Third Grade Science - It's all about CHANGES! (and a little about pickles)

Well yesterday was our first lesson with our third grade class and what a blast it was!  My partner Debi and I were totally thrilled by our first experience working with our third grade scientists.  We began our lesson by discussing their ideas of matter and the different states of matter.  We examined some pictures of changes that occur in matter everyday and I was very impressed with their predictions of how matter changes in our world.  It also sparked some interesting conversations about pickles and the changes that occur in the life of a pickle hahaha!!  After discussing important safety rules of the science lab and distributing the science materials the real fun began.  The students were fully enthralled in their observations of matter.  They were asked to observe a cup of water and an effervescent tablet.  Once they made some observations they placed the tablet in the water and..."WHOA... Its fizzing!!  It DISAPPEARED!"  The students loved watching the reaction of the tablet in the water!  They were very into this science experiment.  Watching their reactions and listening to them work with their partners makes me very excited to continue this unit with the students.
This first teaching experience was really great and my partner Debi was great to work with.  We worked hard preparing for this lesson and it really paid off.  I think we commanded the attention of the students while providing them with an interesting and fun lesson.  We met our content objectives and executed our lesson plan as we had wanted and we worked extremely well together.  This was a tremendous first class and I am very much looking forward to lesson two!

PLOP PLOP FIZZ FIZZ Oh What a RELIEF It Is!!