Wheel Away! - Story and Craft

 

Did you learn to ride a bike or tricycle this summer?  Or take a trip or travel by car or bus or train to a distant destination?  We'll celebrate all forms of transport, then design our very own vehicle.  (Ages 4-9)

Opening Music: “Riding My Bike” (#10 on John McCutcheon’s Summersongs) or “Skateboard” (#7 on Joe Scruggs Deep in the Jungle)

Read: Stella & Roy by Ashley Wolff -- “Who do you think would be faster big girl bike or baby brother on trike? – see if this reminds you of another story (The Tortoise and the Hare.)  (2016 p.m. used Mei Mei Loves the Morning by Margaret Tsubakiyama – beautiful multicultural tale of a girl and grandfather in China who spend the morning together on his bike)  Alternatives: Off We Go: A Bear & Mole Story by Will Hillenbrand --a short sweet book about removing training wheels. Blue Rabbit & the Runaway Wheel by Christopher Wormell

“Maybe S &R can cooperate to fix a little red wagon” –>
Action Song: Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Bumping up and down in my little red wagon (3x) won’t you be my darling?
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken…
Freddie’s gonna fix it with his hammer…
Bumping…
One wheel’s off…
Laura’s gonna fix it with her pliers…
Bumping…


Read: Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen-Fletcher -- child sharing all the things mom’s “zooming machine” (wheelchair) can do


Read: Fast Food by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elders – fruit & veggies turned into all sorts of vehicles!  and/or Duck on the Bike – David Shannon (didn’t arrive in time for 2016 use)


Flannel: Mrs. Armitage on Wheels – based on the book by Quentin Blake --“Mrs. A likes a bike with a few extra gadgets”

Interactive Book/Song: The Wheels on the Bus – Paul Zelinsky
or use same flannel with this song: The Wheels on the Bike
The wheels on the bike go round and round…all around the town
Horns…beep, beep, beep…
Bucket…splash, splash, splash…
Toolbox…rattle, rattle, rattle
Food….tastes yum, yum, yum
Dog…pant, pant, pant…
Rain…splash, splash, splash…
Radio…sing, sing, sing…
Sail…whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
That crazy bike in the town goes crash, crash, crash! All around the town!


“How many of you have been learning to ride a bike without training wheels?”

Read: The Magic Bicycle by Berlie Doherty or My Bike by Jonna Jakob (2016 not available short notice so shared: Along a Long Road by Frank Viva – short graphically arresting story of a bicycle journey)

Show ideas from: If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen (cute text but didn’t have time to read it)



Crafts:

• design your own vehicle (inspired by If I built a car, Fast Food, Mrs. Armitage and The Wheels on the Bus) (supplies: 12x18” light cardboard or card stock, scissors, markers, hole punches, construction paper (include pre-cut circles which made great spinning wheels), paper fasteners, pipe cleaners, glue sticks).  Kids were given free rein to design any vehicle they wished…and they did very creatively -- some just used markers, others cut things out and made 3-dimensional designs.
• bicycle handle streamers (supplies: straws, Scotch tape, curling ribbon scissors)
• design your own bicycle license plate (not waterproof!) (supplies: 3x5” cardboard, hole punches, markers, pipe cleaners)  http://www.crayola.com/crafts/bike-streamers--plates-craft/

Video: Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle (Weston Woods, 11 min.) (played this for early finishers while kids doing crafts – since it is wordless, makes great background music for crafting too.  After they finished the crafts, other kids enjoyed using the lit screen to see their vehicles become shadow puppets.)

Optional: Hand-Stamping to “Ride My Bike” on Tom Paxton’s I’ve Got a Yo Yo

Alternative books:
Minerva Louise and the Red Truck – Janet Morgan Stoeke
Little Red Riding Hood – Lisa Campbell Ernst (a bit long for pre-school)
Bicycle Race – Donald Crews (numeracy – naming the numerals out of order)

Bus storytime sometime?
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus – Mo Willems
Last Stop on Market Street – Matt De La Pena
The Bus Ride – Marianne Dubuc

8/14 BWL


3.16 BWL Preschool Storytime (w/o craft portion)

Gizmos, Gadgets, and Goo – Wacky Fun with Science Week 5 : Squish! Polymers, Diapers, and Goo…Oh My!

Be prepared to get messy as we explore the powers of polymers  by dissecting diapers and mixing up  a batch of Oobleck  -- the original Non-Newtonian solid (it behaves as both a solid and a liquid at the same time!) 
For grades 1-5.

