Bring the Heat

Today the 2nd and 3rd grade class created their own thermomaters. We took an empty water bottle added water, rubbing alcohol and food coloring to them. We then placed a straw into the mixture and surrounded it with molding clay. The children learned that when it is hot the liquid goes up into the straw and when it gets colder the liquid mixture goes back down.







This project was very intriguing for both the children and the teachers. When Ms. Nazareth attempted the experiment this morning it did not work like she had planned. We were hesitant to try again. However the second we took the kids' projects out Ishmael's liquid almost out of his straw. There was laughter from all 5 of the children and Hayzul exclaimed, "It must be 100 degrees out here!" Kwame then realized that if he put his hands around the molding clay, the heat from his hands would make the mixture rise up the straw.



When I asked the children what they learned by doing this experiment Darahjanee told me that she learned that sometimes when you do an experiment it does not always work out the way you want it to and you just have to understand the before you start. Ms. Danielle helped our class make the thermomaters and when we took them outside she made a comment that she wanted to make one at her home. This then led to a discussion about how we, as a class, could teach people at the enviroment fair on how to make these very special themomaters.