It was sink or float in Stephanie Hoffman’s first grade class when middle school science teacher Nicole Lee paid a visit on Monday, Nov. 19.

“We made dry-erase markers ‘magically’ float!” Mrs. Lee said. Scientifically speaking, they were observing buoyancy and density in action.

This may be their first year of science class, but these first graders are already versed in the scientific process. Or, as Alleah Lee put it best, “Sometimes you have to try things, again and again, to see if it works.”

And that they did! Through experimentation, they watched how water can displace objects and how their density relative to water causes them to sink or float.

“Some things float, some things don’t. Some are light, but they can sink and some are heavy, but they can float,” Sophia Spechenbach correctly observed.

More precisely, “Some things have more density and some things have less density, and that’s why they sink or float,” Cater D’Angelo concluded.

Throughout the lesson, students also applied their knowledge of shapes, practiced reading and writing skills, and made connections with previous science lessons.

“Doing science helps you learn a lot,” Jadan Kolczniski reflected. “Science is fun!” John Pascarelli declared.