Hey, hi and hello!
Today we defined the law of conservation of mass and learned about chemical equations. Sounds simple enough, right? No. Way. My students were working and thinking so super hard to understand the whole concept of a balanced chemical equation. But you know what? This was ONLY THE FIRST DAY! Looking at the number of students who looked like deer in headlights at the beginning and the number of kids who could articulate how a balanced chemical equation is related to the law of conservation of mass at the end lets met know that we definitely made progress.
We began this process by defining the law of conservation of mass and recalling the states of matter (see our notes from page 17 below).
After our notes, we worked together to determine whether an equation was balanced or not. Finally, students began working on a scaffolded analysis and application sheet that began with the law of conservation of mass and ended with balancing chemical equations. Now… many students did not finish the sheet – that said, they took their interactive notebooks home (gasp… took them home?! Yes 🙂 ) to complete this sheet which we will check in class upon returning tomorrow.
Thursday we will get an extensive practice using manipulative color cards which will definitely help prepare students for CFA #1 on Monday!
Have a fantastic Wednesday evening!
