Sunday 8 February 2015

"I wonder how the icicles got built?" Exploring Ice Part 1

In keeping up with the cold weather, I introduced the students to a poem about icicles which they were noticing in our school yard and at home. 


The next day I showed the students a picture that Zahra (teacher candidate) took of some icicles she noticed while shopping.


Zahra explained to the students that she took the picture because she was amazed by how big the icicles were! 

That same day, L. B. wrote down a wonder she had about icicles and shared it with the class.

"I wonder how the icicles got built?" L. B.

"Maybe because it was so cold the icicles go bigger and bigger and bigger." K. W.

"Get cold water and we put it like this \/ (showing with hands), and it gets cold and gets bigger and freezes." C. C.

"If it snows, that is water, and it gets colder and it freezes and little icicles come together and starts growing." H. S.

"So when it snows, when it is out there for a long time it starts to melt, then when it drips sometimes when it's so cold it freezes. I know how ice is made because me and my dad build an ice rink in the backyard." O. S.

"Snow and water makes ice and that might make an icicles. One day I put water in the snow and it turned ice." D. C.

"When the rain comes, it gets cold and it freezes and it grows. Maybe when it gets more water and snow it grows." W. E.

The following morning, W. E. and E. E. made ice at home and brought it to school in a bag to share their experiment with their peers!

"I made ice, and how I made it was, last night I got water and I put it in the freezer. It got cold, stuck together then it grew." W. E.

"What did you pour the water in?" Mrs. Ralph

"I poured the water in this bag." W. E.

"You can't hold water. It's liquid." Z. G.

"But it's frozen, and when it gets really cold it starts to freeze and then it becomes a chunk that you can hold it, but if it's just water you can't hold it because it's slippery because it's not cold enough." O. S.

W. E. then asked if the ice chunk could be pass around so that people could feel it. 

"It's slippery!" C. C.

"Cold!!!" M. O.

"It feels watery because it's slippery on my hand!" K. W.

"It's starting to drip! If water drops out of ice, it starts to melt." M. S.

"We can make more ice!" E. E.

What does it look like? Can you describe what you see? Mrs. Ralph

"It's kind of see through white." C. C.

"It looks like milk." B. P. "Cause milk is white." M. S.

"But milk is darker then ice." F. D.

"It looks like a rock because they're both hard." J. K.

"I noticed that they have the same colour as our glass people (glass chess pieces)!" S. C.


"Milk is white and ice is clear!" S. C.

Taking advantage of this learning opportunity, I introduced the words transparent, translucent, and opaque.


The ice chunks were then placed in a bin for continued hands on explorations by students.


The following day, two more students brought in ice from home!

K. W. came to school with a bag full of icicles! 

"My daddy came home and I got the idea. He used a really sharp shovel like a needle and then he holded it and then he jumped and he swinged the shovel and then some of the icicles got cut off and first we had like a treasure hunt and we had to dig for them!". K. E. 

F. D. also brought in ice and explained her experiment to the class.

"I made ice and how I made it is first I put hot water, then I put it in a cup, then I put it in a bag, and then I left it outside." F. D.


The icicles and the ice in the cup were passed around for students to explore.

"It's watery and bumpy." K. W.

"Slippery." C. D.


"I was holing onto it and it almost slipped out of my hand!" J. K.



"It has snow in it and making a little sound, on the top it is translucent and on the bottom transparent." B. K.


"It's cold, bumpy, and smooth." E. E.

"It has some snow on it, and it's kind of grey and a bit of black on it." Z. G.


"It is really really super cold." S. T.




"It smells like dirt." F. D.

"It smells like dripping rain." M. S.


"It smells wet." L. S.





"I see little bubbles in it, I think it's water." L. B.




"It's a shape of a cone and then it grows!." J. K.

"Cylinder." B. K.


"It was transparent, I saw M. S. through it. Not all of it was transparent, some of it was translucent." K. E.


"It looks like a triangle." A. F.



"I hear a sound, a crackling sound. It is cracking because it's not outside anymore. At the bottom is transparent, at the top is translucent." E. E.

"It is crispy at the edge and in the middle it is smooth. There is a crack in the middle and bubbles in the middle, they were water and turned into ice." W. E.


"Why is the ice cup shaped?" C. D.

"How did the bubbles get froze when the water was moving?" W. E.


"I wonder why did the bubbles get frozen when the water was in the ice." K. W.


The students had many observations, theories and wonders. Together we created a chart to place all the information.



The excitement was growing! A few more students brought in icicles and ice made in their freezer at home.

"First my mom breaked the icicle and then we put them in the freezer so they would stay cold and wouldn't melt." C. D.

"My ice is a triangle shape. I made it at home, I got a bag of water and I put it in the freezer and waited eighteen days, and it froze and I couldn't wait to share it with my classmates. I used plain, it was cold because I wanted it frozen solid." M. O.

"I made ice, and how I made it is first I put water in a container and then I put it in the freezer and waited four or five days and it turned into ice. H. S.



All the ice was passed around for further exploration.

"It's transparent because I can see through it." M. O.

"J. K.'s is translucent and opaque." W. E.

"Why does J. K.'s ice look like that and C. D.'s does not?" Mrs. Ralph

"I think because maybe the water, the rain and the kitchen water are different kinds of water because the rain is see through and the kitchen water you can't see through it." W. E.

"Maybe because J. K.'s was in a bag and C. D.'s was outside and J. K.'s came in a chunk and C. D.'s was an icicle." K. W.

"Because maybe J. K. put lots of cold water and maybe C. D.'s icicle might have a little bit of water because it dripped off and was thin and J. K.'s had a lot of water." O. S.


H. S.'s ice experiment

"It is grey and translucent and it feels like ice, slippery and looks like a rectangle." A. F.

"It looks like a triangle and it is cold and slippery like snow." D. A.

"It is cold and flat and looks like a hill." D. C.

"I think maybe it wasn't on a flat surface and that's why all the water went on that side then less water went on the other side." O. S.

"And that's what happened cause I poured water in and it went like that (making a diagonal line with her hand), so when I put it in the freezer it was still like that." H. S.

"When you put it in a container and you put the water, and you put it in the freezer, the cup you put it in it turns into that shape." P. I.


S. C.'s ice experiment

"I put water in my bowl, then vinegar, and then I put cotton balls, and then I put pink food colouring and it turned orange! I wanted to make it colourful and I wanted to know if orange ice turned out to be real and it is!" S. C.

Our orange ice wonder was also passed around for further exploration!

"It's cold and a little heavy maybe because S. C. put a lot of things in it." K. W.

"It's kind of super cold and I see red stuff." M. S.

"It smells like apple juice." B. K.

"It feels slippery." L. S.

S. C.'s colourful ice led to some exciting experiment ideas!

"Lets make ice yellow in the shape of a rectangle!" K. E.

"Purple and a rectangle!" M. O.

"Put food colouring in our ice!" L. S.

"Green food colouring in a square shape!" Z. G.

"Use outside water and put food colouring and see if it is different!" W. E.

"How are we going to get water from outside?" Mrs. Ralph

"Find an icicle and let it melt and use that water." H. S.

"Or let snow melt in a container and put that water in the freezer." O. S.

"Wait until the rain comes." L. S.

"Put food colouring in milk and freeze it!" E. E.

"Get water in a jar and put salt and food colouring and put it in the freezer." W. E.

"Maybe we can make ice from rain and the tap?" A. T.

"How many days or months do we have to wait for ice to melt?" P. I.

What wonderful authentic experiment ideas! Stay tuned as we explore and investigate ice further!


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