On day 2, we got to dive into the laboratory procedures with a white powder lab. Once again, all of the materials were provided (even water!), which was wonderful! It was really great to arrive just before the students and get right to work - no long hours of prep work!
Being a small group, we all worked together, so each kid got to see exactly how each powder reacted to each test, which was nice. Also, we used magnifying glasses instead of a microscope. A microscope probably would have been more fun, but we used what we had and it worked just fine.
The second activity of the day was to try to decipher the ransom note. I assume that students with even a small background with Spanish would have quickly recognized at least part of the letter as being in Spanish. But, this group was really unfamiliar with the foreign language, so there were all sorts of thoughts on what it might be. One of their thoughts was that it might be Spanish, and they eventually got to the point where they realized that if it was Spanish, they could use a computer to help them translate it. They worked on their translations until it was time for them to leave, and we returned to it the next week.
*****
The Case of the Kidnapped Cookies Kit was provided to me at no cost, for use with a group of students at my library. I was not compensated by Educational Innovations in any other way, and all opinions expressed are my own.