A Boat of Our Own

With our thoughts on Parashat Noach, we asked, "How could we stay afloat in a huge flood?"

The children in Gan Bet tested out their aquatic- structures to see if they would sink or float in the water if a were a flood to come...

 

Looks like our efforts paid off! The "designers" made predictions about their structures and noticed how almost all of them were able to float in the water! We examined the ones which didn't and tried to predict what factors contributed to their sinking. What great discoveries we made!

WHAT'S A PEELING?

Gan Daled was very excited with the assignment of adjusting a cork so it would sink. Many children brought back their discoveries and the class predicted if the corks would sink when they were placed in a tub of water. Almost all of the corks did sink. The solutions were creative, innovative, impressive and fun.
Earlier this week we performed an experiment with oranges. We placed an orange in a container of water and it floated. When we placed a peeled

orange into the container, the class was surprised to see it sink. We rewrapped the peel around the fruit and when we put it into the water, the orange floated again. Gan Daled deduced that the orange peel contains a lot of air and therefore it is lighter than water. The fruit of the orange is heavier than the water so it sinks.

A Flood Is Coming!

Would you be able to build a structure to stay afloat during a flood?

Many children in Gan Bet are trying....

 

 

Rachael experimented with all different kinds of materials before settling on this piece of plastic for her base...

Ronnie and Jordan worked really hard together to build their structure!
 

Ezra worked very diligently and thoughtfully to make sure his structure would be waterproofed and have potential to float...

A pretty impressive final structure!

 

Eden's, Julia's, and Helena's structure went through many

transformations before a final product was ready ....

 



And Daphna had a blast creating all of the elements of her floating structure!

So the question remains, WILL THEY FLOAT?

 

 



What's A Peeling?

Gan Gimmel has been learning about etrogim. The etrog is a citrus fruit. We examined various citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes and compared and sorted them according to size, shape and color.

The children were excited to perform several experiments with oranges, a citrus fruit. We placed an orange in a container of water and it floated. When we peeled the orange and placed it into the container the children were surpised to see it sink. The peel floated when placed in the water. Zaviel deduced that the orange peel contains a lot of air and therefore is lighter than the water. . The fruit of the orange is heavier than the water so it sinks. We then wrapped the peel back around the fruit and when put into the water, the orange floated again.

We loved doing the experiments and can't wait to taste the citrus fruits.

Does an etrog float? Try it at home.

Boating in Gan Bet

The children have completed their boat building project With great anticipation and excitement they took their boats outside to our special wading pool. Each group had the opportunity to try and float their boats. The children were great boat builders, all of their boats were able to float.

Some of the boats took on water and the children decided that the boats should have been sealed. They became great designers and builders.

Sink Or Float?

This past week we learned about two sailors (Noach and Christopher Columbus). The class was interested in how Noach's Ark and Christopher Columbus' ships were able to float on the water. We performed experiments to see which objects would float on top of liquid and which would sink. At the Science Center Gan Daled predicted and recorded which items will sink and which will float. The children enjoyed pushing a cork below the water and watching it pop back up to the surface. We read the book Floating and Sinking by Fred Biddulph. The children are excited about continuing to experiment at home.
For more information about displacement please go to:
http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/forces/sinkorfloat/grownups.weml