What's the MATTER? An Interdisciplinary Investigation about the States and Traits of Matter

Third grade students delved into another Physical Science discovery this Spring by exploring the traits and states of matter.

To kick off this unit, students began by observing three balloons.  Each balloon was filled with a substance that represented one of the three states of matter.

Three balloons:  The balloon on the left (pink) is filled with a gas, the balloon
in the middle (orange) is filled with a liquid, and the balloon on the right (white)
is filled with a solid.

Students observed each of the balloons and noted the traits each balloon had.  Students noted that the "white balloon" was not really a balloon at all.  I explained to the students that what had happened to that balloon was that while the balloon was in the freezer changing the state of matter of the water inside from a liquid to a solid, the balloon actually ruptured.  I explained that this happened because when a liquid freezes, it expands, or gets bigger, and that the balloon ruptured because the solid inside had gotten too big for the latex of the balloon to contain it.  I also explained to them that sometimes, some materials do not expand as easily when they are cold and that latex is one of them.  This is why the balloon would not get as big in the cold of the freezer as it would in the warmth of the classroom.  I told the students that I covered the solid that had taken the form of the balloon with the white so that they could have at least the visual of a balloon.

By discussing what we knew (prior knowledge) about each state of matter, students predicted what would happen when each balloon was popped and what shape the matter inside each balloon would take once the balloon was popped.  

Students predicted that they would not be able to see the gas.  Students predicted that the liquid would go everywhere inside the tray, and students predicted that they solid would stay the same.

Here is what happened:

The gas was invisible and could not be seen.  Students noted
that it went everywhere in the room.

The water filled the tray.  It took on shape of the tray
 instead of the shape of the balloon.

The solid stayed the same shape even when the balloon was
removed.

 After reading more about the states of matter students worked in P.R.I.D.E. groups to categorize which state a predetermined set of matter cards would be classified into.

Jayda, Lavon and Khadijah partner to categorize matter into the three states.

The next day, students created living models of the three states of matter so that we could demonstrate what happened to the molecules within each state or matter.  To do this, clear plastic trash bags and balloons were used.

Karissa, Marion, and Marcus pose as states of matter molecules.  Can you guess
which one is a solid, liquid and a gas?

Once the students were ready in their "costumes", they came into the classroom to model their molecule costumes.  Each student took a turn jumping around so that their classmates could see how the molecules (balloons) in their matter moved about.  Based on this observation, the observers in the class decided which molecule was a solid, which was a gas, and which was a liquid and then justified their opinion based on what they had learned thus far in this unit.

Marion represented a Liquid molecule.  His molecules moved about but stayed
close together.  Marcus represented gas.  His atoms moved about freely and did
not need to touch each other.  Karissa represented a solid.  Her molecules did not
move at all.

After this demonstration, students worked independently to complete an interactive notebook entry about the traits of matter.  A solid has a definite volume and a definite shape.  A liquid has a definite volume but its shape changes depending on the shape of the container.  A gas has no definite shape and no definite volume.

Darren displays his science sort interactive notebook
entry which explains the traits of the states of matter.

Next, we began to explore the gas state of matter a little bit more in depth.  We did this because it is such a difficult concept for students to understand because it is something we cannot see.  Students conducted to experiments specifically tailored to observing gas.

The first was an experiment called "Matter is a'Poppin'".  During this experiment, we used three different types of soda (Sprite, Fanta Orange, and Coke), balloons, and Pop Rocks candy.

The materials needed for the Matter is a'Poppin' science experiment.

Each student was given a clip board and a data sheet to record the steps of the scientific process for this experiment.  Students recorded the materials, and the procedure.  The procedure for this experiment, Pop Rocks would be placed inside the balloons.  Then, once the caps of the sodas were removed,  the balloons would be placed over the openings of each bottle. Finally, the Pop Rocks would be emptied from the balloons into the sodas.  Students would observe for a reaction to occur.

Pop Rocks have been placed in the balloons.  They are shaken down
into the "bulb" part of the balloon.  The opening of the balloon is placed over the
mouth of each bottle.  

Students then made hypotheses on their data sheets about what they predicted what would happen during the experiment.  Once they had their hypotheses recorded, we were ready to begin the experiment...

Pop Rocks have been shaken down into the sodas.  Students are observing
reactions.

Almost immediately, students notice the balloons expanding (getting bigger).  Students are seeing fizzing.  We discuss what that fizzing is and note that it is occurring because of a gas.  We are all wondering why some of the the balloons are getting bigger than others.

Now, we don't see any more fizz in the bottles.  We notice that the Fanta and Coke
balloons got much bigger than the Sprite.  We wonder why.

