October is Lockport Blue month to support our local police force!  You can show your support by displaying blue lights at your home.  

In Kitchen Chem today we made pancakes to demonstrate the chemical reaction that takes place when baking powder is added to the batter.  The students noticed bubbles rising to the surface.  This told us that a gas was forming.

Everyone enjoyed eating our experiment!

Two thumbs up!

While eating our pancakes we watched a youtube video that showed us more fun experiments we could do in the kitchen. Click on link below to view it:
experiments for kids

The students wanted to test our theory that the baking powder caused the pancakes to puff up so we made one without it.  It was much flatter than the other ones.

Here is a regular pancake held sideways.

We tried the balloon/bottle experiment again with baking powder instead of yeast.  It didn't blow the balloon up quite as much as the yeast did but it does show that the baking powder produces gas.

We had time to try a second experiment that proved that smell and sight are two senses that are linked closely with our sense of taste.  Each student closed his/her eyes and held his/her nose while I placed a Jolly Rancher in each mouth.  The students then guessed what flavor candy it was.  Out of 12 students only 2 could guess the flavor!

This week we  learned why yeast makes dough rise.  We  mixed yeast, sugar, and water in a water bottle and covered it with a balloon.

As the yeast used the sugar for energy it gave off a gas and the balloon got bigger...

...and bigger!

The "Chopped" challenge was to choose from a variety of toppings to make a delicious cracker topping.

Students worked in pairs to create their delicious morsels.

Most decided on Fluff as the base for their toppings but one group used peanut butter.  No one chose the cream cheese or honey.

After the creations were complete, each pair explained how they decided on the combinations for their topper.  It was a great exercise in creativity and working through problems.

Everyone had a chance to sample and "judge" each of the different cracker toppings. 

No one got "chopped" and everyone was a winner!

This week we  learned why yeast makes dough rise.  We  mixed yeast, sugar, and water in a water bottle and covered it with a balloon.

As the yeast used the sugar for energy it gave off a gas and the balloon got bigger...

...and bigger!

The "Chopped" challenge was to choose from a variety of toppings to make a delicious cracker topping.

Students worked in pairs to create their delicious morsels.

Most decided on Fluff as the base for their toppings but one group used peanut butter.  No one chose the cream cheese or honey.

After the creations were complete, each pair explained how they decided on the combinations for their topper.  It was a great exercise in creativity and working through problems.

Everyone had a chance to sample and "judge" each of the different cracker toppings. 

No one got "chopped" and everyone was a winner!

Updated Calendar- Nov 8th was cancelled, see below

Sept. 20-  Rainbow in a Cup: Density;  Introducing the Scientific Method
Sept. 27- Yeast-Air Balloons: Chemical Reactions, Cracker Toppers: unusual combinations
Oct. 4- Pancakes: Chemical Reactions, States of Matter
Oct. 11- Dehydrating Fruit: Physical Science
Oct. 18- Brown Bag Energy Test: Life Science, Sources of Energy
Oct. 25- Crunching and Munching Pretzels: Chemical Vs Physical Changes
Nov. 1-Ice Cream in a Bag: States of Matter, Chemistry
Nov. 8- cancelled due to in-service for teachers, 1/2 day for students
Nov. 15-Split the Smarties: Capillary Action and Chromatography

Nov. 22-Potato Plunger: Air Pressure; Lightning in Your Mouth: Friction
Nov.29- Celebration Event

Today we had fun learning about density.  We noticed that our pumpkin candy was more dense than our popcorn.  

We also made up some sugar/water solutions with different amounts of sugar in each solution.  

We had to work very carefully to drip each of the solutions into the standing test tube. 

The solutions that had less sugar were able to float on top of the solutions with more sugar.  This showed us that the water with more sugar was more dense.  

We also used the Scientific Method to predict, ask questions, and analyze results.  The children came up with a lot of questions about the sugar solutions and we tried to use experiments to answer those questions.


Thank you for being on time to pick up your children (3:50 pm). You can pick them up in my room, #63, each week.
We are looking forward to our next lesson!

 Welcome to Kitchen Chemistry, one of our course offerings through the STREAM initiative! It runs for 10 weeks on Tuesdays starting September 20.  The sessions are 50 minutes from 3-3:50 PM.  While working with food, we will explore chemical reactions, physical properties of food and measurement while using the Scientific Method. 
     While some of our experiments will be edible, this is not a "cooking class".  The objective is to predict, observe, and analyze physical changes and reactions in the food with which we are working.        Below is a rough outline of the lessons we will be doing.  As we move through the course the lessons may change due to the interests of the group or creative sparks of genius that occur!

Sept. 20-  Rainbow in a Cup: Density;  Introducing the Scientific Method
Sept. 27- Yeast-Air Balloons: Chemical Reactions, Cracker Toppers: unusual combinations
Oct. 4- Pancakes: Chemical Reactions, States of Matter
Oct. 11- Dehydrating Fruit: Physical Science
Oct. 18- Brown Bag Energy Test: Life Science, Sources of Energy
Oct. 25- Crunching and Munching Pretzels: Chemical Vs Physical Changes
Nov. 1-Ice Cream in a Bag: States of Matter, Chemistry
Nov. 8- cancelled due to in-service for teachers, 1/2 day for students
Nov. 15-Split the Smarties: Capillary Action and Chromatography

Nov. 22-Potato Plunger: Air Pressure; Lightning in Your Mouth: Friction
Nov.29- Celebration Event