Parts of a Plant - Labeling Parts

A Simple Plant Project {labeling parts}

  After learning about the different parts of a plant, students put their knowledge to good use with this art project.


Here's what we used:  blue construction paper for the background, 1/3 brown construction paper for the soil, snippets of brown yarn for the roots, half of a green pipe cleaner for the stem, free-drawn leaves on green felt, bold colored cupcake liners for the flowers, sunflower seeds for the center of the flower.

After assembling their plant, students cut and paste these labels to complete their project.  Grab the labels here if you can use them!

Thanks to Mrs. Lirettes Learning Detectives Blog for this awesome idea!

Thanksgiving Food Lab

American Thanksgiving is upon us and usually I celebrate with turkey dinner (my husband is American)

Here is a cool food lab from We Are Teachers

Erin Bittman

Don't just eat your food, play with it! Below are six Thanksgiving food experiments that promote exploration and investigation in the classroom!






Bending Turkey BonesWash the bones left over from your Thanksgiving dinner. Can you bend or break the bones? No! Get two jars, fill one jar with vinegar and the other with water. Put bones in each jar and label the jars: water and vinegar. Let the turkey bones sit for at least one week. Then, rinse them off and see if the bones will bend! The bones that were in vinegar bend because the calcium carbonate in the bones reacted with the vinegar. This experiment shows how bones need calcium to stay strong so they don't break easily (or bend). We don't want bendy bones!





Sweet Potato InvestigationWatch a potato sprout right before your eyes, creating a sweet potato jungle! For your experiment, look for a sweet potato that has buds. Next, poke four toothpicks into the sides of the sweet potato (spaced out evenly). Put the sweet potato into a clean jar, resting the toothpicks on the jar's rim. Fill the jar with water. The bottom half of the potato should be submerged. Place the jar in a sunny spot, change the water once a week and watch your potato grow! To get your plant to grow bushier, trim stems to 12 inches long.







Cranberry ScienceCranberry Pockets - Do cranberries sink or float? Give each child a Styrofoam cup with water and a cranberry. Have them write their own hypothesis. What happened? Talk about cranberry bogs and harvesting (click here). Then, cut the cranberry in half, so kids can see the inside of it. Cranberries have four air pockets inside of them, which makes them float!
Dancing Dried Cranberries - Explore the three states of matter by making cranberries dance! Toss dried cranberries into a glass of Sprite and watch them bob up and down. The bubbles (carbon dioxide gas) in the soda stick to the rough edges of the dried cranberry. The bubbles bring them up to the top of the glass. Then they pop and release the CO2 into the air, making the dried cranberries fall back down. Spy Juice - Students become spies and write secret messages to one another using homemade cranberry juice! Visit the Kitchen Pantry Scientist to learn how to concoct the juice and unveil your top secret writing!

Corn Cob Lab
Popping - Students will be amazed when they create a cob of popcorn! Place a dried corn on the cob in a brown paper lunch bag. Fold over the bag two times to keep the kernels contained. Microwave for 2 1/2 minutes or until the popcorn has stopped popping. Eat it as a classroom treat or use it for a science experiment! Place the popped cob outside and watch as different animal species come by and eat off of the ear of corn. Have the students record the different types of animals in their science notebook and have a lesson on biodiversity. What animals live within your habitat? How are they all connected in your ecosystem? Sprouting - Each kernel on an ear of corn is a seed. By placing a whole ear of corn in water, you can grow a corn cob garden! Instructions: Place a husk free, colorful, dry ear of Indian Corn in a shallow container of water. The corn should only be covered a little more than halfway with water. Place your container in a sunny spot. When the water evaporates, add more and make sure the corn remains submerged in the water. After five days, change the water. Make sure that the side you had up remains up after you change the water. The wet side of the corn is the side you place back in the water and keep submerged. Watch it grow, after a week you will start to see small sprouts or shoots.

Butter ExplorationInvestigate the 3 states of matter by shaking up cream to create butter! Pour one cup of heavy whipping cream in a container with a lid. Once poured, the container should be no more than halfway full (half cream / half air). Shake your liquid and gas to make butter! As you shake, open up your container and check out each stage as your liquid and gas suddenly create a whipped solid: butter! When your butter is ready, refrigerate it. It will become a bit harder. Note: 1 cup of cream will create about 4 Tbsp. of butter). Add some salt to your butter to give it more flavor!






Whipped Test: Whipping Versus ShakingTop your Thanksgiving Food Lab off with a sweet ending! Using the same ingredients, heavy whipping cream and air, can you create a different substance? Using a hand mixer, whip 1 cup of cream until you get stiff peaks. Add a little sugar if you want sweet cream. Have the students compare and contrast the butter and whip cream they created. Compare the volume, texture and taste of each food item. Students can draw and label the states of matter for all of the ingredients they used and describe the process for each in writing.
Erin Bittman is a second/third-grade student teacher in a multi-grade classroom at a German Magnet School. She attends the University of Cincinnati. Check out her blog E is for Explore!