After the experiment is over, we have a discussion about possible reasons why the Fanta and Coke balloons got bigger than the Sprite balloon.  One reason we noted is that the Fanta bottle had more liquid volume than the Sprite and Coke bottles (20 oz bottle compared to 16 oz bottles).  Could it be that with more liquid there could have been more gas produced?  We also noted that the Fanta and the Coke both were colored beverages but the Sprite was a clear beverage.  Could it be that the Sprite produces less gas because it contains less chemicals to begin with?  We were left with many questions.

Following this experiment, students wrote lab reports to convey their learning.  Here are some pictures of their finished reports.

Marcus, RayVon, TaMya, and Kaylin's lab reports.

Da'Marieon's written lab report.

Da'Marieon's written lab report.

The second science experiment we did was a Gas Rocket.  To do this we needed a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke and a roll of Mentos.  The entire package of Mentos was dropped into the 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke as third graders stood around to observe the reaction...the following took place:

The Mentos created a reaction inside the bottle that caused
gas to be formed.  The gas molecules moved out of their
container through the opening taking soda with them (fizz).

To conclude our study of the states of matter, we made root beer floats. 

Ymmmmm!  What a great way to study
the states of matter!

 Each component of the root beer float represented one of the states of matter.  The ice cream was a solid.  The root beer was a liquid.  But where was the gas?  You guessed it!  When the root beer was added to the ice cream, we saw the gas bubbles of the fizzing pop!

Here are three third graders reaction to having a root beer float as part of science class!

D'Aijah...I think she likes it...

Ra;Jhay...I think she likes it...

Looks like it's unanimous!  Abubakr likes it, too!

Life Cycle of a Citizen: A Study of Economics

During the third and fourth quarter, third grade students spent time learning about the role of economics in citizenship.  To learn more about  this, students listen to several children's books and then participated in interactive activities to enhance their understanding of economic concepts.  One such children's book was Saturday Sancocho by Leyla Torres.

In this lesson, students listen to a story and answer questions about a family in Central or South America that barters to get the ingredients for chicken sancocho, a kind of stew. The students complete sentences that record the various trades carried out by the family to obtain all of the ingredients for the sancocho.

They participate in a trading activity where they barter with each other to get the ingredients needed to make chicken sancocho and learn about the difficulties associated with barter. They use money in a second round of the trading activity to learn about money’s advantages over barter.

James and Angel practice bartering and trading for ingredients to make sancocho.

During this interdisciplinary unit, students also enjoyed listening to podcasts of the novel Lemonade Wars by Jaqueline Davies.  Listening to podcasts was chosen for this novel so that students could

 work on their listening comprehension skills.  Students were given a series of questions to complete as they listened to each chapter.  This novel was a perfect choice to read as we explored economics because it detailed the story of  Fourth-grader Evan Treski and is sister Jessie as they endeavored to become lemonade stand entrepreneurs.  Evan is people-smart. He’s good at talking with people, even grownups. His younger sister, Jessie, on the other hand, is math-smart, but not especially good with people. So when the siblings’ lemonade stand war begins, there really is no telling who will win—or even if their fight will ever end. Brimming with savvy marketing tips for making money at any business, definitions of business terms, charts, diagrams, and even math problems, this fresh, funny, emotionally charged novel subtly explores how arguments can escalate beyond anyone’s intent.

In order for students to further grasp the concepts of economic principals, students were also able to play Money Metropolis, a free online game.  Money Metropolis is an educational game hosted on Practical Money Skills. In the game students choose savings goals then navigate their way through a virtual town to earn money toward those goals. Some of the earning opportunities are more lucrative than others. And some earning opportunities are easier than others. As you might expect, the easier tasks are not as lucrative. Along the way they are presented with some opportunities to spend the money that they've earned, but spending at those opportunities sets students back on their progress toward their goals.

While students were busy reading and learning these important social studies topics, third graders were busy applying what they were learning to real life.  In our classroom, students acted as producers by planting tomato, bell pepper, and marigold seeds and grew them in classroom greenhouses.  Having learned about thermal energy, students were aware that these greenhouses created a perfect environment for our plants to grow and thrive.

Darren, Kaylin, and Angel work together to plant seeds.

Classroom greenhouses provide thermal energy for plants to grow.

Students observed the plants grow over the course of the next couple of months...

Finally, it was time to transplant the seedlings into pots.

Cayla displays her re-potted plant.

Darren and Ray'Von and transplant seedlings.

In the larger pots, students were able to watch the plants continue to grow and strengthen...

  

While reading Lemonade Wars, student's learned about how to determine prices for the good that they want to sell.  They also learned that donating profits to a charity is something that some business people do.  The third graders in room 177 agreed to hold a plant sale where each plant would be sold for $0.50 each.  The proceeds from this sale would be donated to Alex's Lemonade Stand (for Childhood Cancer) Foundation,

On May 16th, students from Horizon Science Academy Dayton Elementary gathered at school for a spring planting event.  Students worked together to plant a school garden.  On this day, the third graders also held their plant sale.

