As part of our Station Rotation we have been doing science. Yesterday with Miss McKenna two groups were learning to predict,
observe and describe changes in matter. What matter did we look at? Corn kernels!
We observed them and described what they looked like, felt like, tasted like and smelt like. "They look like mandarin seeds," said Jireh. Or "little, hard stones" he described. "It's hard to eat it," said Ayla. "It tastes plain as", added Keanu.
Miss McKenna read us the story 'Toni's Popcorn' where Toni and her sister make popcorn together. In the story Toni's sister says they should pour all the popping corn into the saucepan. Miss McKenna asked us to predict if that was a good idea or a bad idea, and we had to say why we thought that.
Some children thought it was a bad idea and some thought it was a good idea. Lucy said that if they had lots of popcorn it would be good "so it can be shared to the whole family". But Reupena and Nigel thought, "It might explode" and Keanu said "It's gonna make a big mess". "It will pop all over the place," said Damian. And they were right! Toni's sister lifter the lid before it was finished popping and it made a huge mess.
We weren't going to make the same mistake! When we made popcorn with Miss McKenna she put oil in a saucepan and when it was hot added the corn kernels and put a lid on it. We listened excitedly to the pop, pop, popping and Miss McKenna took off the lid when it got quiet and stopped popping.
Then we got to see how it had changed...and, importantly, taste the popcorn!
"Kernels turn into popcorn", observed Ayla. "It tastes yum!" said Iliyas. Mikke agreed. "Yeah, we want some more!" he said.
We talked about how heating the kernels had made them edible and we noticed changes in colour, shape, size and taste. Teddy said "There's no sugar." Maybe you could make some popcorn together at home and add some flavours. if you do, tell us about it by commenting below!
