A Step by Step of our Volcano!

To end our long study on dinosaurs, the Haifa class took a look at volcanoes! One theory as to why the dinosaurs went extinct is that a volcano erupted, causing the food to die, and consequently, the dinosaurs. So what better way to study volcanoes than to make one ourselves!! Before Thanksgiving, we made the volcano out of paper mache, as Alana is demonstrating below.

The volcano was finally dry after our break, and we were able to explode the volcano outside in the gorgeous weather. After coloring the vinegar with red and orange watercolor, the Haifa class trooped downstairs to get front row seats to the explosion.

We even invited our Kohavim friends to join in the fun. We all watched from a safe distance to see what happens when baking soda and vinegar combine!! We got a great show and all escaped unharmed from flowing lava!

-Alison and Sauci

Volcano Madness!

There were Volcano adventures today in the Tel Aviv room! First we read a book about Volcanos that we have had in the classroom. Many of the children LOVE this book so we decided to explore volcanos a little more. We painted lava on volcanos in the art center and a group created a class volcano on the sensory table. We mixed flour, water, and baking soda to create a dough. We then formed the dough around a empty water bottle to create the shape of our volcano. Lastly we put baking soda, soap, water and red food coloring in the bottle and as soon as we added some vinegar the whole bottle began to bubble and "lava" rushed down the side of the volcano! The kids enjoyed the whole process and everyone had a turn both making the volcano and making it erupt! It was neat to watch the lava and it made a fun doughy mess after it had erupted. Tomorrow we are making another volcano; this time out of play dough! We can't wait!

The Final Stage

Well today we reached the final stage in our volcano journey, the explosion. We decided that since we needed a lot of space we should go to the Atrium, since it was so cold outside. As you can imagine, everyone was very excited to see the explosion . "Wow" screamed the children, "that really smells," said Jeffrey. "What a mess," thought Judi, but what fun to see the liquid pouring out of the volcano!!!

Have a great weekend. Shabbat Shalom.

Judi

Volcanic Creations

Continuing with our volcano studies, the Scientists have begun Phase One of their volcano creation-making the volcano! The base of the volcano was made of cardboard and an old pretzel container, and from that, creativity ran wild. The students were presented with strips of cut up newspaper, and they watched as we made paper mache glue right before their very eyes (for those interested, it was just a mix of flour and water!)! After we got the consistency right, it was time to make a mess.



We decided to use paper mache to make our volcano so that we can (hopefully) paint it tomorrow. To do this, we stuck our strips of paper in the paper mache, wiped off the excess, and stuck it on! To make successful paper mache creations, we had to make sure we covered the entire structure in treated newspaper.

To my surprise it was the girls who jumped right in to making a big mess. The boys helped a little, but the girls were the ones covered with paper mache in the end!

After our volcano is dry and painted, we will make it erupt with the same experiment we tested yesterday on the playground.

Stay tuned to see what our volcano looks like after we have painted it!!

-Alison Simpson

Baking Soda, Vinegar, and Eruptions...Oh my!

In our studies about volcanoes in the Scientist classroom, we will be making a volcano this week. And what would a volcano be without an eruption??? So this morning we decided to experiment with eruptions.

With the help of baking soda, vinegar, and a lot of intrigue, our Scientists watched carefully as their teachers mixed baking soda and vinegar. We experimented with different amounts of baking soda and vinegar, and even added snow to see if it would make a difference.



The excitement for this is clearly seen on the faces of our Scientists. When we start work on our volcano tomorrow, we will decide if we should add color to our little concoction to make it look more like lava!

-Alison Simpson

Make Your Own Volcano!

This week in the Scientist class we are focusing on an explosive topic...VOLCANOES!! Today as a morning activity there was an option to make your own personal volcano. The setup included trays of clays in volcano-shaped mounds, and our new volcano book as a reference. Little did I realize that we were missing a big part of volcanoes...lava! I looked over to see how to kids were doing, and I saw they had pulled out the glitter to make lava.



The Scientists had to work cooperatively together, sharing space, ideas, and materials.

Not everyone was enthralled with glitter however. Naomi wanted to make a volcano as well, but she chose to use construction paper as lava as a cleaner alternative to glitter.

Our Scientists never cease to amaze me!

-Alison Simpson