Calling All Citizen Scientists!

I spotted two Monarch butterflies yesterday in Prospect Park!  It looks like they have migrated from Mexico and finally made it to Brooklyn!

Monarch Watch recently sent out an email requesting help from citizen scientists to help collect data on Monarch Butterflies in their area.  It is simple to record your observations and you will be helping scientists gather information about Monarch activity. http://monarchwatch.org/blog/2017/03/31/new-monarch-watch-citizen-scientist-project/

I have been recording my observations on Journey North. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch.html  There is even an app that you can download!

Water on Paper!

The last part of Kindergarten's wood and paper unit involved exploring what happens to paper when it gets wet.  Oh boy, that was fun!

We used the same papers as we used in the previous explorations: wax paper, paper towel, craft paper, newsprint, chip board, tag board, corrugated cardboard and cardboard.  Next, we used droppers to put water on top of the papers to see what happened!

The marker on the papers spread when it got wet.

I can push the water around on the craft paper.

The paper gets darker when it's wet.

The corrugated cardboard comes apart when it gets wet!

The paper is easy to rip when it gets wet.

The water is turning colors!

The paper is so wet.

It is SO much fun taking apart the corrugated paper!

The Chick Eggs Are Here!

Today I to North Salem, NY to pick up the chick eggs!  This year we have 10 Barred Rock eggs (from Idaho) and 10 Freedom Ranger eggs (from Pennsylvania).   

Some chickens wandering around at the egg pick up spot!

The eggs were carefully laid on the floor and survived a bumpy drive back to Brooklyn!

The eggs are protected in cartons and a plain old plastic bag.

 The eggs are placed on the egg turner in the incubator.  The optimum conditions for the eggs are 100F and between 45-55% humidity.  Now the count down begins.....21 days until they hatch!

20 eggs rotating!

PS 58 Earth Day Celebration!

Pre-K Makes Bubbles!

What fun we had exploring bubbles!  Pre-K already knew a lot about them. "They are round."  "They are sticky."  "They pop!"  

First we practiced blowing with a straw three objects: a feather, a styrofoam ball and a cotton ball.  The cotton ball was the hardest to blow, but the other two were kind of easy.

Blowing the styrofoam ball with a straw.

The feather moves so fast.

The cotton ball is hard to blow!

 Next we blew air into a cup of milk with a straw.  Wow!  Did we ever make a lot of bubbles! We also discovered that after a while, the milk doesn't make bubbles any more.  We're not sure why though....

A volcano of bubbles.

So, so, so many bubbles!

Our last exploration was making our own bubble wands out of pipe cleaners and blowing bubbles!  Some of the bubbles were so big.  We also saw rainbow colors on the bubbles.

2nd Graders Design Tops

2nd grade has moved from balance to motion. After watching the classic tops film by Charles and Ray Eames (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ-VFMymEiE) however, we quickly realized that objects that have motion still need balance!

The challenge was to design a top that spins long and design a top that spins fast using two different sized disks and one shaft.

A goodspinner!

Does the weight need to be low for the top to spin?

And it kept spinning on the floor!

It can be hard to get the shaft through the disk sometimes.

A contained spin.

The finger technique for getting the top to spin.

Under the table!

Surprisingly, the top does spin on the rug.

The hand technique for starting the top to spin.

Does the size of the disk change the way the top spins?
Does the size of the shaft change the way the top spins?

5 disks?  Does it spin?

Our next investigation was to look at spinning designs.  Does the design change when it spins?  What happens when you add color?

Our last investigation into making tops is experimenting with 3 different types of disks (cardboard, plastic lid and CD) while using 3 different types of shafts (crayon, pencil and marker).  Most agreed that the plastic lid was too light to spin properly-there wasn't enough weight- and that the cardboard and CD made a good top especially with the marker.

A marker with the plastic lid.

The marker and the CD left an amazing trail!

Releasing the Trout!

I was so excited to join Mr. Lieber and Ms. Voelker's class (3-207) yesterday to release the brook trout!  I had heard all about this incredible program from Ms. Vanegas, the upper grade science teacher, and often went to peek at the fish in her classroom.  The eggs were laid in mid-November and hatched in January.

The trout in the classroom.

We boarded the coach bus early on Wednesday morning and headed up north. The trout, snug in a cooler at the front of bus, arrived safely!

The water temperature was kept at
around 48F.

The water is being aerated after the trip.

Two of our guides during the trip explaining how we would
release the trout in the Cross River stream.

We had to find out the temperature of the stream water.
It had to be within 3 degrees of the water temperature
in the cooler.

Releasing the trout!

Ms. Vanegas releasing some trout.

Getting the last trout!  Everyone named it Carroll.

Singing Happy Birthday to Carroll!

Looking at macroinvertebrates from the Cross River.

Crayfish!

Drawing what the trout habitat looks like and comparing it to
what they thought it would look like.

Two fishermen fishing for trout.  They told
me that they release the fish after they catch them.

Safe journey!

A quick picnic lunch.

The last part of the trip was a hike!

The trees are damaged from a tornado a few years ago.
There is a hawk flying by!

It was a little muddy on our hike.

Until next year!

What a wonderful trip!  The kids had a great time being out in nature and releasing their trout.  Thanks for having me!