Lemons can make lemonade.

This week we explored some gifts trees give us - as chemists.

Augie: Trees give us wood.
Clara: They give us shade.
Matan: Apples for pies.
Evan: They give us oxygen, air.
Morah Katie: We give something to the trees, can anyone tell me what we give?
Evan: Carbon Dioxide.
Judah: They give us a lot of fruit.
Morah Katie: Trees give us apples and lemons.  How are apples and lemons similar?
Abram: They both grow on trees.
Augie: They both have seeds.
Clara: I like lemons. They are both fruit.
Morah Katie: How are they different?
Evan: Lemons are oval and apples are round like a circle.
Olivia S:  Lemons are yellow and apples are red.
Evelyn: A lemon is sour.
Clara: An apple is sweet.
Morah Katie: Lemons are acidic.  What does it feel like if you get lemon juice in a cut?
Clara: It hurts, it stings.
Morah Katie: I agree.   But guess what! We can take that acidic juice and use it to create something very exciting.

Our experiment: Lemon Volcanos

Core out a lemon.

Mash it up to release the juice.

Add a small amount of baking soda.

The reaction between the lemon juice and baking soda causes carbon dioxide to be released as bubbles.

 

Abram made a realization:

It's SOUR.

We reminded ourselves of our taste test during Rosh Hashanah.
Morah Katie: What do you remember about the taste test?
Clara: The apples in honey remind us to be kind.
Nora: Honey is sweet.
Judah: We should treat our friends the way we want to be treated.
Morah Katie: How do you like to be treated?
Judah: Sweetly.

Sometimes we may feel so sour we begin to feel like we are going to explode like a lemon volcano. But if a little sweetness is added, we can turn our lemony, sour feelings into lemonade.
Morah Katie: How can you help a friend who looks  and sounds like a lemon volcano?
Clara: We can just try to be kind instead.
Evan: You could draw a friend a picture
Augie: We can just be caring and share.

We imagined how we are like trees.

We don't grow actual fruit, we grow kindness with our helping hands and kind words.

 We can give "shade" to someone who is having a rough day by

Clara: Being kind to them.

Trees give us oxygen, we give them carbon dioxide; we help them and they help us.

We continued to explore carbon dioxide.  

Some of us enjoyed our sip of Sprite, 

others did not.

We tried to make raisins dance.  

We filled 1 cup with water and 1 cup with Sprite.

Careful observation, we didn't want to miss any "dancing".

The raisins danced on Wednesday, but sank on Thursday.

Morah Katie: Why do you think the raisins are not floating today?
Abram: The bubbles are not working. 
Morah Katie: Yesterday we had a fresh bottle of Sprite.  Today, our bubbles must be stale.
Augie: Yeah, they are tired and not working. 
Morah Katie: IF they were working what do you think we would see?
Abby: Floating.
Abram: They would float and the bubbles would pop and then they would sink.

We are looking forward to celebrating Tu B' Shevat Monday.
We are grateful for all that trees give us:
Augie:  Paper
Abram: Oxygen, we wouldn't want carbon dioxide to breathe.
Judah: Sweet fruit.