As kids arrive, played video on polymers: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRsS0rqoKeQ&feature=player_embedded (this and all other videos used today can be found on my playlist  http://tinyurl.com/fizzboomgoo)

Opened with: “I Tried to Do My Homework” from What a Day It Was at School! poems by Jack Prelutsky (had shared on some school visits)

Read:  The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School – Judy Sierra

Booktalked: Bartholomew & the Oobleck – Dr. Seuss  (too long to read in this program…)

Discussion: Whatever we call it “Slime, goo…Oobleck”…soft material called “polymer” …some polymers in nature: rubber, wool, silk, proteins in our hair & nails, cellulose in trees…some polymrs synthetic “man made” e.g. nylon (“on” indicates a polymer) or polyester or polystyrene “poly” is a clue that it is a polymer too.
The word polymer means “many parts.” The individual parts that actually combine to form a polymer chain are called monomers.  Sometimes a substance can actually help polymer chains link together and form a more solid substance. The youtube video we saw as you were coming in showed the basic formation of polymers and linked polymer chains.  Polymers can be found just about everywhere – Even the double-helix strand of DNA is a form of a polymer known as a “biopolymer.”

DEMO: Oobleck, this version is a natural polymer made only from cornstarch & water.  In the 18^th c. Sir Isaac Newton discovered that most liquids flow quickly when heated and resist movement when cooled…but this slimy polymer acts “weird” it is called a non-Newtonian fluid – it looks and feels like both a solid and a liquid, depending on how you handle it.

Mix together 2 parts cornstarch, 1 part water …let kids feel it…see how it flows but then acts solid.

Showed videos:

Pool of Oobleck: http://www.swimmersdaily.com/2014/01/09/can-you-walk-on-water-fun-on-a-non-newtonian-fluid-pool-of-oobleck/


Creeping Oobleck:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp1wUodQgqQ


http://thechocolatemuffintree.blogspot.com/2013/07/making-and-playing-with-slime.html – tennis racket with goo – cool!

 

Three experiment tables today:

Experiment #1:  Diaper Magic
Tiny polymers no larger than a grain of sand are mixed into the cotton lining the inside of a diaper. Modern diapers actually contain a super absorbent polymers no larger than grains of sand – they are called polyacrylic acid and are designed to attract water molecules.
Materials:
§ Diapers (we used Luvs size 2) – 1 per child
§ Scissors
§ Gallon-sized zip-top plastic bags
§ Clear plastic cups (1 for each child)
§ Popsicle sticks for stirring
Method:
§ Cut into the lining, pull apart the cotton, put the diaper in a zip-top bag and shake the bags.
§ Pour the polymers into a clear plastic cup, then add water..a little at a time, stirring if necessary – have kids guess how much water they can pour in and still be able to turn the cup upside down without spilling!
Result: The polymers absorb the water and congeal to form a squishy, gel-like substance. If the gel-like substance is powdery and loose, it can still absorb water; if the substance is moist, it has reached the capacity of the polymers. Each polymer can absorb about 30 times its weight in water!  If you leave the cup full of squishy polymers on a counter top for a few days (or longer) and allow the water to evaporate, the polymers should return to their original state…what do you think?

Experiment #2:  Goo! formula provided by Science Bob http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/slime2.php

(I found using 1T. of each ingredient and 1 drop of food coloring was sufficient. We mixed the goo in 5 oz. plastic cups using popsicle sticks.  The resulting goo is lots of fun to handle -- solid enough to pick up in your hands, stretch, pull apart and squeeze back together.)
Another version: silly putty: http://video.about.com/chemistry/How-to-Make-Silly-Putty.htm


Experiment #3: Changing properties – 4 types of Oobleck using different amounts of water --from: Oobleck, Slime, & Dancing Spaghetti by Jennifer Williams -- each has different characteristics.  Data sheet on pg. 52 (didn’t have time to use).

Beforehand: Mix the Sodium Borate solution -- 1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax with 1 quart/liter of hot water in a bottle or pitcher.  Shake or stir well.  If possible, let it set overnight.  Shake well before using.
All of these mix  the same amount of glue (which contains hundreds of polymers) & sodium borate solution (which is a binding agent) to lock the polymer molecules together…adding different amounts of water will affect how tightly the chains of polymers can link together…the more water, the more the polymer can “stretch,” and the less it can bounce and hold its shape.

Red Oobleck:1 T. white glue
1  drop food coloring
2 t. sodium borate

Green Oobleck:1 T. white glue
1  drop food coloring
1 t. water
2 t. sodium borate

Yellow Oobleck:1 T. white glue
1  drop food coloring
1T.  water
2 t. sodium borate

Green Oobleck:1 T. white glue
1  drop food coloring
2T.  water
2 t. sodium borate

For each color of ooblick:
§ Mix glue and food coloring in a plastic cup.
§ Add  water (if applicable) and stir till well-blended
§ Slowly pour the sodium borate solution and stir for about a minute
§ Lift the spoon slowly out of the cup and observe the Oobleck. What does each look like?
§ Feel or knead the oobleck …how do they differ?  Can you roll it into a ball?
§ If you put it on the table, does it hold its shape or start to flatten out after a while?
§ If you can make it into a ball, how well does it bounce?

