Session #2 : Water, water everywhere! Freezing water

Session #2 is an experiment. Here students will observe changes that occur when water is subject to low temperatures. Vocabulary revision from last session and introduction of new session.

Introduction with hypothetical questions: What will happen if… ? (Document 2_image water and refrigerator). Student responses are noted on the board. With younger children the teacher may simply repeat the responses several times.

The teacher shows the materials and explains what the experiment will be about (Document 3_ experiment ice lollies) . In small groups students make ice lollies using previously prepared materiel. If the experiment is done in the morning, the ice lollies can be eaten for afternoon snack. When we did this experiment we also put a small bowl of water into the freezer compartment with the ice lollies. Le water freezes rapidly and, before taking the ice lollies out, students can manipulate the bloc of ice, pass it from one person to the next, and comment. They can then compare with the ice lollies.

Once the ice lollies have been placed in the freezer, a follow-up activity on the theme can complete the session. We used the book «Jack and Jill and big dog Bill », a funny story about two children playing in the snow with their dog. The dog, tired of pulling the children up the hill on a sled, refuses to move. The children finally end up taking him on the sled to the top of the hill!

This story (or others like it) is an ideal moment to open a discussion on people living in other countries and who do not have the same climate as we do. In our group, most of the children were born in the Caribbean. Some have never seen snow, while others have family in Europe and have been there with their parents. They love telling about their travels!

After the story students may draw/paint a place that they like going to where there’s water (the beach, the river, the pool, the bathroom ! …)

Finally the moment we’ve all been waiting for, it’s time to take out the ice lollies! Before taking the ice out the teacher should recapitulate the morning’s hypotheses – did the water with the syrup freeze/get hard like the water in the bowl? Once the ice lollies are out of the freezer the observation period has to be very short if the students hope to eat ice lollies and not drink mint flavoured water!

Students can consolidate with an activity (Material 1_ Help Jamie).