Today was science day. I have been stewing over what to do for a little experiment. The other night Rob and I had a conversation about toilet paper and septics because we are old and that is what we do. It was that discussion that gave me the idea for a scientific process lesson, because, why not? I took this opportunity to teach my students that some of the best experiments come from genuine wonders.
I was doing my little experiment with my 5th grade group and questions and hypothesis were being thrown around, kids were smiling, muting was optional because who has time for that when you are engaged? Water was going everywhere as we were trying to figure out which brand of toilet paper was the best for a septic system. Of course the question for this experiment was inspired from my conversation with Rob about Kirkland toilet paper. To be fair, when we had our septic pumped this past spring, the septic people said it was one of the worst brands. I said that it must have been okay because we haven’t pumped our septic for about six years and the septic system was fine. We agreed to disagree. Little did he know I was going to take this as a challenge because I love more than anything to be right.
So here I was, pouring toilet paper water into bowls. My little monkeys were hanging on to my every word. Three out of the four toilet papers have been tested and I was literally starting to pour out the final jar of the toilet paper water into the bowl so the kids could see what happened to the only paper that was marked as being not septic safe when we shook it “vigorously” for ten seconds. I hear a student say “I can’t wait to see what happens! I know I am going to be right!”. He wasn’t, but he didn’t know that yet.Two drops of water hit the bowl when BAM! Power flickered. Internet drops. I get booted out of my meeting. It was just like watching the finale of Hell’s Kitchen where it always cuts to a commercial when you are on the edge of your seat.
After about 5 minutes, the amount of time it takes for the modem to reset and reconnect, I finally make it back into the zoom meeting. I was met by the “Where did you go?”, “Why did you leave us?”, “This kid became the host of the meeting”, and “It was total chaos in here” (There were parents and grandparents hanging out in the background so I knew the kids were being a little dramatic.) I even had a few emails begging for help, like it was my choice that I cut out. One kiddo even sent me an invitation to rejoin the meeting. But the chaos…the chaos was the discussion about the toilet paper.
So after I got them settled down, refocused and rebuilt the suspense, it was time for me to reveled the answer. I was telling them about how Rob was going to hate the result and I may or may not have said the words I knew he would say. They BEGGED me to record his reaction. He was in a great mood tonight, so he was willing to play along. They will get much more than they bargained for…and I got a new blog post! You’re welcome.
***Rob even gave these kiddos a gift! He gave me the idea to continue this little game throughout the weekend by adding some of the enzymes into the jars to see if they eat the paper. This man is a GENIUS!