup of snow from the outside, we observed what happened to this solid. It turned from a solid, to a liquid to a gas (when it evaporated completely).

We also decided that we would NOT eat the snow outside, because after it melted and turned to a gas, there was much dirt left!

Our Favorite Experiment:  

Baking Soda and Vinegar 

1.  First we wrote (and drew) our hypothesis on what would happen when we dumped a teaspoon of baking soda into vinegar:

2.  Then we combined the baking soda and vinegar:

3.  The students then documented what happened by snapping photos with their iPads.  (They particularly liked the scared faces I made when I actually thought the balloon was going to explode in my face!)

4.  We learned that the vinegar turned the baking soda into a gas which then filled the balloon attached to the bottle.