Classroom Chemistry - A Ghoulish Good Time!

Right now in Science, we are studying Classroom Chemistry. I wanted to incorporate a little bit of Halloween fun into our unit! Students LOVED the labs and I LOVED how much learning was happening!

Here are some of the activities that we did:

Separating Mixtures:

First we watched these videos about separating mixtures. (I skip over the parts that talk about distilling alcohol). 

Next, students worked towards getting their magic potions certificate. They had to follow the recipe that I gave them exactly. (water, staples, sand, salt, rice). Then they worked to separate the mixture so that they were left with only water. This was a great critical thinking and perseverance activity because students had to keep trying, even when their original plan didn't work. In the end, all groups were successful. The trickiest part was explaining to their potions professor (me) how they planned to separate the salt from the water.

Here are the materials that students used to separate materials. 

Types of Mixtures:

We also learned about different types of mixtures by cooking up some delicious treats!

Students had to identify the type of mixture that each recipe made (homogeneous, heterogeneous). Then they sampled the treats!

I created some simple Interactive Notebook Activities to go along with our lab. This way, students can record their learning AND use this information to study for our quiz.

Next week we are going to be making halloween crystals and growing ghosts with a vinegar and baking soda reaction.

The kiddos are loving this unit so far and it is amazing how much they learn when they are super engaged!

Interested in trying this unit out in your own classroom? It includes 5 fun labs with instructions, labels and interactive notebook pages! Check it out here. It's 50% off for the first 10 buyers. 

Have a great week!