SOURCE: http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2014/11/13/thanksgiving-food-lab

Project Wet - Water Education

I was asking colleagues on facebook about resources for a water cycle / environmental unit I may be teaching in Science. A friend suggested I check out http://www.projectwet.org/ and I suggest you do as well!

There are publications, interactive online activities, lesson plans, printables, information on workshop and training, maps, posters, books, events and so much more.

It is appropriate for a variety of grade levels and looks at the importance of water and how we use it and how we can protect it.

Cloud Jars - Art & Science Experiment for Primary

we read about cumulus clouds and rainbows in simple terms during our morning circle time. During our discussion we discovered how the cloud fills up with moisture and the moisture then turns into rain and falls to the ground…

The process

We started by covering the entire table with two layers of good quality paper towels. Then each child (threes through – Prek) was given their own mason jar filled 2/3′s with water. In addition, each child shared four cups of colored water (we added food color) with a partner. Every child was also given a dropper to work with…

Once we had all the water and colored water in place, Mrs. Stewart added a “cumulus cloud” (shave cream) on top of the water in each child’s jar…

And then Mrs. Stewart demonstrated how to add drops of color on top of the shave cream then to watch carefully as the color made its way through the “cloud” and then dropped into our clear water down below…

Read more about how they turned this neat science experiment into art as well...

Source

Evaporation Friend

Have kids construct an Evaporation Cup Man or Lady! Check out Miss Klipfel's first grade evaporation project! Kids decorate a cup, add water, cover the top with a material (punch holes or not), and wait till it evaporates! They measure their "friend" and keep track of any changes. Does material affect how fast or slow water will evaporate? If you don't punch holes in your material, will it evaporate?! Have kids make a prediction. As a class, create agraph showing their predictions. See the experiment in action here!


Via E is for Explore Blog

Root Bear Float Experiment - States of Matter

I want to do this with my class as an end of year delicious science experiment...



Printable Sheets here

Create a Zoo - Science/Math Collaboration Assignment

Collaboration Project (math and science)

Students collaborate and create a giant zoo! First, tape sheets of grid paper together (cut off the white borders). Next, cut out various irregular shapes off the giant grid for the students (see image). Give each student a piece from the grid. Their mission is to figure out the area and perimeter of their land for their exhibit. They choose an animal and plot out important aspects of its habitat. Does their animal live in the arctic, forest, grasslands, or rainforest. Students think about what colors to use to correctly match their animal's habitat. They must make their animal feel at home in its exhibit. Does their animal play in the water, hide in a cave, or roll around in the mud? They add details to the exhibit. Then, they find an image of their animal online and glue it into the habitat they made. When all of the students are finished, they work together and create a zoo! They problem solve where each animal should go. Should the rhinos be near the elephants? They, glue their designs on an oversized sheet of butcher paper. Then, they add paths, signs, and fences.

Via: E is for Explore Blog

Animal Adaptations

I have done a similar activity before. Students had to create an animal that had adaptations suitable for the biome they chose. This is a neat version of this where students take two animals and create a venn diagam to morph the two together, including their name and features.

Food Chain Tag

 This activity is inspired by Eecko World's "We're All In This Together." Rather than having kids play tag using organisms from a single food chain, make it more challenging by adding a variety of food chains!

Give each child a construction paper headband with a different plant or animal that is part of a food chain (include organisms from different habitats). Take students to a large open area outside. Kids have to look for a plant or animal that their organism consumes. They tag what they eat! If a child is tagged, they must freeze (stand still)! Who is left at the end of the game?!

Afterwards, have kids try to find organisms that belong to their habitat (creating small groups). Kids must problem solve and try to figure out who belongs in their "group." Also, where would you find the organisms in their group? What habitat do they live in?!

Push & Pull - Introduction to Physics for Kids

Push and Pull

Introduction to physics: Children are exploring how things move in the world around them. They will investigate how they can change the speed and direction of objects by exerting more or less strength.

Objective: Children will investigate different forces, push versus pull, by thinking about how they can make an object move. 

Objective: Using soda bottles and a ball, children will discover that when objects collide they push on one another and can change motion.

Objective: Children will experiment with changing the speed (using different strengths) and direction of an object by pushing or pulling it.

Objective: Constructing a ramp, children will explore how they can increase the speed and distance of a matchbox car.

Objective: Examining real world objects, children will sort objects into groups (push, pull, or both) using a Venn diagram.

Introduction (Whole Group):

First, connect motion to what the children already know. Ask them, How do we move? Have children raise their hand and demonstrate. Next, drop a stuffed animal on the ground. Ask students, How can I make the stuffed animal move? They will think about their past experiences with moving objects to derive an answer. Then, explain that a push and a pull are both forces. Force makes an object move or stop moving. When we push something, we are moving it away from us. When we pull something, we are moving it closer to us. [Act out motions: push = palms out, push away from body and pull = two fists on top of each other, pull toward body with students]. Brainstorm: Create a T-chart, write down objects that can be pushed or pulled (objects at home, in the classroom, on the playground).

