Mr. Carter, the reporter of the week, shared some fascinating facts about African Bullfrogs.  African Bullfrogs are found in Africa.  The tadpoles hatch after only two days in the eggs.  Did you know that males can grow to be the size of a cantaloupe?  Females get to be about half the size.  The males fight each other over mating rights and they're fights get pretty intense. We're glad we don't have to fight over friends. 

Our scientist of the week, Mr. Silas, shared a science experiment that tied in perfectly with what we learned from Mr. G yesterday.  He asked us whether an egg would float better in plain water or salt water.  We had some good reasoning and 12 of us thought salt water while 5 of us thought plain water.  Turns out salt water is more dense than plain water.  The egg floats in salt water because it is less dense and the egg sinks in the plain water because it is more dense.  Water that is more dense pushes the egg up just like high air pressure pushes on marshmallows and makes them shrink.  Silas shared that the Dead Sea is really salty and really dense.  Now we all want to take a little trip across the pond!  

What happens to marshmallows when you put them in a sealed jar and pump air on them?

Get a large threaded test tube.  Drop four mini-marshmallows inside.  Screw on a hand pump really tight.  Pump it 20 times while watching the marshmallows.  What happens to them?  Next try this same experiment using a vacuum pump.

A. The marshmallows grow in size. (5)
B. The marshmallows get smaller. (4)
C. The marshmallows turn into one big blob. (4)
​D. The marshmallows turn into liquid. (3)

The marshmallows get smaller!  Air takes up space and the more air you squish into the test tube the less room the marshmallows have.  You've created a high air pressure environment.  The extra air is pushing really hard on the marshmallows.  Air is made up of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, and 1% other gases?  All that air takes up a lot of space!

We also had a visit from a secret reader, Miss Kelly, Carter's mom.  She read us a book we'd never heard before called Mr. Pine's Purple House.  This was her favorite book growing up.  It's all about a man, Mr. Pine, who lives in a neighborhood with 50 white houses, with 50 little pine trees outside, and 50 little bushes all lined up in a row..  He wants something a little different so he decides to paint his house purple.  Turns out his splash of color sends the whole neighborhood on a painting spree and soon they live in a much more exciting place.  

Today Yari, the reporter, shared a fascinating article about a REALLY old bird.  The remains of a baby bird from dinosaur times were found fossilized in 99-million year-old amber in Burma.  The bird had teeth and was very different from the birds flying around today.  In the amber you can see the preserved head, wings, skin, feathers, and clawed foot.  The feathers suggest that this young bird was capable of flight and not dependent on parents like baby birds are now.  So cool to find something so well preserved from that long ago!  If you're ever in China check out the fossil at the Shanghai Museum of Natural History.  And take a peek at the examples of amber/resin on the left.  The pendant in the middle shows how things can be preserved just like the bird.  Thanks for sharing Yari!!

Ella, our scientist, was curious about our blood.  What's in it and how do we stop bleeding?  She showed us how to make a model of our blood using water beads, red foam pieces, and ping pong balls.  The water beads represent red blood cells that carry oxygen all around our bodies.  The ping pong balls represent white blood cells that help to fight off illness.  The foam represents platelets, which help us form blood clots when we're bleeding.  They rush to the scene of the injury and stop the blood from gushing out similar to 19 first graders trying to get out the door at the same time!  We got a chance to play with the "blood" and thought this was pretty cool.  Stay tuned for a BIG math problem involving these red beads.

In the awesome book, The Bad Seed, the characters are the bad seed, his family, seed citizens, and a giant human. The setting is a beautiful sunflower field and a city.  The story starts with a happy seed family.  They all get along great and love life until fall comes and the flower wilts.  They get raked up into sunflower packages and sold to hungry humans at baseball games.  The bad seed ends up alone and lonely and decides he might as well just not care about anyone else--the problem!  Until he decides he doesn't like being alone and makes a conscious decision to become a better seed--the solution!

Our Scientist of the Week, Mr. Boti, showed us how to make Elephant Toothpaste! What?! Turns out when you combine yeast, hydrogen peroxide, a little dish soap, and some food coloring you create a pretty cool chemical reaction.  The yeast works together with the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to release an extra molecule of oxygen. This creates water, a lot of extra oxygen, and some heat. What it looks like is a lot of foam being created very quickly, or maybe toothpaste big enough for an elephant.  If you look closely you can see steam rising, which is the heat being produced by an exothermic reaction.  Check out the video below to try this at home with an adult.  Thanks Boti!

Sloan shared a very interesting article about NASA's recent discovery.  There is a 400,000 sq. km ocean on Saturn's moon Titan, named the Kraken Mare!  This is the largest body of liquid discovered in space.  NASA is interested in finding out just what sort of things might be in there, so they are contemplating sending a submarine up into space on a rocket ship.. Picture that! Thanks Sloan!

And for our secret reader, we had the pleasure of hearing from Ana's dad, Mr. Sasa.  He shared a book that was new to all of us: Love is all around St. Louis--(also very appropriate for Valentine's Day). We learned a little about the city of St. Louis and discovered new places to look for love here in Aspen too.  Thank you!  Oh, and we even got to taste a little St. Louis chocolate.