SCIENCE IS MAGIC!   That was the reaction of my second-grade students when we have science lessons in our school club.  Since the test scores were low in 2022, teachers at Cartmell Elementary had reached out to me asking if I would come in and do some hands-on science lessons.  The first month I did geodes and talked about Earth Science.  The children used a hammer and broke open a geode.  A parent called and told me that her son came home and said there were diamonds in his rock, and he wanted his dad to drill holes in each diamond (crystal) so he could make necklaces and sell them. At our next meeting I had 12 children tell me that they had gone looking for geodes and two found them.  So great to see children outdoors and enjoying our natural resources. On to chemical science with lava lamps.  They were so excited when the bubbles came up and learned about chemical reactions and carbon dioxide.  They got to take the lamps home with them and I had learned that if they added table salt to the lamp after the anti acid tablet became inactive, the salt caused the lava lamp to refuel and start bubbling again.  Parents called and said their child explained the whole process and that they really enjoyed the lesson. I gave them kaleidoscopes and discussed how amazing they are --- that no design ever repeats.  Talked about how they might invent something one day.  This month we did physical science experimenting with the density rainbow. The question in the beginning was “can liquids stack on top of each other” Of course, 100 % of the students said “no”. So we put honey, corn syrup, dawn dishwashing soap, water, and vegetable oil in a cup to see just what would happen.  AMAZING, they said, as each liquid stacked on top of each other.  The we poured the liquids into a zip lock bag and shook it up and poured it back in the cup.  Again, 100% said that the liquid would not restack.  But it did.  This has been a great study and the children are really engaged and are anxiously awaiting 2023 to see what other magic tricks are in store for them. The teachers said that the students say that science is their favorite subject.

1. GEODES

2.  DENSITY RAINBOW

3.  LAVA LAMP

4.  KALEIDOSCOPES