How chocolate is made interactive site

I found this great website that is interactive and discusses how to make chocolate. I like it because it would be fun for students, and it is very informative (I even learned something)! It starts you off with growing coco beans and takes you through the entire process up to making it into a chocolate bar (allowing you to cut down the bean, stir the chocolate etc...).  I am going to use this site as my introduction to my chocolate themed Valentines Day.  Let me know what you think of the site, or if you know of a better one.

Click here to go to the site.

Valentines Day Writing Prompt

So if you haven't figured out already my theme for Valentines Day is chocolate. I plan to write more posts about my activates,  so stayed tuned for that! This will be my morning writing prompt for Valentines Day. Hope you enjoy and if you have any chocolate themed activities comment below!

Good morning and happy Valentines Day! Today we are going to have a great day! Please complete the prompt in your journals :)

If I were a piece of Valentines Day candy I would be...... because....

Valentines Day Science Lab: Melting point of chocolates

I can across this on the Hershey website and thought it would be a fun activity for my class.

Materials:
- Milk chocolate chips
- White chocolate chips
- Dark chocolate chips
- Hot plate
- Bowls
- Stop watch

Objective: To see which type of chocolate will melt the fastest.

Have students make a prediction. You could make a graph as well.

Break class into groups.

Give each group one of each type of chocolate.

Have the groups put the chocolate in a bowl one at a time on the hot plate and time how long it takes to melt.

Have them record their observations.

Duct Tape Rose Pen

I don't know about you, but my pens are always growing legs and walking away. I decided to make this one so that it will stay put on my desk. Enjoy!

Materials:

- Two colors of duct tape

- Pen

- Scissors 

How to:

1. Cut a strip of duct tape a little shorter than your pen.

2. Lay your pen on one edge of the tape and roll it around the pen.

3. Cut several strips of the different color tape about 2 inches long, so that they are squares. 

4. Fold one corner to the middle leaving a sticky strip at the bottom.

5. Fold the other corner to the middle making a point (these will be your petals). Make sure you leave a strip of stickiness at the bottom.

6. Wrap the sticky side around the top of your pen.

7. Continue to do this (alternating where you put the point) until you have a rose.

Borax Crystal Heart

I want to make these with my class to hang in the window. This could be a great activity to use to teach about solutions.

Materials needed
-Borax
-Water
-Pipe cleaner
-Food coloring

How to:
1. Shape your pipe cleaner into the shape of a heart
2. Bring water to a boil and add your borax. You know you have enough borax when a little powder starts to collect at the bottom.
3. Add food coloring if you want
4. Place your heart into a container. Its best if it doesn't touch the sides or bottom of the container.  You can hang it in the container by suspending it with a pencil.
5. Pour the borax solution into the container, and make sure the heart is covered.

Valentines Science Lab: Changing the Color of Flowers

I thought this could be a fun science lab for my students, and with Valentine's Day right around the corner I thought it would be a perfect time to give it a try.

In this lab students will be changing the color of white flowers, by giving them colored water. All you will need is
- White carnations
- Food coloring
- Water
- Vases (water bottles/cups work great)

For this lab I would have my class split into 4 groups. Two groups would get blue food coloring, and two groups would get red food coloring. One of the blue group would use warm water and one group would use cold water. And the same thing with the red group.

Each group would add 20 drops of food coloring into a 1/2 cup of water.

They would then place the stem of their flower into the water.

I would then have the students predict what will happen to the flowers. Which ones will turn more quickly? Which ones will have a brighter color?

Each hour we would check on the flowers. We would observe what is happening and put the notes into our science journals.

The flowers should change color within a few hours. The flowers in warm water should turn more quickly.  Sometimes it does take over night.

Let me know how this worked in your class!