Dramatize an electric engine

The electric engine that we built we then dramatized together. Here´s a series of images:

A coil

An electromagnet. She stands on a battery ( one paper with a + marked on it and one paper with a - marked  on it)

We added two magnets.

And then what happened? Take a look!

We´ve got an electric engine.

Electric engine

Last Thursday we built an electric engine. We followed the description in Hans Persson's book "Reactions"

Here´s some of the results:

Julia and Caroline succeeded.

Linnea and Fanny is trying to work it out.

Emil and Johan made it too.

Geometric ABC

We have made an abc of geometry, a large painting (70 cm * 100 cm) with small squares. Each square demonstrates a word that has to do with geometry, like Hypotenuse or Rectangle. It is of course in Swedish but I would like to show this great idea of mine. Enjoy!

We can take a closer look at some of the squares.

Magnets

We are no learning about magnets. In Hans Persson's "Book of Physics and Chemistry", there is a task were you can build obstacle courses that are run with the help of magnets. Using cardboard, the children built ramps and fun figures to run with. The figures are attached to a paper clip and can be run from start to finish using a magnet held under the track. The children had so much fun that some did not even want to go to recess. Here are some of the results:

Last week we had a practical test. Again, it was Hans Persson and his books that inspired me. They got 3 small magnets of various kinds, and they should then answer the question "Which magnet is the best?" It was up to the children to interpret the question (the best at what?) and preparing tests to decide.

Joanna and Julia wanted to test the magnetic strength by starting with an empty container (they used a pencil pouch) and then fill it gradually. A good idea!

Amanda and Matilda raced the magnets against each other on the whiteboard. They attached a small weight (my keys) to the magnet. They then measured the time it took each magnet to slide down the whiteboard.

Another test was to find out how many paper clips a magnet can pull up from a glass of water.

A popular test was to see how many paper clips a magnet could hold hanging in a chain.

We also constructed an electromagnet. First, we concluded that a large iron nail was not magnetic. Then we wrapped it in copper wire and connected it to a 4.5 V battery. As long as the battery stayed connected the nail worked as a magnet and we could use it to lift up some smaller nails.

Remainder rally

I got the game "Remainder rally" from Margareta Forsbäck.

It is a paper filled with numbers in a "meandering" line. All players start in the field where it says 17. You roll a dice and ask yourself "How many times does x (depending on what the dice show) "fit" in 17?" The remainder is the number of steps you can move forward.

Whoever comes first to the end of line wins!

Solid or liquid?

We have over a period worked extensively laboratory and we talked about the substance in different physical state. As a fun end I showed the class a little experiment.

Mix corn starch or potato starch in some water and try to figure out if it is in solid or liquid form.

The children became very enthusiastic and appreciated the experiment. I think many of them also have shown their new "party trick" at home.

Weight - with wrapped milk cartons

Margareta Forsbäck told me how to work with wrapped milk cartons to introduce the concept of weight. Each carton could be filled with anything and was wrapped in neatly. At first the children were to sort the cartons by weight, then guess the weight and then check the weight to finally figure out the difference between hypothesis and results.

I then got an idea to try to balance the cartons on a self-made balance scale. We put the cartons on the balancescale trying to find balance. Two at a time we put them on the scale. We managed to put all the cartons on the scale without losing the balance. We then decided  to remove the cartons, also two at a time and still without losing the balance. It became more difficult but we made it.

Here's what it looked like:

Aluminum cans

Anyone who wanted to could do this experiment. We poured a little water in the bottom of a can and heated it to boiling. Then we quickly put the can upside down in a big tub with cold water. We got a lot of really up crumpled cans and an occasional small "Bang". It was a successful and fun lesson!

Paulina concentrating and preparing.

Caroline really did succeed!

Rocket Racing

We have built rockets for a rocket racing. Who has built the best looking rocket? Who built the rocket that flew the longest? Launching ramp I built at a lesson with Hans Persson. (http://www.hanper.se/)

Half of the class proudly presents their rockets.

They all eagerly wait  for their turn to fire.

The results

Here are the winners! Ellas rocket got the most votes and was named best looking rocket. Patrik built the rocket that flew the longest, more than 30 meters. It was perfectly balanced and it was a lot of tape involved :)

We all had great fun!

Pentominoes

Each pupil was asked to make laminated Pentominoes made from small squares with the side of 2 cm. The class was then supposed to build a larger square or rectangle with the small parts. No one managed to resolve it fully that lesson but they were engaged and amused. A week later they´d solved it!

You almost did it, Linn!

Tesselation

After a tip from Margareta Forsbäck I did some tesselations and nice patterns with grade 5. The pupils got to practice fine motor skills, fractions, geometry, listening to instructions and to see patterns. Then we decorated the classroom with this beautiful tesselation.

Priority rules

I talked about the priority rules with my class and of course I wanted to do it in a fun way. I found a fun idea on NCM's homepage (http://ncm.gu.se/). I myself was taught something new. Saw this little "devil" to use to remember the priority rules easier.

The Devil!

Then we played a game with dice. A team of four pupils played with 4 or 5 dice and they would, with the numbers on the dice come up with as many expressions as possible. It would of course be solved as well. It became a bit of a contest and the winning team came up with 24 expressions made by 4 numbers. One rule was that any mathematical method could only be used once per expression.

Body manufacturing

When we were learning about the human body, we finished it by manufacturing our organs and systems in the body. Here are some of the results:

Lungs and breathing

Circulation of the blood

Digestion

Skin

Eye

Mathematics ABC

Mathematics ABC in wood.

Chart

Reduction

Radius

The scale with Bratz and Barbie dolls

How could a Bratz doll or Barbie look like life-size? We found out.

How about it? Is it reasonable?

On the students' own initiative, we also thougt about how a doll really should look like and drew pictures of ourselves in the scale. It looked like this: