Mattie Wells Elementary School fifth grade gifted students performed a Halloween science experiment, learning about chemical reactions by mixing up a witch’s brew.
Caroline Baker, the gifted teacher at Mattie Wells Elementary School, said she did the experiment with her fifth graders, and the experiment consisted of different common ingredients the students had to put together until they got a certain chemical reaction.
“It’s very difficult for them to recognize a physical reaction versus a chemical reaction, and I think sometimes we assume they are easy to spot,” she said. “One of our solutions bubbled very easily, and I had to tell them that wasn’t it, so my ultimate goal was for them to be able to recognize when a chemical reaction was happening.”
Daniel Pace, one of the gifted fifth grade students, said the food dye in the ingredients threw him off, and if they mixed the wrong ingredients, he said they had to try again. He said he wants to do more experiments like the Halloween experiment, because it was interesting.
“We had different types of requirements for the experiment, and different types of ingredients. She named them names like vampire toenails and stuff like that. She had powders and liquids, and we had to use one dry ingredient and one wet ingredient. The ingredients were actually vinegar and baking soda, and we were looking for a fizzing noise and a bubble,” he said.
The teacher said she wants her students to learn to work with others and listen to one another, since collaboration is a huge aspect of being in a gifted classroom. She said she is planning more activities for her gifted fifth graders.
“I purchased this many years ago, and I would do this with my fourth-grade students then. I chose it for my fifth graders for the chemical reaction, but it does have a Halloween element to it for the students to enjoy,” Baker said.
Another fifth-grade gifted student, Joleigh Harrelson, said she enjoyed the experiment, because everyone got to team up and work together. She said the gifted students like to team up, because they are all learning the same skills and it helps. She said she learned more about chemical changes.
“This experiment was important to do, because we are learning about physical and chemical changes. Here in gifted we have to get to those learning targets before other things, so we know what we’re going to do. Mrs. Baker loves Halloween, so that’s also why we did this science experiment,” Harrelson said.
Baker said her favorite thing about Halloween is being able to dress up and make crafts. She said it’s a fun time. She said unlike Christmas time, Halloween allows her to not think about buying a lot of gifts, and she can just enjoy the holiday.
“I like to see the wonder, see all their discussions and see how they work with one another. It’s always fun to see my students enjoying themselves in my class,” she said. “This is their last year being elementary kids, so it’s exciting to provide this experience for them.”
