Oobleck and next week

As scientists, being a keen observer and then being able to articulate your observations are very important skills to develop. On Thursday, we headed up to the Science Lab to observe a mixture that exhibited rather unusual properties, properties that made it difficult to determine whether this substance was a solid or a liquid. Oobleck is a mixture of corn starch and water. When in a bowl, it can be tapped and it feels like a solid. If pressed upon, with a finger, the finger will slowly sink. If some of the mixture is picked up in your hands, it will run through your fingers like a liquid.

The class recognized that these are also the types of properties exhibited by quicksand. Observations were made and written down and then we had a class discussion about the experience. We learned that Oobleck is known as a non-newtonian fluid, which means it exhibits properties of both solids and fluids. After the lab we watched a couple of short videos that showed people running across tubs of Oobleck and Oobleck "dancing" on a speaker.

Coming up this week, we will start Chapter 2 in Math dealing with Multiplication and Division of Whole Numbers. You will be getting your first assessment back from Chapter 1 on Monday. There will be a note attached to it explaining the grading of this test. Please keep your eyes open for it.

We will continue our opening unit on The Constitution in Social Studies as well as discussing the upcoming elections.

In Science, we will start our unit on Color and Light. This unit will last approximately one month and will be culminated with a visit by our scientist in residence, Patsy Eldridge.

Don't forget that Wednesday, September 26th, is an early release day. Students will be released at 1:15PM and lunch WILL be served to all grades.