Have zip-top sandwich bags for them to use to take home their creations.
Another version of slime: http://chemistry.about.com/video/How-to-Make-Slime.htm

Much of this program was inspired by: http://cheshirelibraryscience.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/g3-program-13-magic-diapers-and-slimy-goo/

BWL 11/14

Gizmos, Gadgets, and Goo–Wacky Fun with Science Week 4: Boom! Energy Explorations -- Catapulting contest!

Boom!  Energy Explorations -- Bounce on over to the library and join us for a great big bang with a catapulting contest!
Grades 1-5

(Based on: http://cheshirelibraryscience.wordpress.com/category/catapults/, http://cheshirelibraryscience.wordpress.com/category/energy/  including some of the explanations below -- Thanks for the ideas!)

Before kids arrived, teen volunteers practiced making both types of catapult so they could help the kids make them later.

As kids  were arriving , played video of nature’s catapults:  (a complete playlist for this program is here.

Read Book: Big Bang: The Tongue-Tickling Tale of a Speck that Became Spectacular – Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano  (Alternatively, if wanted to emphasize the engineering aspect, could use:  Rosie Revere, Engineer  -- Andrea Beaty)

Discussion:  “Big Bang” – a lot of energy – What is energy?

Asked kids:  If you were asked to describe energy, what would you tell someone?
Energy is the ability or capacity to do work. 

And what is work? 
Work is done when something, regardless of size, moves. 
In other words, energy is needed to cause motion. 

Energy itself is generally divided into two categories:  Kinetic and Potential. 
Potential energy is stored energy that is waiting to work:

DEMO: Rubber Band --stretched a rubber band --this rubber band is holding potential energy -- Potential energy can be found in many forms – chemical, mechanical, nuclear, gravitational, and electrical. Gasoline, for example, is a chemical form of potential energy.
Let go of rubber band and watched it fly -- Kinetic energy is essentially the opposite of potential energy -- kinetic energy is energy in motion that is actually doing work. That rubber band flying is experiencing kinetic energy. So is a baseball being thrown or a person bicycling down the road. Where gasoline in a can is an example of potential energy, the fire that gasoline creates would be an example of kinetic energy.

Showed Youtube Song: Potential vs. Kinetic Energy

Anywhere you see motion there is energy. Even in classic cartoons!
Potential Energy: Wile E Coyote & Roadrunner
 

Demo:  The Slinky!  “Walked” slinky down a set of stairs made from boxes:
The Slinky, which has been around since the 1940′s, provides an excellent example of potential and kinetic energy. When a slinky is sitting at the top of a set of stairs at rest, it is holding potential energy; as soon as it starts to “walk” down the stairs, it is experiencing kinetic energy.
Slinky dropping down hanging mid-air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKb2tCtpvNU
 


Demo:  the balancing egg.  Half-fill a paper cup with water and set it on the table. Center a pie pan on top of the cup, with a TP tube standing in the pan. Balance an egg atop the tube. Strike the rim of the pie pan from the side, causing it to fly out and take the tube with it. The egg will hover in mid-air for a split second because of inertia. Gravity will then cause it to fall straight down into the water, unharmed.
“But what if you WANT to hurl something through the air?” 

Different kinds of catapults - sling shots, trebuchets, and even aircraft catapults.

Mentioned opening video a sneaky grasshopper catapulted lots of bugs off of a leaf.

“the world’s largest slingshot,”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfJYGHOn3os
Catapults used in medieval warfare:  Making of Warwick Castle Trebuchet 
Giant trebuchet hurls a piano

Project time:  Now we are going make catapults.

Catapults are another example of potential energy. When we pull the lever (or spoon) back, stretching the rubber band, potential energy in the spoon is transformed into kinetic energy when we release the spoon and let the pompoms fly!
(We used pom-poms instead of marshmallows out of food allergy concerns…the kids loved choosing their favorite colors and it made it easy to identify which catapult shot had the greatest distance.) 

Children had the choice of making two different models:

Simple catapult design (we recommended this for our 1st & 2nd graders)

Target Practice from PBS’s program FETCH (more complicated, so we suggested that 3rd-5th graders might want to try it.)




Then kids practiced launching pom-poms into a literature display rack we set up.
After the kids made and tested their models, they were encouraged to modify them.  One father, watching the fun, created a great model of his own!



BWL 7/14