Category Archives: Science Experiments

Fun with Augmented Reality!

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Over the past few weeks, the children have been experimenting with a variety of augmented reality apps.  The first one I introduced is a favourite of mine called AR Alphabet Flashcards.  I love this app.   When the students hover the iPads over the trigger images, an augmented image of an animal appears as if by magic!  The app is still free.  You need to print off the trigger images on a color printer.  You can find these images at the AR Flashcards website.

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The children like to see if they can pick up the animals by putting their hand underneath the image.  If you tap on the screen you can hear a child say the name of the letter and the animal.  Too cute.  We will be using these images later this year to create an augmented reality alphabet book.  You can see the one we created last year here.

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This app also includes some dinosaur images!

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We have also been doing a little with the CoLAR app.  This is an awesome little app.  I gave the students a special coloring sheet about pumpkins that has an augmented image embedded in the page.  When they hold the iPad over the image within the app the trigger engages and the pumpkins begin to dance around!  It also picks up the exact colors that the student used to color their page.  Lots of fun.

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We have also started our science experiments.  I hope the children remembered their promise to do this one over the sink!

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A couple of the students had to hold onto their cups for a long time before the force of gravity exerted itself!  Lots of fun!  Wet, too!

 

 

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Filed under AR Flashcards Alphabet, Augmented Reality, coLAR, iPads, Science Experiments

Fun with Frogs!

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We have been working on a Frog theme this past week!  We did a mini research report about frogs and toads.  The children read fact sentences about frogs and toads and then sorted them into different categories!  They liked the Cool Fact category the best!

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We have also been reading Frog and Toad stories and we made a story map about The Lost Button story!

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They added a lot of detail to their story maps!

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We made origami frogs to act out the story map!   One student really enjoyed making them and made lots of them.  She gave some of them away, too!

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And, of course, we had to have a origami frog hopping contest!

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We have also been doing some more science experiments!

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This one seems like magic.  We put 5 bent toothpicks together on a plate.  The toothpicks are arranged so that the bent parts are close together.  We used a straw as an eyedropper and dropped several drops of water on the toothpicks where they are bent.  Watch what happens!

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It was fun to see their faces as the star appears!

 

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Too Much Fun with Dinosaurs!

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Dinosaurs have been crawling all around our classroom!

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Can you see the dinosaur crawling on her pants?  That’s the first time I have ever heard “Mrs. Anton! There’s a dinosaur crawling up my leg!”

We have been working with the Adventure mode on the Walking with the Dinosaurs app.  You download a printable target and print it off in colour.  Then you point the iPad at the screen and suddenly there are dinosaurs crawling all around!

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You can feed them and they come running!  I wish I could record the student’s faces!  Too much fun for me!

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We are going to write about the dinosaur pictures we took last week.

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I am hoping to get the stories posted to their personal blogs!

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Watch for them!

Today we did another science experiment too!  Science is magic!

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You pour water out of the pitcher and it “sticks” on the string to the cup!  Everyone got a turn to pour the water and catch the water!  That’s why everyone got a piece of string in their planner.  You get to try it too!

I used a little pitcher that I had from a child’s set of dishes.  You could use a creamer… Make sure you do this over a sink or have lots of paper towels handy!

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Don’t get too wet!

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Filed under Augmented Reality, Dinosaurs, iPads, Science Experiments, Walking with Dinosaurs

Letter and Science Fun!

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Today I introduced one of my favourite iPad apps to the class.  It is called Letter School!  It is an awesome app that presents learning how to make the letters of the alphabet in a very engaging way.  We are really lucky because I can present the apps on the iPad and all the children can see and hear it on the big screen with the use of the projector.  I have a special cord that lets me connect to the projector.

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It is a great way to introduce the app to everyone at the same time.  I had a student use the app and all the children could see and hear it.  The student makes the letter using the arrow cues and these amazing animations appear to make the letters.  It is awesome to hear all the giggles as they learn their letters!  Too much fun!

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The children worked in small groups sharing the iPad and taking turns making the letters.  I have a special headphone adapter for the iPad that lets several children use it at once!  They were very co-operative and took turns really well!

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We did another science experiment today!  I love watching their faces the first time I demonstrate it.  Each child got to try the experiment on their own.  All you need is a cup, some water, a piece of cardboard, and a place like the kitchen sink to work at!

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We talked about why the water stayed in the cup!  One student’s water stayed in their cup for over half an hour!  Eventually, the cardboard gets saturated with water and the seal releases.  The children illustrated the experiment and labelled their drawing.

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They did a great job!

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It is always fun to see their faces when the water stays in the cup!  Science is magic!

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Science and Dancing Fun?

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Today was the last day in session this year and so to celebrate we did our favourite subject….

Science!

