4th Grade Energy Field Trip: Fayette Power Plant

After studying energy and taking a virtual tour of the Xcel Energy Plant, we toured our own Fayette Power Plant.









The folks at the Power Plant always welcome us in to show us a video about the plant.











The temperature was 36º F with a wind chill of 26º! The bus tour was awesome. Mr. Russ, who specializes in environmental work at the plant, led the tour.
A few photos of the tour:

PUMPS THAT TRANSFER WATER FROM THE LAKE
TO THE PLANT











THE PRECIPITATOR HELPS CLEAN THE AIR RELEASED FROM THE STACKS

THE BOILER











THE STACK
















BUS TOUR!
I remember one awesome student question, although there were many, " Who owns the power plant? How do they make their money?" Yes, at 10, very financially minded! Alldyn, was that you?















WHERE THE CRUSHED COAL IS GROUND TO POWDER














COAL
CONVEYOR BELT



COOL FACTS ABOUT OUR FAYETTE POWER PLANT:
The lake was built for the power plant. The water from the lake cools the equipment.
Good bass fishing in the lake.
The water is 68° going to the power plant, and 88° when it is released back into the lake.
The boiler is 400 feet tall.
The coal at Fayette Power plant comes from Powder River Basin in Wyoming.

Here is a math question for you. Can you solve it?
There are 150 - 120 tons of coal in each train car. There are 130 cars per train. Coal costs $1.25 per ton. What is the total cost of the trail load of coal??


Fayette Power Plant burns about 1000 tons an hour! They are open 24 hours, remember!

Solar Ovens and Smores!

After three rainy Tuesdays we had a sunny day to cook in our pizza box solar ovens. The temperature outside was cool but the Smores turned out great!


First we had to make them. We used graham crackers, Hershey's Chocolate, and marshmallows in the middle. We wrapped them in aluminum foil and put them in our ovens.






We measured the temperature about every 30 minutes and logged the information in our journals.

I wondered about the success. Many of the ovens got up to 140 degrees F! The outside temperature was about 70 degrees F.







While we were waiting for the Smores to cook, we took a virtual tour of the ExCel energy power plant and learned how they make coal into electricity. This virtual tour will be like our field trip next week to Fayette Power Plant in La Grange.



We also continued to work on our projects using Museum Box. This is a cool Web 2.0 project where the students create their own "museum shadow box" display online. They are researching and making a display about an invention and how it changed our world. We can't wait to see the finished projects.

Of course the best thing about our Smores was eating them!

4th Grade Rainy Day Solar Ovens!

One of the favorite days at 4th Grade CSI is to cook in the solar ovens. We are anxiously awaiting our next sunny day so we can cook Smores in our solar oven Pizza boxes. Today was a rainy day so we spent our time making the ovens. We will cook in them as soon as it is sunny!

Emma started our day with All About Me and shared her love of reading! She has won many awards for being the top reader in her class for several years. Go Emma! Keep up the great love of reading!



STEPS TO MAKE A SOLAR OVEN:
Materials:
Pizza Box (recycled is best)
Scissors
Plastic Wrap
Aluminum Foil
Masking Tape
Black Construction Paper
Ruler

1. First, trace a line about one inch around the top of the pizza box on three sides. Don't cut the side by the flap that closes.






















2. Second, glue aluminum foil to the bottom of the flap. Trim the aluminum foil so that it fits evenly to the flap.


















3. Third, tightly tape plastic wrap to the underside of the open "window". Tape near the cut out so the plastic wrap is stretched tight over the opening.















4. Glue aluminum foil to the inside bottom of the pizza box.






















5. Glue Black construction paper on top of the aluminum foil.






6. Now your oven is ready for cooking.