There are those times when you get done early and have 10 minutes to kill before the next activity.  All you'll need to do is raid the scrap paper box and hand a pair sciossors to each kid.  Three cuts, five folds and you can make these cool helicopters in about 2 minutes (add 20 minutes if you teach kindergarten or first grade).  Not pickin' on anybody, i'm just sayin'…

This is the second activity in our "Build Your Own Model" category.  It is a very cool, very fun, end of year activity for the kids.  They will make a water rocket launcher that shoots pop bottles into the air.  There is a lot of interest, a lot of water and plenty of screaming, applause, and cheering.  You can make an entire week meaningful and memorable if you work it right.

    This is a great lab that is really easy to do.  It is a great 5 minute time killer at the end of a class period, excellent brain tickler if you want to throw the kids a puzzle at the end of the year or, if you are really teaching flight and fluid dynamics, is a great lab for that too. It hinges on Bernoulli's Law: The faster a fluid (air) travels across a surface, the less pressure (downward force) that fluid (air) exerts on the surface.  It is the idea that explains lift for birds and planes.

Demos Live
We are introducing a new category today, the Make Your Own Demo file is officially open.  So, for those of you who change your own oil, scrapbook, quilt, or otherwise, do it yourself, we are going to offer a series of science demostration ideas that you can make and take to school.  The first one up is called Atoms in a Cage.

They say that there is a silver lining in every cloud and, generally being an optimist, I tend to agree.  Last weekend we were headed up to Idaho to visit my Father-in-Law when the alternator in my truck decided that it had no interest in going all the way to Twin Falls, especially when the lovely town of Tremonton, Utah was just as scenic and 150 miles closer. As you probably sumised, no alternator, no electricity and no road trip which manifested itself as a minor ecomonic benefit to the Tremonton business community.

Spend a day with us and learn a 45 minute, fun, dynamic, interactive science assembly take back to your school and kick the year off with a kaboom.  Master 8 jumbo science experiments that will entertain, educate, and jump start your science program.  Follow that up with a Family Science Night program.  We'll show you how to pull off two different family friendly, kid tested, and parent approved evenings of science exploration.  Add Discovery Center ideas for your classroom, a proven Science Fair out line that will take you from start to finish, and a pile of Zingers (your ace in the hole) for those moments when you want to make the kids eyeballs pop out of their heads, just because you can.

We are up to 10 videos after two weeks and we keep tweaking the process.  Our latest addition came last night when we stuck a microphone in the grand piano, fired up Garage Band and Aubrey recorded a couple of intros and outros.  Those provided the bookends for another idea, to produce the entire video in a classroom full of aspriring thespians who had no idea of what was going to happen.  The upshot is quite funny and something, we hope, that you will find useful for your classroom.  Here it is, Genie (or Mendeleev) in a Bottle.

A mechanic was removing a cylinder-head from the motor of a Harley Davidson motorcycle when he spotted a well-known cardiologist in his shop. The cardiologist was there waiting for the service manager to come take a look at his bike when the mechanic shouted across the garage,  
"Hey Doc, want to take a look at this?"

With the start of the weekend looming we thought we would share another silly and inexpensive science lab for you to play with in your spare time.  The Ivory Soap Souffle is an excellent demonstration of a physcial change.  You shove a quarter of a bar of Ivory soap (it has to be that particular brand) into your microwave and zap it for about 2 minutes.  When you pull it out it will look like mutant loaf of bread.  That' all you need.  A chunk of Ivory soap and a microwave, that's why it is high on Professor Tightwad's list of fun but cheap lab activities. Here you go:

Max Ceballos is a friend and district science specialist who lives and teaches in South Texas.  He watched the Elephant Toothpaste video and then commented that he always adds green food coloring.  Not sure why he would do that, I inquired and here is is his response, which made me laugh out loud. I owe you a margarita.