Today we took our knowledge of the states of matter to the next level and learned all about the water cycle.  Then we made the water cycle in a bag so that we can observe evaporation, condensation, and precipitation in action.  Pretty exciting stuff!!

Has a definite shape and volume.  In other words, a solid has a shape that doesn't change unless acted upon and does not flow.

Takes the shape of its container, but has a definite volume. In other words, a liquid flows and does not have it's own shape.

Fills the entire volume of its container. In other words, gases are free to fill whatever space they have.  You can't always see them. 

Solid  molecules are close together and do not move past each other.

Liquid molecules are close together, but slide freely past each other.

Gas molecules move freely past each other quickly and don't stay together

In academic news, the reporter, Mr. Andrew, helped us learn a little more about the wildfires plaguing Southern California.  So far 800 building have been burned, people are evacuating, and the outlook is a little scary.  Let's all cross our fingers for some snow this winter and hope the fires clear up for the holidays out West.  Thanks Andrew!

To make sourdough bread all you need is: water, flour, salt, and AIR.  Yep, AIR.  Here's how it works...in order for any bread to rise you need yeast.  Sourdough doesn't use the yeast you buy at the store, but the yeast that's bacteria in the air.  First you have to make a starter with water and flour.  You leave it out to collect bacteria for days and days.  You even have to feed it more flour and water every two hours like a baby.  Once the starter is ready you mix the following ingredients together, let the dough rest, and bake the deliciousness!

The holidays are coming up and it's the season of giving.  We've been hard at work making you a gift in the classroom, but today we took some time to talk about a different kind of giving.  Instead of giving something, how about a little bit of nothing?  You can't buy nothing at the store, you can't find it on TV or in the newspaper, and you can't give it in a box without getting some weird looks.  We're talking about giving the gift of quality time, love, hugs, and holiday cheer that comes from the heart.

In other news, our scientist of the week, Miss Mary Catherine, is growing sugar crystals in the classroom.  How cool!  She started the experiment at home with some boiling water, food coloring, and a whole lot of sugar.  Once the sugar dissolved she hung a string into the liquid suspended by a pencil.  Over the course of the next couple weeks we should start to see some beautiful sugar crystals walk their way up the string.  Just like rock candy!  What a great experiment to try at home.  Thanks Mary Catherine!

Today Baylie showed us how to make a homemade lava lamp that you don't even have to plug in!  First fill a glass or plastic bottle a quarter of the way with water.  Then fill most of the rest of the glass with vegetable oil.  The oil will float because it is less dense than the water.  Add a few drops of your favorite food coloring.  Right now it doesn't look like much, but add two tablets of Alka Seltzer and the whole thing bubbles up like a real live lava lamp.  This is such a cool experiment you can try at home.  Just keep adding something fizzy to make the bubbles go.  And check it out with a flashlight! 

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from a secret reader, Baylie's mom, Miss Morgan.  She shared a book we'd never read before called Can I Keep Him?  This hilarious book by Steven Kellogg is all about the details.  When a little boy can't keep a dog because it barks and has fur he goes on a hunt for all the other things he might be able to keep.  A snake is no good because it's skin clogs the vacuum.  A cat is not good because it scratches.  The little boy next door is no good because he already has a home, but he can come over for a play date. So finally, he settles on a little bird.  And the bird meets the long list of criteria.

Beck shared a fascinating article about a volcano in Iceland.  A recent earthquake got the Bardarbunga volcano putting on a show.  It wasn't necessarily erupting, just getting ready by refilling it's magma stores.  This volcano sits atop a glacier and was especially beautiful next to the bright white landscape and northern lights!  Thanks for sharing Beck!

In first grade, more mess definitely means more learning!  Our three act task is coming along nicely.  As you know, we've been working in groups to create our own holiday math problems for the other classes and other grade levels to solve.  We're working in teams to make that work and today everything started to come together quite nicely.  Where we used to have piles of cardboard boxes, paper, and half wrapped presents, we now have fully wrapped boxes stacked neatly.  Some have bows, some have decorated wrapping paper, and others have secret numbers of "presents" inside waiting to be discovered in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. 

Today we had a visit from a secret reader...Edy's mom, Miss Jen--you may know her as one of the other first grader teachers!  She read us the fabulous rhyming book Rosie Revere, Engineer.  It's all about trying, failing, learning from your mistakes, and trying again until you get it right.  We practice that skill A LOT in first grade so it was the perfect reminder.  It was fun to learn new big words like perplexing and resilient.  You should check out the other great books by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts: Iggy Peck, Architect and Ada Twist, Scientist.  They're all fabulous.  Thanks Miss Jen!