Science with Air and Columbus Boats

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue..........this past week we learned about Christopher Columbus and how he first sailed to what is now Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Although commonly thought that he sailed to America it was actually the Americas. He thought that if he traveled across the Atlantic ocean he would run in to Asia and have a faster route to the spices and silks found in that region. Although he did not make it there he did discover new land unknown to Europeans at the time. The land was inhabited by native people he named Indians. As one of our projects we made foil sailing ships and floated them in our own makeshift ocean. The Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina.


For our science project this week we did two experiments. We are learning about air. First we took an empty coke bottle and submerged it into the water. What we saw were many air bubbles on the surface of the water as the air was pushed out by the water. We also used cardboard to move paper across the floor. This was done by folding a small edge of the paper up like a wing about 1" 1/2 and then waving the cardboard behind it. It lifted and floated across the floor. The kids raced to see who could cross the finish line first with their paper.


This week we will be learning about John Smith, Jamestown and Pocahontas. The kids and I are facsinated to learn the history behind many of these famous people of our countries past.