By Roxanne Payne
INDC 4350 Essential Elements of Science
Process Skills Unit
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 2
Lucky Charms Adventure!
Welcome to the Lucky Charms Adventure! We will be gathering information,
measuring and observing these delicious marshmallows in these activities. You will
learn more about the processes of science while having fun! Try to use all 5 of your
senses to gather as much information as possible. Read the directions carefully at
the top of each page to ensure that you are following the exact directions given.
Record everything in the lines given on each page as instructed. Be specific with
your findings and write in complete sentences when necessary. Maybe there will
even be a little extra to eat at the end of the experiment! Have fun!
Materials:
-
Lucky Charms marshmallows in baggy
Magnifying glass
Cup of water
Ruler
Water and oil
A mixture of vinegar and baking soda
Carbonated water
3 cups
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 3
Observing The Lucky Charm Marshmallows:
Use your magnifying glass to closely observe the characteristics of what you
find from 3 different Lucky Charm marshmallows of your choice. Write down the
texture you see, the colors, and the overall appearance of the marshmallow.
With a partner, tell them your findings without saying which shape the name
of the Lucky Charm Marshmallow. See if they can guess which Lucky Charm it is
from what you’ve written in your own observations.
Lucky Charm Choice #1: ______________________________
Observations: ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charm Choice #2: ______________________________
Observations: ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charm Choice #3: ______________________________
Observations: ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 4
Classifying Your Lucky Charms:
Think outside of the box and classify these marshmallows differently than
what Lucky Charm they are. Create different groups using your marshmallows on
your desk to show how you grouped them. Then record how you grouped them and
give them each one a title. Write under each group how you came up with that group
and give an explanation as to why it belongs in that category. Create 3-4 groups.
Category #1 Title: _______________________________
Which marshmallows belong and why: __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Category #2 Title: _______________________________
Which marshmallows belong and why: __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Category #3 Title: _______________________________
Which marshmallows belong and why: __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Category #4 Title: _______________________________
Which marshmallows belong and why: __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 5
__________________________________________________________________
Inferring: What Will Happen To Your
Marshmallows in Water?
You will take one Pot of Gold Lucky Charms Marshmallow and one Blue Moon
Marshmallow and put it in a clear or white dish with 10 drops of water. Before
adding the two marshmallows to the water, infer what you think will happen to the
water. Once your inference is written, perform the experiment to see if your
inference was correct.
Repeat the same directions with one Blue Moon Lucky Charm Marshmallow and the
Red Balloon shaped marshmallow.
Pot of Gold and Blue Moon:
Inference about the water: __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What happened in the experiment? Was your inference correct about the water?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Red Balloon and Blue Moon:
Inference about the water: __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What happened in the experiment? Was your inference correct about the water?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 6
________________________________________________________________________
Measuring With Your Lucky Charms:
Measure how many Rainbow shaped Lucky Charms it is for the length of your pinky,
a ruler, and how many can make up the diameter of your cup.
Then take the Horseshoe marshmallow and repeat the same directions.
Write your measurements below:
Rainbow Lucky Charm:
Pinky: ___________ marshmallows
Ruler: ___________ marshmallows
Diameter of Cup: ____________ marshmallows
Horseshoe Lucky Charm:
Pinky: ___________ marshmallows
Ruler: ___________ marshmallows
Diameter of Cup: ____________ marshmallows
**Bonus Question**: About how many marshmallows would it take to measure
everyone’s pinkies in the entire class?? Remember, everyone has two!
The class’ pinkies____________ marshmallows
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 7
Communicating With Your Partner:
Create a pictograph of the amount of different kinds of marshmallows you have left.
Color your graph and include a title, headings and labels. Figure out the differences
and similarities were between you and your partners graph. Did they have the most
of the same marshmallow as you? Did you have the exact same amount of one shape
of Lucky Charm? Was there a big difference in the total amount of marshmallows
you had for one kind of marshmallow shape? List your findings under your
pictograph.
Pictograph:
Your findings compared to your partners graph: _________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 8
Predicting With Your Lucky Charms:
Predict what will happen to your Lucky Charms when added to 3 different solutions.
