Bread Making
We decided to make two batches of bread per class & used the bread maker to make one loaf, and we made another loaf by hand. We discussed the importance of sticking to the recipe & being accurate with our measurements - just like good scientists do! We looked at the role yeast plays in the rising process of bread & then we got to enjoy our spoils - devouring fresh baked bread & hand made butter for afternoon tea. The children even shared some of their bread & butter with Perry, Deborah & Theresa, and to the children's delight, they were all very impressed : )
Butter - Creamier by far!
We initially thought that making butter would be really hard, but we were soon to discover it was in fact "easy-peasy" and a lot of fun. We started out with full fat cream & a pinch of salt, then we whipped & whipped the cream until it separated into butter & buttermilk. We strained the buttermilk from the butter, and then rinsed the butter in cold water until all of the buttermilk had gone. We learnt that over time the buttermilk could make our butter go off, so we made sure that it was well rinsed. We didn't really need to worry too much though, because we ended up eating all of our butter in one sitting!
We were amazed to discover that we could change one ingredient (the cream) into two very different ingredients - butter & buttermilk! We talked a lot about reversible and irreversible changes, and concluded that there was no way we could turn the butter & buttermilk back into cream, so we had therefore created an irreversible change.
We all scream for ice-cream!
This activity was so much fun, not to mention delicious & really easy! Again, we were taking a close look at changes of state & matter, and the children were thrilled to see their mixture of milk, sugar & vanilla essence turn into ice-cream before their eyes. We filled a large bag with ice cubes & salt, and then in a separate & smaller bag we added our milk, sugar & vanilla essence & sealed the bag tightly. We then put our milky bag inside our ice bag & moved it around on top of the ice a lot.
We saw the milky mixture gradually thicken and then to our amazement it turned into ice-cream! It tasted delicious & it took all of our willpower not to eat it all in one sitting. We concluded that this too was an irreversible change given the mixture of ingredients.
Crystals - Revisited!
A week on I popped back into Penny's class to see how their crystals were growing, and I was so glad I did. What I saw was amazing & beautiful! I've provided a few photos to show you, do pop in and have a look for yourself. Isn't it amazing what you can do with some epsom salts, food colouring & hot water - incredible!
It's been a really busy & fun time in the Learning Hub & I'm really excited about what's coming up. Please feel free to pop in & join us!
Karin Grice : )
Learning Hub Coordinator