Aquaponics How to build an aquaponics setup at home!
Materials:
2- liter soda bottle
Scissors
1 Straw Water conditioner Fish food
Rocks
Plant (semi-aquatic preferred)
1 water animal (tiny goldfish, snail, shrimp or mini frog. Ask your local pet store for advice.)
Cut off the top of the soda pop bottle at the shoulder.
When the top is flipped it should settle nicely on top of the bottle without falling into the bottle.
Wash 3-5 rocks and put them in the bottom of the soda pop bottle.
Add water to the soda pop bottle. Add a water conditioner to the water or let the water sit for 24 hours before adding fish.
Use a straw to blow bubbles in the water for a few minutes. This will jump start the CO₂ (Carbon Dioxide) that the plant needs to survive.
Gently put your fish into the water.
Gently tuck your plant into the soda pop lid, use a small clean piece of sponge if you need something to hold the plant in place. (You will not need the bottle cap/lid.)
Place the plant on top of the bottle allowing the roots to hang in the water.
You can feed your fish as needed. I also suggest blowing a few bubbles into the water every so often.
Hey, here at Rosenvall Science we LOVE more than just Science, we love learning! So here's a geography lesson plan video. The first one has all the instructions the second one is mostly coloring-- you can speed through it. Enjoy!
2nd Grade Videos for making edible "rocks" at home!
Igneous Rocks!
Sedimentary Rocks!
So, again, these can be used for more grades, but I did specifically make them for 2nd grade enjoyment.
There are many other ways that you can introduce rocks to your classes.
Sedimentary: Break open a kit kat and view the layers of the candy bar. (or a snickers also works well.) Or make Rainbow Jello as shown above. (rainbow jello can also be used to should how metamorphic rocks deform.)
Metamorphic: Get a bag of salt water taffy and have the kids squish them and mix the taffy in their fingers. Talk about how heat and pressure make the rock change, but notice that we aren't melting the candy.
Igneous: Put frosting between two layers of graham crackers and let the "molten" frosting ooze out from the cracks in the crackers aka rocks.
The one that the kids really have fun with is this one: (you can see part of it in end the video below)
You will need:
1. a few different loafs of bread (a white and a dark bread like pumpernickel or rye work best.)
2. a desk or flat area that you don't mind getting dirty that the kids can see easily.
Talk to the students about how rocks are formed. As they tell you about dirt/sediments etc (usually the kids come up with this on their own if not guide them.) Crumble up some bread on the desk.
"Oh Look! I have a lovely pile of sediments -- but that's not a rock. What needs to happen next?"
The kids usually will tell you that they need to be squished--- here comes the fun part!
Smash your bread "rock layers" use a hammer, your hands-- or the kids FAVORITE-- SIT ON IT!
After that you can talk to them about Sedimentary layers. The bread will be nicely squished together and if you rip it down the middle you will be able to see the flat sedimentary "layers".
Mush the bread slightly (while still keeping some layers intact) and you have a metamorphic rock!
Squish it up entirely until you cannot see the layers at all and you have an igneous rock!
COVID-19 has been on everyone's minds and I know that teachers are working through very difficult times to have everything available to their students.
I reached out to my kids teachers and asked where I could help.
Some teachers requested lessons plans and other videos.
Since I want ALL teachers to have access, here are my 2nd Grade videos. (They are listed for 2nd grade however they can be used for other grades. So this can be used for younger grades. I also kept them nice and short.
