Oobleck Week!

This week, we have been exploring properties of materials when they are put in contact with water. The most fun experiment was the making of Oobleck! We read Dr. Seuss’s book “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” and made our own Oobleck.  Oobleck is green nasty substance that was called down from the sky by a king bored with ordinary rain and snow. Oobleck proved so sticky that it gummed up the whole kingdom.The word has since been used in science to describe a substance that exhibit properties of liquids and solids at the same time. This oobleck is created from cornstarch (1 part water to 1.5 parts cornstarch, approx). Though initially it acts like a liquid or jelly, squeezing it in your hand will make it appear to be solid for a short time. The children loved feeling it, pulling it, kneading it and splashing it around!

Here are a few obervations from the experiment: 
Oobleck’s hard, soft (Nanaki)
Feels like playdough (Zaki)
Sticky, hard, cold (Karthik)
Cold, squishy (Fawwaz)
Cold, feels like playdough (Natasha)
Feels like playdough, cold, feels sticky, hard (Aamev)
Feels sticky, hard to scoop, cold (Oliver)
Cold, soft, feels like playdough (Caden)
Soft, smelly, gooey (Joaquin)
Soft, smelly, really green, messy, sticky, yucky! (Sarah)
Messy, gross, really green, smelly, hard to scape/wipe off (Srishti)
Very, very gooey, it drips, it’s wet and cold (Laila)
Cold, soft, slimey (Ethan)
Hard to scoop, gooey, drips slowly, cold, sticks to hand (Gautam)
Hard to scoop, gooey, drips slowly, green (Cora)
Slimey, yucky, gooey, hard to scoop (Lekha)
It is very slimey, yucky, smelly, hard to scoop (Ananya)
Gooey, sticky, cold (Samuel)
Drippy, slimey, cold, very hard to scoop (Derya)
Oobleck was freezing! (Jia)
Swimming Pool Challenge
Next week, we will be working on our Swimming Pool Challenge. The class will be split into 4 teams and each team will have to use their experiences and knowledge about materials to create a float that will carry the class pets (Brownie/Daisy) across the swimming pool in our school building. The class pets must not get wet and must not fall over. The team members are not allowed to jump into the pool to steer the float and they must collaborate to move the float across the pool. Quite a challenging task! 
Can I make a request to please send in some junk materials which they can use to construct their floats. We will do the construction next week and test it in Week 8. 

Works share
You are invited to participate in our first workshare on Wednesday, 9th October 2013. I will be sending your schedule soon, but please block the morning on this day(8.20 to 9.00 and 9.00 to 9.40). We will be running two sessions and each session will last 40 minutes. 

Escape Artist - Scott Hammell
Our K2 children watched the world famous Scott Hammell with their Grade 6 buddies. Scott Hammell is a four-time Guinness World Record holder. Whether it’s magic, escape artistry, stunts, hypnosis, or speaking, his goal is to entertain and inspire. He performed some juggling acts, tricks and escape from a straitjacket! Scott was highly entertaining, engaging and inspirational! His most important message was, “Follow your passion...and make it happen!” You can view his video here on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tHkTMhCZf0

Kuma Trivia Night 

 Here is a short message from the organizers of the KUMA trivia night to be held on October 5th: The Kuma online auction is now open.  It works in a very similar way to eBay.  Once you've registered and logged in, you can post a single offer or bid in pre-defined increments up to your chosen maximum.  You can also 'Watch' an item to be kept up to date on your favourite item(s).   

http://kumacambodia.org/?page_id=14

That's all for this week!

-Poonam and Rose