Apologia: Chemistry, Periodic Table

The Chemistry class took a test on 1-50 elements and played the Elements Card game with the decks they constructed a few weeks ago. (The decks of cards are from an activity in the Journal of Chemical Education. Deck of Elements Cards). The Chemistry class overlaps with the Physical Science Class each week and meets for three hours.  After the Chemistry class finished their test and graded it (This approach gives the kids immediate feed-back.), they swapped Periodic Table songs, and spent about twenty-thirty minutes playing the card game using their decks of elements.  This allowed me to check on the Physical Science kids and their labs.

Next the kids color coded the blank copies of the Periodic Tables.  We pulled out five or so different Periodic Tables, including the copy in their textbook for comparison.  No two Periodic Tables are alike.  I brought out my special flame test crayons. Flame Test Crayons. The kids used the same color scheme for the groups or families of elements as they had for this decks of cards.  Next they named the families, separated the metals and nonmetals, and reviewed atomic number, atomic mass, symbols, etc.  We added the Pnictogen and Chalcogen groups despite the fact these two group names are esoteric.  Next was Sweet 16!  Flinn Sweet 16, a fun activity that reviews some of the basics just taught! (I need to make a confession.  I had seen this Flinn activity over the past few years, but had not used it.  Last year, I had a coach explain brackets to me.  Once I understood what a bracket was, I could explain the activity!  I should also confess that I never took my kids to a football game, either.) There was time to do the Elements, Mixtures, and Comounds activity.  I got this idea from Flinn and made my own set of twenty items: alloys, like, steel, pewter, 14K gold, sterling silver, brass, bronze, or elements, such as tin, gold, silver, silicon, lead, and compounds, like salt, or peroxide.  I have cards like silicone and talc, which may be unfamiliar.  Lastly, I added coke, which can mean carbon, or a soft drink, or slang for cocaine.  It is a simple way to see if the class can differentiate between elements, mixtures, and compounds.  There was time for the Physical Science class to use the cards, too.  Lastly, the Chemistry class performed a paper chromatography lab.  The Chemistry class
received a demonstration of Experiment 3.2, Electrical Conductivity of Compounds Dissolved in
Water.  (The Physical Science class has the same experiment.  The Chemistry class will be doing a
variety of labs, including most of the experiments in the text.  My one quibble with Dr. Wile is the number of experiments which use baking soda and vinegar.  Home Science Tools has an excellent selection of chemicals in small quantities.). Next week, the Chemistry class is going to use Flinn's Ionic Formula Writing kit.