HARDY HAPPENINGS

Click here for the Hardy Happenings Newsletter, week of March 26.

STAR SCIENTIST

Fergus is our Star Scientist this week.  He read the book Fox in Socks aloud to the class.  It a dangerous tounge twisting book!  He did an excellent job.  He even had a special surprise visit during his read.  You'll never guess who it was! 

Fergus and his mother helped us to make our very own Eco-Friendly Glue!  You too can do this at home.  Scroll down to find out how.

Fergus also shared a presentation all about himself and his family.  To view his presentation click here.

ECO-FRIENDLY GLUE

Materials needed:

½ cup Skim milk

1 teaspoon Baking soda

2 Tablespoons White vinegar

2 plastic cups

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Lots of Paper towels

1 Rubber band

Method:

Place 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar and ½ cup of skim milk into a cup. Stir them together and let the mixture sit for 2 minutes. The vinegar will make the protein in the milk stick together to form small white lumps called curds. The leftover liquid is called whey.

To make a quick strainer for the solution, take a large square paper towel and place it over an empty cup. Push it down in the center so it forms a bowl shape. Put a rubber band around the top of the cup to hold the paper towel in place. Pour the curds and whey into the cup with the paper towel. The whey will go through the paper towel and the curds will stay on top. Wait about 5 minutes for the whey to drain through the paper towel.

Use a spoon to carefully scoop out the curds. Put them between two dry paper towels and press down to get all the whey out. Empty the cup with the whey and dry it with a paper towel

Put the curds into the cup, stir in 2 teaspoons of water and then add 1 teaspoon of baking soda. The baking soda reacts with the vinegar that’s in the curds, producing carbon dioxide. If you hold the mixture up to your ear, you can hear tiny bubbles popping. If this mixture doesn’t look like glue, just add a ¼ teaspoon water to get the consistency you want.

HARDY HAPPENINGS

Click here to view the Hardy Happenings newsletter for the week of March 19, 2012.

STAR SCIENTIST

This week our Star Scientist was Alexa.  Alexa performed her read aloud for us with the help of her puppet friends, Jeff and Lilly.  Jeff is a frog and Lilly is a monkey.  Alexa also shared pictures of a robot that her mother's students designed and built at Summit STEM High School across the street.  The robot vacuum's up basketballs and shoots them too!  Alexa's brother (Nathan) came dropped by to help with the experiement this week.  Here's how it's done!

You will need:

A round balloon

A plastic soda bottle

2-3 teaspoons of baking soda

1/4 cup of vinegar

A small funnel Here's what you do:
1. Place the baking soda in the balloon using the funnel.
2. Pour the vinegar into the bottle.
3. Place the balloon opening over the bottle opening.
4. Lift the balloon up so that the baking soda falls into the bottle.
5. Swirl the bottle a little to mix the contents
6. Watch what happens!
Here's what's happening:
A chemical reaction takes place between the vinegar and the baking soda. It creates the gas carbon dioxide, which caused the balloon to fill up. Carbon dioxide is what we breathe out when we exhale. Plants breathe in carbon dioxide, like we breathe oxygen.

Lastly, Alexa shared a presentation she created about her family.  I am having some technical difficulties with it and will post it is soon as possible.

HARDY HAPPENINGS

Click here to view the Hardy Happenings Newsletter for the week of March 12.  Be sure to continue to have your child practice addition and subtraction fact fluency. 

Try this website for fact fluency practice and other math skill practice.

http://www.aaastudy.com/grade2.htm

STAR SCIENTIST

This week Addison is our Star Scientist.  She read Duck Soup aloud to us.  For her engineering object she chose to share her  Fidget Friend with us.  She listens and responds to you.  She even dances better than Mr. Hardy!  Addison, her mother and her father showed us how to make lava lamps.  You can do this at home using vegetable oil, water, food coloring, and a bottle.  Below is Addie's technology video and some pictures of her week!

HARDY HAPPENINGS

Click here to view the Hardy Happenings Newsletter for the week of March 5.