The Mentos Experiment

It's that time of year again... Science Fair time!

Last Thursday we watched the Mythbusters Diet Coke & Mentos experiment, where they isolated each ingredient of the soda & candies to try and find out what causes the reaction. We wrote down each step of the scientific method they followed. Then we decided to try our own experiment with Diet Coke & Mentos.

Question: Which will create a higher soda fountain, Diet Coke or Coke Zero?

Research: The Mythbusters found out that several ingredients in the soda caused the reaction...CO2, Aspertame (artificial sweetner) , Potassium Benzoate (preservative), & Caffeine all play a factor in the reaction. Both sodas contain all of these ingredients. The only difference is Diet Coke has more Aspertame than Coke Zero.

Hypothesis: We took a vote and most of our class thought that Diet Coke would create a larger soda fountain, because it has more Aspertame & that was one of the key ingredients identified by the Mythbusters as causing the reaction.


Procedure:
1 We went outside with our soda, candy, & measuring device (2 yardsticks taped together and stuck in a coffee can full of rocks).

2 A volunteer dropped mentos in the Diet Coke and we measured how high it went.

3 Repeat the experiment with the Coke Zero.

Data:
Coke Zero: 55 Inches
Diet Coke: 26 Inches

On our first attempt with the Diet Coke the student volunteer dropped the candy in too soon and knocked over the yardstick trying to stop it...only one of the 3 candies made it into the soda, so we only dropped one candy into the Coke Zero (instead of the 3 we had planned on). This could have affected our results.

DROP & RUN!

Coke Zero Fountain.
Sadly, there is no picture of the Diet Coke Fountain
because the candy was prematurely dropped and
Miss Jaster wasn't ready to take the picture!

Conclusion:
Our hypothesis was incorrect. Coke Zero made a higher soda fountain than Diet Coke. The AMOUNT of Aspertame must not be as big a factor as we thought.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

On December 21st/22nd there was a lunar eclipse. This is the first time there has been a lunar eclipse on the same day as the Winter Solstice (first day of winter) in over 300 years! It won't happen again (on that day) for another 84 years! Here are some pictures I took of the eclipse, just for you! :)










Want some extra credit? Find out what a lunar eclipse is and how/why it happens. Write a paragraph and turn it in to me at school!

I've missed you all over the break and looking forward to seeing you all again in the New Year! Guess what? The windows are done and we should get to move back into Room 12 next week! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Twas the day before Christmas Break and all through the school

Not a student was behaving, they broke every rule;

The stockings were all hung by the cubbies with care,

Hoping their teacher would soon be there.

The children were squirming all bored in their seats,

While Jonah danced around the room, and kicked up his feet;

And Arianna in her scarf, and Dylan in his cap,

And Bailey asleep, taking a nap.

When out in the hall there arose such a clatter,

Lacruz sprang up to see what was the matter.

Away to the windows Adam flew like a flash

Leanna tore open the blinds and knocked over the plants!

Daelyn and Braven wanted to know,

While Marcos and Nicole ran to and fro,

When what to Shilaine’s wondering eyes should appear,

But a mean, mean teacher, we all thought to fear.

She came closer and traveled much faster,

Tynen knew in a moment it must be Miss Jaster!

More rapid than cheetahs she snarled as she came

And whistled and shouted and called us by name:

Now Brett! Now Gavino! Now Katatrina and Sabrina!

Shush Aricca! Shush Kevin! Quiet Dallas and Carl!

Sit in your seat! Get out of the hall!

Now be quiet! Be Quiet! Be Quiet All!

Miss Jaster was mad, we didn’t know why.

She lifted her hands and let out a sigh,

She said we were too noisy, she said in a rush.

She made us sit down and told us to hush.

And then in a twinkling she let out a smile

She opened her bag and dumped out a pile.

The presents were scattered all over the ground.

We had the coolest teacher around!

She was dressed all in black from her scarf to her shoes,

We got sat quietly waiting to hear her good news.

A bundle of gifts she picked up from the floor.

She gave us each one, but we wanted some more.

Her eyes how they twinkled! Her smile how merry!

Her cheeks were like roses, her nose like a cherry!

Her amused little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And she let us outside to play in the snow!

We ran and we rolled, we tumbled and threw,

The snow was so fresh and practically new!

She got hit in the face and once in her toe,

Then she got us all back by throwing some snow.

She was funny and smiled, and wrote silly poems,

And we learned a lot from many different tomes.

A wink of her eye and a twist of her head

Soon gave us to know we had nothing to dread.

She spoke not a word, and we went straight to work.

She filled all our stockings; then turned with a jerk.

Laughing and smiling she looked at us small and tall

And told us we’d been the best class of all;

She sprang to her desk, to her class gave a grin,

“I can’t wait till next year when I’ll see you again!

I hope you enjoy my poem remake!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good break!”

Test Prep Vocab Jeopardy

Test Prep Vocab Jeopardy

Here's a link to the jeopardy game we played today to test our vocabulary skills.
Play at home to help you study for Friday's test!! Just click the link above!

News from Room 8

Just a few reminders...

Thanks to all the students who performed in the Christmas Concert last week, you did a beautiful job!!

December Book Reports are due on Dec 15. You may turn them in as late as Friday the 17th for full credit and your pizza certificate. You may turn them in after break, but you will lose 10 points and Your pizza certificate too. I am not allowed to give you your December Book-It certificate in January!

I sent home Scholastic Book Orders last week. They are due back to me or on Scholastic.com (our class code is GKMRN) by 8:30am on Thursday, Dec. 9th. Hopefully they will be here before we leave for break. : )

The Food Drive is still going on, it ends Dec. 16th. Donate if you can. Ask your family, neighbors, & family friends to donate cans or other non-perishable items. I think we can collect even more food than last year! Our class nearly has 200 items already! I think if we try really hard we could double that number by the 16th! Keep up the good work! You guys rock! :)

Santa's Giftshop will be open this week in the old gym. We will go as a class on Monday to preview items, and on Friday to purchase things. You may also go any day you like at recess or lunch.

~Miss Jaster

Scientist Links

Here are some helpful links for your scientist reports.

Famous Scientists
Famous Scientists 2

Famous Scientists for Kids
Wikipedia



Here's the footprint image for your scientist's mock birth certificate.

We've Moved!

We've moved! Just temporarily due to construction on the windows but you can now find us in ROOM 8. Yes, we've all been assigned to detention for a week! :) So excited for our new windows though! :) I'll post before and after pictures once we get to move back in!

Looks like we'll be in room for a while longer... they broke the wall when they pulled out the windows. :(