Will it Sink or Float??

This week our class has been studying density and matter. The students have also learned about the different properties of matter. For this experiment my second graders were given an unpeeled orange and a container of water. The students worked in groups of four and predicted whether the unpeeled orange would float or sink and explained their choice. The students placed the orange into the container and was able to see that they unpeeled orange floated. Students then peeled their orange and placed it in the container again. The students could then see that the orange sank to the bottom of the container. Many of my students correctly predicted what would happen, but many did not. However, I was very happy to see that even the students that did not predict correctly still linked their predictions to what we learned in class about density. The students were very excited about this lesson and linked their previous information to what they were seeing. Many of the students started predicting if other objects, such as an eraser, pencil, and crayon, would float and then placed them in the water. All of my students did an excellent job!!