Angel, Jayda, Cayla, and Diamond (not pictured) sold plants at the plant sale.

When selling plants, the customers who purchase the product are the consumers.

Diamond helps a customer at the plant sale.

While the plant sale was going on, students also helped beautify the school grounds...

Mr. Mims guides the students with planting day lilies.

Jayda, Cayla, Angel and others help to plant the caterpillar garden.

The third grade was able to raise a total of $25.00 to donate to Alex's Lemonade Stand.  Through this project that was funded by a Kids in Need Foundation Grant that was awarded to Ms. Amstutz, students were able to experience first hand, the role of producers and consumers in a society and experience what it is like to work to manage a business.  Students understood how much time it took to develop a product and they understood that sometimes, you have so spend money to be able to make money.

Just What is P.R.I.D.E.?

Have you been wondering what those letters in the acronym P.R.I.D.E. stand for?

Third grade students at HSA-DE have been learning what it means to show Horizon Pride since the very first day of third grade. Students were familiar with the idea of Horizon Pride from previous years at HSA-DE, but this year, they truly learned the meaning of P.R.I.D.E.


On the first day of third grade, students learned that having good character means that we should do all of the things that we need to do to show our Horizon P.R.I.D.E. They learned that the

• P means, "I should be proud and feel good about myself every day." 
• R means,  "I need to be responsible and do my part." 
• I stands for independent and means, "I should be able to work on my own."
• D is for dedicated which means, "I don’t let anything stand in my way."
• E stands for educated because "I know that my mind is important and I should nurture it." 

Students learned that they can show P.R.I.D.E. in everything they do at school and at home!

Throughout the year we have focused on ways we show that we are proud.  We show that we are proud by doing our classwork and homework neatly and when we complete an assignment, we put our names on it so that we take ownership of our work...anything with our name on it is a representation of ourselves.  We behave in ways that give others our best representation of ourselves...we are proud of our identity.

We show that we are responsible when we turn in our assignments on time.  We show that we are responsible when we come to school on time.  By following the classroom rules and procedures, we also show that we are responsible.  Being role model students (having all necessary supplies, wearing our uniform, following building and classroom rules) and role model citizens, we are responsible to each other.

We have discussed that to be independent means not only to work on our own but to also follow procedures without reminders.  As we are maturing in the school building, we are becoming role models for younger students.  We should no longer have to rely on reminders to obey rules; rather, we should independently remember them.  We discussed knowing to do some things without being told.  Finally, we discussed their desire to be treated less like a "little kid" and more like one of the older students in the building and how their demonstration of  independent behaviors will lead to that outcome.

During this year, we have routinely discussed how being a dedicated student will set themselves up for success.  They have had constant reminders that if they work hard today, in the future they will have to work less hard.  By being dedicated to their job as a student, they will develop good habits that will help them get into a good university or college.  Having high expectations/ goals and the dedication necessary to reach them will lead to higher achievement and higher outcomes.

Finally, we discussed that by being proud, responsible, independent, and dedicated, they will be more successful at being educated.  The first four letters of our P.R.I.D.E. acronym are key components to the fifth.  Each one goes hand in hand and leads to positive academic results.

Students were told that if even one of the letters or key components  that comes before the E was missing, that they would be less successful at obtaining a HIGHER ACHIEVING education.

In order to keep the focus on P.R.I.D.E., students were required to write this acronym on the heading of their assignments each day, along with their name and date.  This was to help them always remember to take pride in what they were getting ready to do.

Students were randomly divided into P.R.I.D.E. groups at the beginning of the year.  Each student was assigned a number and a letter.  Numbers corresponded to their locker number and text book numbers.  Letters corresponded to which P.R.I.D.E. group they were in.

Each day of the week was assigned a P.R.I.D.E. letter.  Monday was the letter P.  Tuesday was R.  Wednesday was I.  Thursday was D.  And, Friday was E.  On each day of the week, the corresponding group was the highlighted group of the day.  That group would get special privileges.  For example, they would be called to line up first and they would be first to be dismissed to lockers.  They might also be first to get to pick from the recess cart.

Whenever we did science labs or group work in social studies, reading, or math, students worked in collaborative P.R.I.D.E. groups with other students who shared the same letter.

As part of our positive behavior plan, students would earn points based on their behavior, attendance, and academics each day.  We call these "P.R.I.D.E. Points".  Students have an opportunity to earn up to 10 points per day.

And, as always, at the end of each month, the entire school celebrated good behavior  (and for third grade, academic standing) with a school-wide P.R.I.D.E. party.  At these P.R.I.D.E. parties, students would participate in fun events, earn treats such as pizza and juice, and often get to spend P.R.I.D.E. points at a special P.R.I.D.E. store.
Third grade students really seemed to benefit from full implementation and education of the P.R.I.D.E. system this year. It is my hope that they will continue to demonstrate the characteristics of P.R.I.D.E. for years to come.