Archive for July, 2009

Kool Colours In School Science Experiment

Objective:

Tie-dye fabric using dyes made from Kool-Aid ™ and vinegar.

What You Need:

1. Packets of unsweetened Kool-aid in dark colours
2. Vinegar
3. Small bowls
4. Warm water
5. Measuring cup
6. Rubber bands or string
7. 12-inch square pieces of white cotton fabric
8. Stir or wire, and clothes-pin or paper clips
9. Tray or pie pan as ‘splash’ collector
10. Gloves

To Do and Observe

Make your dye – for each color:
1. Pour 1/2 cup of warm water into a small bowl.
2. Add 1/2 cup of vinegar.
3. Add 2 packages of Kool-Aid
4. Stir the ingredients to mix.
5. Place the small bowl in the tray or pie pan.

Prepare and dye your fabric:
1. Fold and twist the square of the white fabric.
2. Use rubber bands or string to tightly hold the twisted fabric in place. Complicated twisting will make interesting dye patterns. Experiment.
3. Dip the cloth into a bowl of dye. Squeeze excess dye back into the bowl.
4. Remove the string or rubber bands.
5. Hang the fabric square to dry.

What’s Going On

Dyes are substances that colour materials. All dyes are compounds made of molecules. Material may absorb the dye or a chemical reaction between the molecules in the dye and material may bind the dye to the cloth. A mordant is a substance that helps fix the dyes to the material so that the color does not fade.

In this activity, Cool-Aid is used to dye cotton cloth. The colored molecules in Cool-Aid form a chemical bnd between the fiber and dye molecules. The mordant addded is vinegar, a traditional fixing reagent, which helps bind the dye to the cloth. This mordant is not strong enough to hold the dye permanently – it works better for art pieces than for clothes such as t-shirts.

Parent/Teacher Tips:

Try natural dyes made from fruits and vegetables. Frozen blueberries, blackberries, and beet juice work well. Prepare dyes by blending the fruit or vegetable in a food processor and filtering off the pulp. The resulting liquid makes a dye.

Cikgu James Dreams Car

Learning Visual Art During LADAP

Today our LADAP’s topic is Visual Art and our trainer is Pn Lim Boi Chin. She is an experience teacher teaching art subject in primary school. All the teachers will learn how to create Batik Art by just using a piece of tissue paper. We have also learn how to design a bookmark and also some festival’s cards using some easy and simple tools. Hopefully after this training,  the art teachers can use this technique to teach the students to create some special cards. Thanks again to Pn Lim.

Primary School Cadet (TKRS) Activity

Today is Wednesday and  is also our school co-curriculum’s day. As usual, I bring my kadet students for an activity under a big tree. Today our activity is ‘How to cook an egg by using matches and wood only?” These are the photos I took during the Year 6 boys having their cooking lesson under the tree. At the end, only one group can success cook the egg. And the cadet boys really enjoy this activity which prepared by cikgujames.

Learn How To Measure Volume for Liquid by using Measuring Cylinder & Beaker

Place: SK Cator Avenue Science Lab Date: 01 July 09  (Wednesday)
Time: 9:30-10:30 am Class: 4 Marikh Teacher: Cikgu James
Learning Objective: Every student knows how to measure volume for liquid by using measuring cylinder, beaker and test tube.

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