Candles
The students have been inquiring about ‘fire’ and ‘candles’. We decided to make our own candles. Ms. Hannah took the students through the process. The students gathered in small groups around a table. Ms. Hannah gave the students the wax pellets. The students used their senses to explore the smooth, white wax. The students worked in groups to complete the task.
Group 1: Jooeon, Felix, Charlotte and Jessica
- Felix “That’s rice! I think rice. Rice is broken.”
- Jooeon “No idea.”
- Charlotte “Rice, smells good.” (in Mandarin)
- Felix “What is this Ms. Hannah?” (pointing to the cooker)
Ms. Hannah explained that it was a cooker, she uses it to make hotpot. Ms. Hannah put the little white pellets in the pan.
- Jooeon “What is it?”
- Felix “Hot water come! It looks like brown.”
- Jessica “It’s all turned into water. We used some ‘rice’ and a pot. We poured the ‘rice’ into a pot. The ‘rice’ turned into ‘water’. (in Mandarin)
- Felix “It was smaller. It’s broken.”
- Charlotte “It’s (rice) disappearing.” (in Mandarin)
- Felix “It got small, small, smaller inside.”
- Charlotte “It’s like magic.” (in Mandarin)
- Felix “It’s away.”
- Charlotte “How did it disappear? I can feel the hot steam going out of the pan.” (in Mandarin)
- Felix “Slimy.”
- Charlotte “It’s changing colour because the teacher can do the magic.” (in Mandarin)
The students wrote their names at the bottom of the candle holder. Then they decided what they wanted to include in their candles.
- Jessica explained, “I wrote my name on the bottom of the cup. I put a flower and some yellow flower (osmanthus) into the cup before Ms Hannah poured the ‘water’ into the cup.” (in Mandarin)
Ms. Hannah poured the melted wax into the container. The students watched with interest as the little flowers moved around in the container.
The students compared the wax pellets and Ms. Hannah’s candle.
- Felix “It feels like rice. Both white.”
- Charlotte “Both white but feels different. One is hard and the other one is spotty.” (in Mandarin)
- Jessica wondered if they were the same. She shook her head suggesting they were not. She explained “The raw one was the ‘rice’, it turned into ‘water’ after we cooked it. I don’t know how did the water get into the pot. I thought we were making the cupcakes but we were making candles.” (in Mandarin)
- Charlotte “It is changing colour.” (in Mandarin)
- Felix “It smells like rice and this smells like candle perfume.”
- Looking at Charlotte’s candle Felix explains “That’s finished. Because everyone is white.”
The students continued to observe their candles as they changed colour.
The teacher shook the table. The candles moved around in the tray.
- Charlotte “Mine is not wiggling around because it is solid, not liquid.” (in Mandarin)
- Jooeon felt the sides of his candle holder “HOT!”
- Felix “Mine is almost done because it is sticky. We have lots of candles at home. Not real candles…. I don’t know the English word for it.”
The students held their cooling candles.
- Charlotte “I think mine is getting cooler.” (in Mandarin)
- Felix “Warm.”
- Charlotte “Very hot.” (in Mandarin)
- Felix “Down is warm.”
- Jessica “It turned hard after the ‘water’ sat in the cup for a long time because it’s not too hot and it’s not rice anymore.” (in Mandarin)
https://twitter.com/NISPreKK1/status/1091149376309751808
Group 2: Ruby, Ethan, Michelle, Si Hyun, Jiwoo and Alejandra
Ms. Hannah showed the student the cooker. She talked to the students about safety.
- Michelle “If you touch it you have to go to hospital. Because it is too hot. If you put a little bit water it will be very hot.” (in Mandarin)
Ms. Hannah showed the students the wax pellets.
- Ethan “Is that rice?” (in Mandarin)
- Alejandra “Maybe rice? Because rice is like that.”
- Ruby “Dried rice.”
Ms. Hannah put the pellets in the pot.
- Ethan “There is smoke coming out. Little water. I think its smelly.” (in Mandarin)
- Jiwoo pointed to a few pellets that had fallen out on to the cooker. He noticed that they had changed from one state to another. “Water get over here.” He said.
The students continued to look at the changing pellets inside the pot.
- Ruby “I think it is wet now.”
- Si Huyn pointed to the liquid and said “Top”. He explained that water was coming from the bottom. “Smoke, smoke, smoke.”
- Ethan “Becomes rice.” (in Mandarin)
- Ruby “It becomes different. Because I see it all sticked together.”
- Michelle “It is like rice. It sticks together.” (in Mandarin)
- Ethan “Why did it become like this?” (in Mandarin)
- Ruby and Ethan “Small it’s getting smaller.
- Ruby “What if we put more in there?”
- Ethan “It’s disappear.” (in Mandarin)
- Alejandra “It’s (rice) going to get bigger. The rice disappeared.”
- Ruby “Smaller.”
- Alejandra “If we put all in, it will get bigger.”
- Ruby “It is getting smaller. It gets smaller than that.”
- Jiwoo “Water inside.”
- Michelle “What is this?”
Ms. Hannah helped the students pour the hot wax into the containers.
- Michelle pointed to the flowers and seeds in her candle. “That’s flower?”
- Jiwoo pointed to the flower buds, “It gets bigger.”
- Ethan “It gets poisonous.” (in Mandarin)
- Ruby “It smells like lavender.”
Next the students wrote their names on the bottom their candle holder.
- Ruby “It looks like there is grass.”
- Ethan “When you put the wick inside it is smelly. (in Mandarin)
- Alejandra pointed to the two candle holders. One had hot wax and the other had cooled down. “This is not water (hard) and this is water.”
- Jiwoo said that the one with liquid will become just like the candle that was ‘cold’.
- Ethan “The candle wouldn’t turn into this. How can we get the stuff (flowers) out of there? We will have to wear gloves.” (in Mandarin)
- Jiwoo notices that the colour on the bottom of the candle is turning white.
- Ruby “It is getting silver.”
- Michelle “The colour is different. It’s becoming a little bit like the candle.” (in Mandarin)
- Ruby “When the water disappears the grass come up.”
- Alejandra “It is white. Inside have white. Mine is not cold. Mine is hot because mine has hot water.”
- Si Hyun explained how Charlotte’s candle was hot and that Ms. Hannah was helping her.
The students observed their cooling candles. They held them in their hands and compared and talked about temperature using the words, hot, cold and warm.
The students continue to wonder what candles are made of. Our inquiry continues…
Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)
Thinking Skills
Analysing
- Observe carefully.
- Synthesize new understandings by seeing relationships and connections.
Forming decisions
- Revise understandings based on new information and evidence.
- Draw conclusions and generalizations.
Generating novel ideas
- Make unexpected or unusual connections between objects and/or ideas.
Considering new perspectives
- Seek information.
Research Skills
Data gathering and documenting
- Use all senses to observe and notice details.
Communication Skills
Listening
- Listen to information.
- Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas.
Speaking
- Express oneself using words and sentences.
- Participate in conversations.
Self-management Skills
- Follow the directions of others.