We did one new experiment and then repeated two of our favourite old ones.

There are two things that I have always wanted to do but have been successful at yet…

I can’t whistle very well (actually, I can’t whistle at all) and I haven’t been able to blow up a balloon.

But I do know how to get science to blow up a balloon!

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I do love experiments that use vinegar and baking soda!  Good old kitchen ingredients!

The instructions are in your child’s science duotang.  One rainy day this summer when you are looking for some fun give it a try!

We also repeated the Don’t Spill experiment.   It is fun to watch their faces when the piece of paper holds up the water in the upside down cup for a while.  I think the record this morning was just a little over half an hour before the paper fell down and the water splashed out!

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We also did the experiment we call High and Dry!  We put some kleenex in the bottom of a cup, turn the cup over and put it in a tub of water.   The kleenex stays dry.  Do you know why?

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I promised that I would post the links for Dance Mix Two.  We have had a great time dancing to some of the songs on this mix. We haven’t done them all yet!

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I have also add the Disney Dance Mix.  We haven’t had a chance to do any of these yet!

You can find the links on our class WIKI page.

I am trying to figure out which one is my favourite…. What’s yours?

I would like to thank  Kinderchat for compiling all these great dance videos.  Aren’t they great?

So when the weather is not so nice this summer you have two things you can do!  Check out the science experiments and DANCE!

Have a great summer!

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Filed under Dance, Science Experiments, WIKI

Wacky Water Fun! Space Age Style!

Ever wonder what it would be like to eat dessert in space with zero gravity! Take a look!

Today was very special because we got to watch Chris Hadfield, our astronaut at the International Space Station sing in real time!  We tried to watch the live link from the Space Station but we experienced some technical difficulties.  So we got bits and pieces at a time but it was still live!  Imagine that!  Really cool to watch and realize that Commander Hadfield was singing with thousands of children in a live concert from space!  We ended up watching the cool videos he has been creating about his experiments in space.  One of the really cool ones was about that happens to water in space.  Take a look!

So in science today we did an experiment about surface tension and water too!

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Take a look! I bet you were wondering about the string that got sent home today!

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Now you can try!  It’s hard to believe that the water stays on the string, isn’t it!  Now imagine how cool the water behaves at the space station!  

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Reading Buddies, Blogging and Exploding Colors!

I couldn’t resist getting a shot of our latest reading buddies!  When the children have finished their independent assignments they have the opportunity to read.  That morning I had received a new “suitcase” of books that the children were exploring.  We had to go to the computer lab and when we came back I saw that they had left their “reading buddies” with their noses in a book!  Too cute!

At the computer lab, the children have been exploring some of the new links I have added to the WIKI this week.  I have added a few Christmas links and a link for the I Spy series.  The Christmas links are from the ABCYa site.  There is a  Math practise site,  decorating a Christmas tree and a Gingerbread House, and a Christmas word search.  Love those word searches!   Check it out!

Today we explored surface tension again with our experiment called Exploding Colors.  This is another Dr. Zed experiment that I found many years ago!  All you need is some milk, a drop of red, blue, and yellow food colouring, a toothpick, and some dish soap.  Pour the milk onto a shallow plate.  Add the three drops of food colouring.  Then use the bigger end of the toothpick and dip it into a little bit of dish soap.  I usually put out a little plate of dish soap.  Dip the toothpick  into the milk and watch the fun!

Today we blogged on our student blogs with our big buddy class.  We wrote about our last big buddy day!  Check it out!

It is amazing how quickly the children have learned how to navigate the various directories to insert their pictures!  There are quite a few steps that they have to remember and then they also have to learn how to adjust the picture so that it comes up in the correct position.  We are super impressed!  Right now the buddies are scribing for us but soon we will begin writing our own entries!

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Science is Magic!

Each week we try to do a science experiment!  I like to do the ones that children can do themselves with simple ingredients from home.  The best ones make a BIG mess!  I especially like the ones where you mix baking soda and vinegar together.  We had fun with that one last week when we made popcorn dance!

Last week we also did the one about air pressure.  I have to admit it is really fun to see the children’s faces every time I demonstrate this experiment.  It’s the one where you put a piece of cardboard on top of a glass half full of water, carefully turn it over keeping your hand very flat.  You take your hand away from the cardboard and amazingly the water stays in the cup!  It really seems like magic!  The magic of air pressure!

Some of the children had to hold onto their cups for a long time before the cardboard fell off!

I found these experiments in a series of books by Dr.Zed in the library . The books were a culmination of the experiments in the Owl/Chickadee magazine.  I checked the Owl/Chickadee website and it has some neat little games and they still have Dr. Zed science in their magazines too!

Hopefully the children remembered their promise to show you this experiment over the sink!

Don’t spill now!

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