It's been too long!

Sorry it has been so long! We have been super busy with the holidays and learning! We wrapped up our space unit and we are now in our energy unit. We did an experiment of how light travels. The kids had a great time with it!

Earth's Rotation!

So I decided to add this lesson within our space unit because this was a benchmark that they were low in. I took them to the science lab (which by the way, they love! They think its some special room!!) I had a light bulb in the center of the table (the sun) and each friend had an apple (Earth) with a toothpick and a raisin stuck on it. The raisin represented where they were. We turned the lights off and they drew what they observed. They then made half a rotation and drew another observation. They did great!!! They were able to quickly determine that earths rotation causes day and night. Their exit tickets proves this!! So proud :)

Our Journals!

I thought my journals last year were good, but this year they are AWESOME!! Here are some entries we have done lately:

Looking at Planets Individual Characteristics

I know I have said it before, but I love this unit!!!! Last week and the beginning of this week, we were researching common characteristics of the 8 planets. Students were assigned a planet and then had to research it. They then put it on a post it and put it on our class chart. They had such a good time and the chart looks great!!

The Planet's Distance from the Sun

Today, students were given a planet's distance from the sun (to scale) and they had to measure it out on the field outside. It was awesome! They really got a chance to see how far they planets really are :)

Planet Brochure Project!!

This is my favorite unit and my favorite project! Each student needs to complete their brochure at home (items were handed out October 30 in class) and it is due December 13, 2013. Students may select any their own planet (NO EARTH AND NO PLUTO!). Below are some examples of what the final product looked like last year:

Inner and Outer Planets

Scientists have put our planets into 2 categories: Inner and Outer. Students determined that the Inner Planets were Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars since they were closest to the sun. Then we determined that the Outer Planets were Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. We made a model of the solar system (see previous posts). Based off of that model, we were able to conclude that the inner planets were warmer (because close to the sun) and smaller. Therefore, the outer planets are colder and larger.

Helping with order of planets

I read this book today to show students what the order of the planets were relative to the sun. I didn't think they would like it since its kind of a primary book, but they loved it!

Space is out of this world!!

Last week we focused on what galaxies were. This week we turned our focus onto our solar system. Today we looked at the planet sizes and compared them. It was so neat to see their faces when we attached the planets to our chart. This chart also helped us compare the inner and outer planets!

Space

We are starting space and I am so excited!! It's my favorite unit!! he first day, I had the students do a representation of they think the solar system looks like. On the right side we did a KWL chart. Their questions for what they want to know were awesome! We did a really cool journal entry yesterday:

The next day, we cut and pasted some paragraphs. We underlined some key parts. The left side were some questions that we answered after we watched a time lapsed of the sky.

Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

It has been so long!! So sorry......we have been busy learning science!!!! We gave wrapped up our force and motion unit (the year is flying by, but the kids are getting it...they rocked their force and motion test!!).

We wrapped up our force and motion unit by learning about balanced and unbalanced forces. Balanced forces are when 2 forces  of equal strength are acting on an object and it results in no change. Unbalanced forces can be when there is no opposing force or when the 2 forces acting on an object are unequal (think tug of war...one side pulls with more force than the other.)

I had the students draw examples of balanced and unbalanced forces in their journals. They did great!!

Force and Motion

Here are our force and motion charts from this unit:

Matter Test Tuesday October 8

We are wrapping up matter and we will be taking an assessment next Tuesday. The following items will be on the test:

• 3 states of matter
• properties of matter
• mixtures and solutions
• separating mixtures
• physical and chemical changes

Students are free to take their books and journals home, but they must be returned! Let me know if you have any questions!

Science in the News

Once a 9 weeks, I will be offering extra credit in Science! This is not a mandatory assignment; it’s for extra credit and will be offered only 1 time a 9 weeks. They may not submit more than 1 Science in the News assignment a quarter.

Students will need to research and find an article of an occurrence of Science in the News. The article has to be science related. They will need to complete a sheet on what the article is about. I have attached the sheet to here so you can see what it is. In order to get full credit, they must complete the entire sheet and attach the article. If you do not have access to a computer, students may come in early to school and look for an article then. I will post their work on a bulletin board in my classroom.  

This assignment is to bring awareness to the students of how much science is in the world around them. I hope they are as excited as I am about this!

Physical Changes

Earlier this week, we looked at physical changes. I modeled a physical change by ripping, tearing, cutting, and crumbling paper. We read and then determined that a physical change is when 1 or more properties change, but it does not change into a new type of matter. We came up with some examples: melting, evaporating, condensation, freezing (which are all affected by temperature), cutting, tearing, ripping, crushing, and twisting.

The investigation we did was we put a piece of ice into a bag (actually we did this three times) and then placed 1 bag into hot water, cold water, and then room temperature water. Students recorded the temperature of each water and then observed. Students determined that the hot water caused the ice cube to melt the fastest. They are becoming quite the little scientists!!

Chemical Changes

Today we looked at chemical changes and how they are affected by temperature. I modeled 2 chemical changes first: a candle being burned that gave off heat and light and then a chemical reaction that caused gas bubbles. We then did a little reading and learned that chemical changes are when a new type of matter is formed and you cannot change it back to its original matter. Some examples we listed were: burning, cooking, baking, eating, rusting, rotting/molding. There is evidence that lets us know that a chemical change has taken place--gives off heat and light, a change in color, a new smell, and a formation of a solid (like the yummy cake we made). Students did GREAT!!! They were able to tell me what a chemical change was and some examples. For the end, we made a chocolate cake. Baking the cake and eating the cake were both a chemical change.

For our experiment that we did today, we put fizzy tablets into water and observed the chemical change. Students got a real kick out wearing the glasses! Some told me that they really felt like scientists today!!

How does temperature affect physical change?

Wednesday we did an investigation where we were looking at temperature and how it can affect a physical change. We put ice cubes in a sandwich bag with a thermometer. Students took the initial temperature, and then 5-10-15. We were observing the ice cube melting (the physical change) and seeing that heat caused it.