Magnetic attraction on ImpACT Sunday!

This month at Impact we got to learn about magnets.  Magnets are cool and kind of mysterious, but we got to play with them and see for ourselves how they work.  Did you know that all magnets have two poles?  They have a north pole and a south pole, just like the earth!  And that’s no coincidence, because the earth has a giant magnet inside it.  We discovered that a compass is made out of a magnet, too.  You might think that a magnet sticks to all kinds of metals, but we performed some experiments with them, and guess what?  They only stick to few different metals – iron and nickel, to be exact.  Watch out!  We were given magnets of our own so we can keep on investigating at home.

It’s a zoo out there

Impact went to the San Francisco zoo on a field trip recently. Everyone had a hilarious time at the monkey exhibit watching the various monkeys climb up poles and howl through the fence. The Impact kids also got to witness a penguin feeding. The kids watched in fascination as the penguins fought over the fish. Sometimes a penguin would fall on its face or fall right into the water which caused the students great delight.

A favorite for the students was the petting zoo. However intimidating the goats were with their horns and hooves, the students enjoyed combing, and feeding them. But the favorite part for the team leads was how well some students behaved. At each exhibit, some students took turns to read the animal descriptions and then shared their new found knowledge with the rest of their team. The students have obviously gotten closer to each other since they first met two months ago at Summerfest. Watching the students grow in trust and fondness was what brought great delight to the team leads.

The Science Behind Everyday

For the past two weeks, we have enjoyed learning from a new set of classes! Most of us like to eat candy, but watch out for those cavities! Teacher Gordon, who is a dentist in real life, taught us the importance of maintaining clean and healthy teeth. We got to see what tooth decay looks like when we don’t brush and floss regularly. Hmm…not a pretty sight. “Brush twice a day, for at least 2 minutes, and floss once a day.” We will try our best to take care of our teeth Teacher Gordon! Now…how do we get from here to there? Teacher Cindy and teacher Victoria taught us about how maps give us important information about many things, and not just directions! For example, did you know that certain maps can show us what the weather is like in different parts of the country? And there are maps that can show us what parts of the entire world children are most able to read? Wow, maps can teach us so many things! Vroom!! Vrooom!! Turn on the ignition and get ready to go! How many of us have wondered just what goes on underneath the hood of a car? How does a car work so we can accelerate with just a turn of the key and a press of the gas pedal? Teacher Jackson, through a transparent model, demonstrated how the engine inside a car works and what each part is designed to do. Amazing! These lessons have taught us how important science is in our daily life. Next time, we will have better understanding of the way things work when we brush our teeth, look at a map, or ride in a car.