Dante Sangiuliano trying the blubber experiment with Emily Pittari and Connor Marczewski looking on (Photo courtesy of Clark Public Schools)
CLARK — A new enrichment program has begun at both Frank K. Hehnly and Valley Road Schools in Clark. Students in kindergarten through second grade will be engaging in an enrichment activity for two weeks in their classroom with Miss Koddenberg, the Gifted and Talented teacher. The new program kicked off at the start of the New Year at Frank K. Hehnly School in two of the kindergarten classes. Students in these classes were able to learn about the season of winter, what happens during it, and also participate in a science experiment throughout the two weeks.
During the science experiment, kindergartners were asked to predict what would melt ice faster: water, salt, or blowing through a straw for five seconds each. Both classes predicted that salt would melt the ice the fastest, and they were correct! There was also another station set up to show the students how blubber keeps animals, such as polar bears, warm in the winter. The children put one hand in an empty Ziploc bag and the other hand in another bag that contained a smaller sealed bag of Crisco. The Crisco acted as blubber for the student’s hands. The kindergartners enjoyed the real life example of how animals in colder habitats are kept warm.