Take 3 Lucky Charms of your choice and fill up 3 different cups with a mixture of
water and oil, a mixture of vinegar and baking soda, and carbonated water.
Record what you think will happen to all of the marshmallows when put into the
different solutions.
Predictions:
Oil and Water:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Vinegar and Baking Soda:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Carbonated Water:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Actual Experiment:
Oil and Water:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Vinegar and Baking Soda:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Carbonated Water:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 9
Hypothesizing With Your Lucky Charms:
Make a hypothesis about your Lucky Charms Marshmallows. The statement will
have to be an “If, then” statement. Hypothesis what will happen to the marshmallow
after being heated up to a boiling temperature and if it were frozen. Think hard
about what might happen using prior knowledge and get creative with your
hypothesis! After coming up with your hypothesis, share it with a partner.
Hypothesis Statement # 1:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Why did you choose to hypothesis about this?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Hypothesis Statement # 2:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Why did you choose to hypothesis about this?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 10
Experimenting Through Controlled Investigation:
See how much time it takes for a marshmallow to dissolve in 3 different
temperatures of water: cold (with ice cube), room temperature, and hot. Time how
long it takes each marshmallow to dissolve. You will sir the mixture of water and
one marshmallow at a time. If the time goes over 4 minutes, move on to the next
solution. Record what happened to the marshmallow and the water after each
experiment. Also record what happened to water itself after having a dissolved,
colored marshmallow added to it.
Cold water with Ice Cube:
Observations During Experiment: ____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Time: _____________
Observations of Water: ____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Room Temperature Water:
Observations During Experiment: ____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Time: _____________
Observations of Water: ____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Hot Water:
Observations During Experiment: ____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Time: _____________
Observations of Water: ____________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 11
________________________________________________________________________
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 12
TEKS
§112.13:
b2(C-F):
Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student develops abilities necessary to do
scientific inquiry in classroom and outdoor investigations. The student is expected to:
(C) collect data from observations using simple equipment such as hand
lenses, primary balances, thermometers, and non-standard measurement
tools;
(D) record and organize data using pictures, numbers, and words;
(E) communicate observations and justify explanations using studentgenerated data from simple descriptive investigations; and
(F) compare results of investigations with what students and scientists
know about the world.
b3(A-B):
Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student knows that information and
critical thinking, scientific problem solving, and the contributions of scientists are
used in making decisions. The student is expected to:
(A) identify and explain a problem in his/her own words and propose a
task and solution for the problem such as lack of water in a habitat;
(B) make predictions based on observable patterns
4(A-B):
Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student uses age-appropriate tools and
models to investigate the natural world. The student is expected to:
(A) collect, record, and compare information using tools, including
computers, hand lenses, rulers, primary balances, plastic beakers, magnets,
collecting nets, notebooks, and safety goggles; timing devices, including
clocks and stopwatches; weather instruments such as thermometers, wind
vanes, and rain gauges; and materials to support observations of habitats
of organisms such as terrariums and aquariums; and
(B) measure and compare organisms and objects using non-standard units
that approximate metric units.
5(A,D):
Matter and energy. The student knows that matter has physical properties and
those properties determine how it is described, classified, changed, and used. The
student is expected to:
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 13
(A) classify matter by physical properties, including shape, relative mass,
relative temperature, texture, flexibility, and whether material is a solid or
liquid
(D) combine materials that when put together can do things that they
cannot do by themselves such as building a tower or a bridge and justify
the selection of those materials based on their physical properties.
Lucky Charms Adventure! Page 14
Reflection:
This project was really fun to create. I will definitely be keeping this for my future
class in science. I got to see how much goes in to creating a science process skills unit. I
liked using my creativity to make these activities but I also used the TEKS guidelines to
make it. The students would have a lot of fun doing each of these activities. I wanted to
create a process skills unit that used materials that elementary students would want to use
and experiment with. I thought that the Lucky Charms marshmallows were a fun material
to base this on because they already love them and they will be learning while
experimenting. I want to create more of these process skills unit packets for my future
classroom because it was so fun to create this one. I love creating my own lessons instead
of taking already made units for my future classroom.