COPPERAS COVE, Texas – When you think of Dr. Seuss in a second grade classroom, you likely think of classic rhymes coming from some semblance of a cartoon character.
But, what about inspiring a science lesson?
Lauren Caramanica’s classroom at Hettie Halstead Elementary School in Copperas Cove was recently inspired by the famous author’s “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” for a lesson on states of matter.
“The kids love feeling like scientists and showing me, as well as their classmates, their different findings as they explore,” Caramanica said.
This lesson, where her students attempted to recreate “oobleck,” helped the class explore physical properties and shortly followed another which focused on solids, liquids, cooling and freezing.
It also went over words and descriptions about the items, including commonly-used terms like watery.
“We used corn starch, food coloring and water as our ingredients,” student Grace Ward said. “I’m not putting my hand in it because my mom will be really mad.”
Caramanica said the activity also incorporated vocabulary, requiring students to recall certain words to help describe their created “oobleck.”
All-in-all, they found it difficult to get each student to the same consistency in their creation. But, when it was all over, Caramanica said they couldn’t wait to share it with each other, with one student, Kameron Fenster, even exclaiming, “I learned how to make goo!”