Prior to Spring Break, 1st graders explored the Irish culture and some of their special traditions. We learned about St. Patrick and the many Irish traditions related to St. Patrick’s Day. Going along with this theme, we also took some time to learn about rainbows! Some facts we learned about rainbows include:
- A rainbow is a multi-colored arc that forms in the sky.
- Rainbows are created by both reflection and refraction (bending) of light in water droplets in the atmosphere, which results in a spectrum of light appearing.
- A rainbow is in fact a full circle of light. However, due to most people viewing a rainbow on the ground we only see a semi-circle or arc of the rainbow.
To study colors of the rainbow more closely, we conducted two different experiments. Our favorite experiment was “Liquid Rainbow”. For this experiment, we learned about density and then tested out the density of different household liquids. We used honey, dish soap, water, olive oil, and rubbing alcohol. We poured in one liquid at a time and made predictions about if they liquids would mix or stack as we poured them in. Although the last pour (rubbing alcohol) did not go as it should have, we talked about what we thought went wrong and why that happened. The rubbing alcohol was supposed to stay on top, but instead it went under the olive oil. It was a great teachable moment!
