Fletcher and I have enjoyed reading What's the Matter in Mr. Whisker's Room? by Michael Elsohn Ross which follows a group of students as they explore matter with the guidance of their cool science teacher Mr. Whiskers. Through exploration and discovery the students learn 'big ideas' about matter: everything around us is matter and all matter takes up space, we can find out about matter by using our senses, matter can come in different forms, matter can change from one form to another, all matter has weight, and some matter dissolves in other matter. This is a cleverly written book that my 5 year loves and understands, however, I do leave out some of the commentary from a few of the students (regarding snot, not sharing, etc.) as we read but this doesn't impact (or should I says positively impacts) the story. There are directions in the back of the book for conducting the explorations yourself.
Today Fletcher and I made Oobleck:7 tablespoons cornstarch and 4 tablespoons water. Oobleck changes forms almost instantly from solid to liquid and then back again and demonstrates the 'big idea' of how matter changes form. Pretty cool!
Photos above: making Oobleck, Fun Dough, and Gloop.
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