From propane to methane

Ms. Grumperini, what is propane? A very good question asked today during our lit study. We had been discussing the chapter we had read last night, the narrative elements, the personal connections; and we had moved on to words we didn't recognize or understand. So I opened it up for discussion. It's a gas. It comes in those tanks you use in a gas grill. It's like gas you put in your car. Oh wait no, that's gasoline. The perfect opportunity to talk about the difference between gas and liquid and of course solid. Let's take water for instance. When it's water, it's a... liquid! Right. When it's an ice cube it's a... solid! Right! When you're boiling water and you see the steam coming off the top, that steam is... gas! Right! Oh, so like gas is like air! How do they get the gas in the tank? Why isn't gasoline a gas? Did you know that they think that there is methane gas in the Bermuda Triangle?

Uh oh. Methane gas. A student said methane. Please don't let any of the other kids have a clue what methane gas is. Snicker snicker. Uh oh. Someone knows. More snickers. Giggles. That's not appropriate (said by a student). Why? What's methane??

Uh oh. More giggles. Laughter. Fine. Methane gas is the gas that is released when someone, um, well, farts. Laughter, giggles, snickers. And it lights? Uh oh.

And then, as if I didn't have 30+ years of maturity on these kids, I find the story about one of my asinine friends who decided to see what would happen if he tried lighting his own methane coming out of my mouth. "...and he burned his butt."

That was the end of any constructive conversation about our literature study book. But they'll remember what propane and methane are; AND the difference between solid, liquid and gas.