Science Lab Sheets

They've just closed school for tomorrow, too. I'm afraid we might be in school until June. This hasn't happened since I lived in Massachusetts and we'd go back to school after Labor Day in September. Down in the south they go back in early August, sometimes in late July like we did this  year. Before today was called out we had already used up all of our official snow days and teachers were planning to go back for the first time after Memorial Day. Now we've got two more days out. With the possibility of more. Ugh.

It leaves me sitting on the couch watching episodes of Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, and House of Cards. All the while thinking about the lessons I had planned for today. We are knee deep in our unit on Sound and having a grand old time with some fun experiments, see previous post. Of course this is when I find a great resource stuffed in the back of my file cabinet on actual paper. It is a simple lab worksheet but it includes all of the great questions I want my students to think about.

I had planned to use it for another science sound experiment today. We were going to determine what type of material sound moves quicker through. Is it a solid or a gas? They would take a rubber band and hold it stretched out between thumb and forefinger. As they pluck it they would describe the sound. Then they would take a plastic cup and stretch the rubber band around the top and bottom and pluck it again. By the end they should determine that the vibrations from the motion of their fingers would produce a softer sound since the air molecules are further apart. The sound from the cup will be louder since the molecules of the cup will move faster carrying the sound to their ears.

Sounds plucky, right? {did you like my pun?} Well, that is waiting for us back in school when we return. Keep your fingers crossed that it isn't in June. Here's the sheet I was talking about.

You can pick it up for free here.