Who can make the biggest bubble?

After trialling at least 3 different mixtures and several different wands each group got to make 2 of their best mixtures for the big bubble blow off.

We were able to make bigger bubbles than we had previously made. Some mixtures worked better than others.

And we all had fun. Science is great. :)

Listening to the author Des Hunt

Thanks to the parents who drove us to see the author Des Hunt. We thought he was fantastic.

These are some of the things we learnt:

Stories need a hook at the start, then it needs a development in the middle and a climax at the end.-Aiden

  

That everyone in really life in has a back story. –Mrs Wilson

All writers get rejected by publishers. –Lara

You should never give up. -Zec

His new book will be coming out next year in October. He was a fat kid when he was young so didn’t play sports. –Georgia

He was a teacher before he was an author. He had a pet cat and has a dog -Holly

I learnt awesome new facts about his past. -Hannah

Interesting things. –Kailey

Dr Seuss’s real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel. Stories need suspense.–Ben

He travelled loads, he learnt about science, physics, forces and magnets. –Seren and Hayley

  

Des Hunt ran over his cat with his car. -Matthew

I learnt that many famous authors get lots of rejection slips. Des Hunt got a degree at Victoria University in Science, which is what my Dad teaches. There is a sound that cannot be heard. Noise can pop balloons.–Kerwin

Des Hunt is 72 years old and going to turn 73 soon. He lived in Auckland for 30 years.–Giancarlo

He was born in Palmerston North. Stories include a hook, a beginning and an end. –Victoria

Des Hunt writes chapter books for New Zealanders. –Bryan

You need to be persistent. He got in trouble for chemistry. Technology is awesome. –Ilya

What he did before he started writing. –Noah and Arthur

I learnt he is old and what he looks like. -Elysium

I learnt some other birds names. –Logan

I like his photos, comedy, magnets, balloon experiment, science, fun sly stick. -Kareena.

These are some of the things we liked:

Comedy. -Anoushka

The Newclex machine at the end. -Zec

The machine with lights. -Kareena

His blowing balloon machine. -Georgia

I liked how he told us his back story. –Lulu

He told us about his previous life and awesome pets (beagle dog and crazy cat). -Hannah

That he made a few jokes. –Lulu

Magnet science & forces. –Seren

He was funny. I liked the fun fly stick, magnets, forces, science, writing. –Charlotte

He was funny. –Laura and Hayley

I like his presentation and his inventions. -Matthew

I liked his creation with the marble. –Noah

I liked the balloon thing and the stick and marble. –Ashton

I like the machine with the lights and gas. –Kareena

The magnetic ball trick and the exploding balloon. -Kailey

These are some of the things we would like to do:

Research birds. –Georgia

I want to learn more about birds. –Holly

Science –Lulu, Aiden, Liam and Campbell

Be a science teacher and read on of his books – Hannah

Photography and write books. –Seren

Research animals. –Lara

Photography, write & read more books, do science experiments. –Charlotte.

Buy a fun-fly-stick, take more photos of wildlife not just landscapes, do more science experiments, set more of my writing in NZ, send Des Hunt and email to get his free e-book, write a book called ‘Secret of the Seal’. –Matthew

Photography –Hayley

Science and photography –Victoria

Buy a flying fun stick, buy the atomic thing-a-ma-jig. -Ilya

I want to read some of his books. –Logan

I would like to do science, forces, computer, chemistry, and maths. –Kareena

Read more of the books and see more of NZ. -Kailey

Bubble experiment number 1

Today in our bubble groups we
-discussed new vocabulary
-made a plan for our first trial
-did our first trial
-recorded our results
-discussed some changes to make for our next trial

Words we discussed:

• fair test-only changing 1 thing (variable), could change what it is or how much is used
• investigate-research, mystery with clues, looking in to something, finding out things, following instructions to try and figure something out
• procedure-instructions, what is written down that is exactly what to do/was done
• observation-looking at something carefully to notice what happened or changes
• measure-getting amounts of ingredients
• tea spoon-smaller spoon, used to make cups of tea
• table spoon-bigger spoon
• results-what happened
• conclusion-explaining what happened and why

Plan for our first trial

Each group had 3 cups with the same amount of water. We had to discuss and decided what else we wanted to put in and how much. We had to remember to change only one variable (amount or ingredient) so it would be a fair test.

Some groups tried different dishwashing liquid, others had corn syrup, others used shampoo.

Our first trial

All groups had something that worked well.

Record our results
This was the hard part. We had to be specific with writing down what happened with the bubbles. For each mixture/cup we had to write down how many bubbles were made, how big they were (as big as thumb, hand, head) and when they popped (on the wand or after floating).


Here are some examples of what students had written for their observations:

Hayley, Laura, Georgia, Lara and Sylvia
Each time we make the bubbles on the wand, it made 1 or 2 bubbles about the size of 1 1/2 hands.
Cup 3 was the best because the bubbles were really big.

Holly, Logan, Ben, Matthew, Ilya
Corn syrup needed to be scrapped off the spoon.
Cup 2 mostly popped while detaching from the wand.
Cup 3 blew about 1-3 decent bubbles that popped when touched by fingers.

Kailey, Hannah, Anoushka, Lulu
Cup 1-Each bubble was about the size of our hand. Most of the bubbles didn't come off the wand.
Cup 2-Blew small bubbles that bounced off out knees. Sometimes were as big as out head. Bubble lasted about 5-10 seconds.
Cup 3-The small bubbles lasted better.

Charlotte, Seren
Cup 1-this made 1 bubble at a time.
Cup 2-it blue big bubbles but they popped straights away on the wand.
Cup 3-This mixture failed completely and made no bubbles.

Arthur, Aiden, Liam, Noah, Giancarlo, Bryan
Cup 1-It blue bubbles about the size of your hand. We spilt some mixture so had to change our wand shape.
Cup 2-Some bubbles split into 5 bubbles.
Cup 3-We didn't get to make this one because we ran out of time.

Zech, Elysium, Ashton, Kerwin, Campbell
Cup 1 worked probably the best.
Cup 2-One of our bubbles was as big as Ashton's hand.
Cup 3-The bubbles were good on the wand cause we walked with it so it slowly came off the wand.

Changes for our next trial
We looked at what we found out today and made some changes to our recipe for next time.