Rock Camp Day 3

Today we learned all about sedimentary rocks.  Sedimentary rocks are rocks that form from the Earth's sediment.  Sedimentary rocks are the rocks that contain fossils and dinosaur bones.

For centers today, we painted with watercolors and salt crystals, had a dinosaur dramatic play center, weighed rocks on the balance scale, wrote magic pebble stories, and tested the hardness of rocks.  It was a great center day!

During project work, the kids added sandstone and limestone to their rock collections.  They tested vinegar drops on their limestone to see if it would bubble.  The vinegar reacts with the calcite in the limestone causing a small bubbles of carbon dioxide.  We also made sedimentary rocks using dirt, rocks, and plaster of paris and we made fossils out of salt dough.

Rock Camp Day 2

Today was igneous rock day!   For centers, we tested several rocks in water to see which one would float.  Pumice, an igneous rock, is the only rock that can float!  We also drew chalk pictures, made jewel pattern block designs, did a volcano word search and poem, read books in the library and some of the kids continued playing in the jewelry store.

The highlight of the day, for sure, was making volcanoes.  We learned that igneous rocks are formed from molten magma inside the earth.  The easiest way for the kids to remember this was to build volcanoes!  So the kids were divided into four groups and each group built and exploded their volcanoes.

Volcano Recipe

4 cups flour

2 cups salt

1 1/2 cups water

1 T cooking oil

empty 16oz water bottle with the top cut off

white vinegar

a few drops of liquid dish soap

red and yellow food coloring

2 T baking soda

Make the salt dough with the first 4 ingredients.  Mix all 4 ingredients together.  You may need to add a little more water or a little more flour for the right consistency.  Place the empty water bottle in the middle of a tray or pan.  Using the salt dough, mold a volcano around the bottle.  Fill the water bottle about half-way full with vinegar.  Add 2-4 drops of food coloring.  Add a few drops of dish soap.  When you are ready for the volcano to errupt, add the 2 T of baking soda.  Look out!

Rock Camp Day 1

Our first day of Rock Camp was a success!  We started off the day with a jewelry making center, a rock research center, and a drama jewelry store.  They also folded 3-D crystal shapes at the math center and decorated their new science journals.

We read the book "Stone Soup" at story time.  It is about a village that comes together by making a big pot of soup.  We decided to cook together too, but we made homemade ice cream instead.  We talked about how the rock salt helps lower the freezing point so the milk can freeze into ice cream.

We learned a little about minerals today.  Minerals are solid materials that come from nature and rocks are made of minerals.  We learned some fun ways to identify minerals.  One way is to rub a mineral on the ground to create a "streak."  The color of the streak can help you know what kind of mineral it is.

Bug Camp Day 5 - The Culminating Activity

For our last day of camp, the kids enjoyed making a survey graph of everyone's favorite bugs.  They also worked on a creative writing project where they got to pretend they were scientists who had just discovered a new insect.  They played a fun "roll and cover" math game, painted ladybug rocks, and we studied a little bit more about ladybugs.  We spent the rest of the day getting ready for our culminating activity.

 It was very exciting to have so many parents, siblings, and even grandparents join us for the culminating activity.  I firmly believe that knowledge is secured in our brains when we share what we have learned with others.  This is one of the reasons I love having your children teach you what they have learned at camp!

   
Thank you for an awesome first week of summer science camp!  What a great group of kids!

Walking Sticks, Snails, and Worms-- Oh my!

As part of our science camp experience, the kids had many opportunities to interact with real bugs.  Their favorite bugs were the walking sticks, snails, and worms.  Most of the kids had no problem holding them.  Here are the pictures as proof!