Teaching Science Sleuths for summer school has been so much fun! The kids requested that we learn about volcanoes. We started by watching the Magic School Bus Blows it's Top! We have it on tape but I just found it online too! Sometimes these disappear because they shouldn't be online so be careful if you're depending on it. I read a few books about volcanoes specifically looking at the inside of a volcano. Just check with your librarian to see what she already has! No need to buy any new books! Then they drew a volcano and labeled the parts. I had each child make their own volcano. Materials Needed: Water bottle with cap and label removed. Play dough, clay or Salt Water Dough Strong Paper Plate Acrylic Paint and brushes Vinegar Red Food Coloring Dish detergent Baking Soda We first made the salt water dough together in class. It was a great way to work on measurement. Plus they loved making the dough! We used a little bit of the dough on the bottom of our bottle and stuck it to the sturdy paper plate. We put the dough around the bottles. We let them set over night. Since I'm doing this in summer school I am restricted on time. If I did this during the year I would do this part on Friday and let them dry over the weekend. Then the dough wouldn't be wet. We then painted them but I just absent-mindlessly grabbed the tempera rather than the acrylic! That was a messy mistake!! When the volcanoes erupted it wet the dough and started to run! Click Here to get a printable copy. Send this home with the child so they can do it again at home. When they are putting it in it reacts very quick;y and students get scared and yank out the filter too soon. All the vinegar needs to get inside. This the Scientist Packet that I have used throughout summer school. Students used a 12x18 piece of construction paper as a folder and glued the cover on the top. They were able to store their sheets inside. It worked well because we had to return to some sheets after days of observation. Click on older posts to see what we were doing! Click Here to get it for free. Please Pin!
