Oh What A Feelin'!! :)

You know that feeling you get when a lesson goes really well and the students really catch on to what you're teaching?  I had that feeling today!  My Matter Unit might be the death of me, but my students are doing REALLY well! :)

Yesterday, we poured different amounts of water into Solo cups and labeled each cup with it's mass.  We put them in the freezer and today, we determined their mass again to see if it changed.  More than half the class predicted that the frozen water would have a larger mass.  They were blown away when they saw that it didn't change! :)

After the water, I determined the mass of a ball of Play-Doh.  I manipulated it into a "bowl" and asked them if they thought the mass would change.  There were more this time that said it wouldn't change.  I even had responses like, "It will be the same because you're not taking anything away."  WOOOOOOOT!!!  I was jumping for joy on the inside when I read responses like those! :)

Next, we did an assessment probe called "Cookie Crumbles".  After this assessment, I still had a few students who didn't quite catch on, so what did I do?  Pulled out a box of Ritz Crackers and found the mass of one cracker (3 grams).  I asked the students to write what they think will happen when I break the cracker up into pieces and weigh it again.  FINALLY, every student got it!!  It was amazing!  It was great!!! We all went to lunch in a great mood!! :)  By the way, if your school doesn't have the NSTA Formative Assessment Probe books, you should make a request... They're great! :)

Tomorrow, we're going to have a Candy Bar Lab.  We are going to observe the qualitative and quantitative properties of fun size Snickers, Milk Way, and 3 Musketeers.  It should be fun! :)

Tomorrow is also the last day of Red Ribbon Week for us.  The kids (and teachers) are dressing up for their future career, so, naturally, I will be wearing my Polamalu jersey. :)

Everyone have a great weekend!  We have Friday and Monday teacher workdays! Woot! :)