Science in elementary school is a very hands-on endeavor – not only does it help solidify the concepts for the students, but it allows me as a teacher to refer back to them when we are discussing the various concepts.

For those of you who don’t know, my principal switched me to be the science teacher for this year, which means I am not only in charge of teaching all these things to the students, but to prep and carryout all the labs. And our last unit has had a LOT of labs. Everything from measuring mass and volume, testing relative density, to magnetism and temperature.

They really loved the magnetism lab.

And by the end of our temperature lab, they got really good at reading a thermometer.

I think that one of their favorites, however, was the lab where they got to make a “solution” by mixing lemonade powder with water – and then they got to drink it 😉.

They also really loved when I brought out the orbeez and had them test things to see if it was a mixture or a solution.

One of the messiest, and therefore “most fun” lab was when they had to find the best ways to separate their mixture of sand, rocks, woodchips, and pipe cleaner pieces. There was sand everywhere 😜.

Besides science, we also recently had our Bike Rodeo, and we had nine 4th graders participate. It is always fun to cheer on the kids, and we got lucky that the weather was great – hot, but not too bad.

And since I am also the Social Studies teacher, they also learned about the September 11th attacks that took place 25 years ago. (It is insane to think that I was teaching 4th grade when it happened back then.) As part of my lesson, I had my high school student teacher read the book, September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right to the students. It was written by a class of first graders after the attacks happened, and it is so sweet.

We also had some birthdays to celebrate, which is always a fun time.

One of the sad things that took place, however, was that our amazing Assistant Principal, Mrs. Thompson, got a job as a principal at a different school, and so she left. On her last day, all the students hid in the hallway and surprised her by cheering and clapping when they tricked her into heading into that area. It was such a bittersweet sendoff, and we are really going to miss her.

And so, school has been very busy this month, but it has also been great.