fun friday...

Every Friday, I do "Fun Friday" with my class. Sometimes we show a movie on the huge projector screen, make yummy snacks, play silly games, do a cool art project, or like today, a science experiment. I have never used dry ice before, so I thought it would be interesting to check out this mysterious, reportedly dangerous substance. It was SO COOL!! The kids, about 35 of them, sat in a circle and I, not knowing anything about dry ice, gave them a brief description of what we were about to do. I explained that they must all sit in their spots and not move closer to what I was going to bring into the room. I told them that what we were about to experiment with was potentially very dangerous (that got the boys to sit up a little straighter) and told them that under no circumstance were they to touch the "experiment." (My aide then decided to pipe in with, "It will burn the flesh off of your bones if you touch it.") Nice touch. So I go to get the ice and a pitcher of water. I set it down in the middle of the circle and asked them what they thought would happen if I poured the water on the ice. My favorite comments? "It will explode!" and "Start a fire!!" We discovered that you could touch the ice as long as it was dry- well, we didn't try to touch it when it was wet, so maybe we will never really know... (another aide moment: she pretended to touch it, and screamed, said "Gotcha!!" and we all laughed- one little boy almost had a panic attack, but eventually laughed too). Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty neat little experience- I've decided that dry ice is a must for any party in the future. Oh, and there were no explosions or fires!