OOBLECK
Doing community service at Los Medanos Elementary school on Thursday was such a great experience I even got to see my first grade teacher who is now the principle of the school. This was the first time I did something like this, I got to show and entertain so many children. When I arrived everyone was getting there table set everyone was so concentrated and in a hurry that you really couldn't talk to them. Once I got to my station Diana, Itsela and me started to set up, then Itsela had to leave but then Sergio came. We made our display oobleck then we started to fill up the Ziploc bags with corn starch so when the children got to the station it would be faster and they wouldn't have to wait for a long time. We only filled about 20 bags with corn starch we thought that was enough but no we were wrong. Showing the first 20 children how to make oobleck was very easy and it was calm. We took our time on each child and we were able to see their reaction once they got to play with the oobleck they made. The children seemed amazed to see that the same substance can be solid and liquid at the same time.
Diana, Sergio, and I were calm at first but once we had finished all of the Ziploc bags and more children came and in groups we started to panic a little. We had to make the bags very quickly so the children wouldn't get bored and go without making their oobleck. So while we were making the bags for them we had them play with the display but more kids would come. We were all over the place there were a bunch a boxes of cornstarch on the table because we need an easy access to them do we could quickly fill up new bags. We had to ask each other almost the whole night were we had each put the color of food coloring a child would want. But we got through all of these struggling moments. What motivated me to move quickly was seeing all the children coming to our table all excited from the other tables and I didn't want them to loose their excitement because we took long on making the Ziploc bags with corn starch.
Once the children got to play and make their batch of oobleck they were excited. As I said before they seemed amazed to see that it can be liquid and solid at the same time. At first they were shy but once we started to talk to them they began to talk to us. Some thought that they were just making the oobleck but once they were told they took it home a smile appeared on their face. One of the parents that stood out to me was a Hispanic mom who took her son to our table he was shy so she sorta did more the talking but what made her stand out was what she told her son in Spanish pay attention so you can learn and so that one day you'll be like them and show other children. When I heard her say that it made me feel special and proud of myself and my group. Once I showed her son how to make oobleck and why it's amazing she asked what we used and she showed another mom who I guess was her friend. So once her child was done she left but her friend stayed with her daughter. Her daughter made one then later on came back to make another one, there were some children that did that.
Overall what I got out of this experience was that I learned that working under pressure is hard but you'll find a way through it like I did with my group. Also I learned that working together is important because doing thins by yourself is hard. Don't think you can can do everything by yourself you may need help from others. And to always be prepared with what your doing. I'm glad I chose Itsela, Diana, and Sergio to be my group members because they helped a lot. It was tiring but it was worth the experience.