Small Group Instruction (Stations): 

PUSH: Soda Bottle Bowling: Children experiment with pushing a ball hard and soft to knock over soda bottles. They can compare a big push to a small push. What kind of push made the ball move the fastest? They will see how when objects collide (ball and soda bottle) they push on one another and can change motion.

PULL: Chair Pulley: Loop a light weight rope around the back of two chairs. Hang a small basket within the loop to send back and forth by pulling. They will experiment with pulling the rope hard and soft. What kind of pull moved the basket the farthest?

PUSH: Ramps and Matchbox Cars: Children create ramps using flat, rectangular wooden blocks and duplo legos. They will investigate how the height of a ramp can change how fast and far their matchbox car can go. They will also compare the distance and speed of the car on the ramp to using no ramp.

PUSH / PULL: Sort: Put out a paper bag consisting of various real world objects. Children collaborate and sort the objects using a Venn diagram (hula hoops). Children distinguish the objects putting them into groups: push, pull, or both.

PUSH / PULL / MOTION: Computer Games: Children play games to reinforce push, pull, and motion. 

Push: Piggy Push from Cool Math Games

Pull: Hook the Fish from Cookie

Motion: Josie Jump's Dance-athon from BBC

Reinforcement / Closure (Return to Whole Group):

Watch a video to reinforce pushes and pulls.

For further reinforcement, the next day, have children go on a scavenger hunt and try to find things around the classroom that they can push and pull.

Assessment

Rubric

[Source]

Primary Science: Sink or Float

I loved this lesson. It would be easy to do as a TTOC or if you found yourself with some extra time and not enough planned. Of course, having the tubs, items and worksheet makes it easier, but students could also write out statements on lined paper.

First, they PREDICT if an item will SINK or FLOAT. 

Then, they put the item in the tub of water to OBSERVE.

Next, they write down their results - did it SINK or FLOAT.

After each student chose an item, the entire group would predict, then observe. Each student had a chance to choose an item to test. At the end, they all wrote sentences to explain why they thought things would SINK or FLOAT.

They were all engaged, it got a bit splashy at times, but they were reminded to be cautious not to get their DATA SHEETS wet and ruin their findings.

What a fun lesson!

Science Centers

Science Centers are a great idea to change up the 'stations' in your class. I know many primary classes have centers for play-based learning and I have seen some classes do 'math centers' and 'literacy centers' but more recently I have been exploring science centers and ways to adapt units to work within this idea.

So when I saw this post I was excited!



Read It - Reading about topic and writing a couple notes. You can be specific with questions for them to answer if you wish. EG: Polar Bears, write two facts about them. or two adaptations for cold environment.

Sort It - With a t-chart or venn diagram students can sort facts about two topics/items. EG: Comparing Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears.  or Frogs and Toads.

Match It - photos to match up or words and definitions or items and facts. EG: photos of animals feet and their environments to match. Baby and Adult animal names.

Create It - read and create using drawing or building or writing. EG: Read about two animals and ten create your own animal that could survive in a different biome, for example camel in Arctic. Could write a story on topic.

Draw It - Draw item for each vocabulary word

Tech It - using tablets or computers. EG: type up information, research information, create etc.

Analyze It - analyze video, photo, article on topic.

Explain It - read on topic, writing to example EG: Read about Black bears and polar bears, compare/contrast them. Maybe answer questions.


Some ideas, templates and more are provided here. But feel free to create your own 'Science Centers'

Noodle Skeleton - Halloween Craft or Science Lesson

 

What a neat way to learn about the bones and structure of our bodies..... or as a Halloween activity?

Source: http://www.marthastewart.com/275300/kids-art-projects/@center/276975/marthas-crafts-kids#269167

Phases of the Moon - demonstrated with Oreo Cookies

I recently posted another 'OREO COOKIE' science lesson idea here then I saw this one on pintrest and thought I should share it also! Yummy Science!

http://pinterest.com/pin/184788390930323605/

Oreo's for Science? Love this idea...

Love this..

 

What a fun (and yummy) way to teach science....

 

 

Source

Awesome Idea for mini planters

Science Fairs, Learning Fairs...

Recently read this blog post on Science Fairs: http://wbtforme.blogspot.ca/2013/05/geniushour-and-sciencefair.html

This teacher discovered Genius Hour and decided to try something knew with her grade 6 science class.

http://www.geniushour.com/what-is-genius-hour/

This connected with me because this week at our school board meeting several students presented their science fairs from http://www.gvrsf.ca/ and some of the topics were exceptional. I spoke with the students before the meeting and learned so much about how much fun they had researching their topics.

I remember in Elementary and Jr. High loving science. The Science Fairs were the best part! I missed that when I got to High School and my love of science faded (luckily not entirely!)

Two years ago I was teaching Grade 6/7 and while my teaching partner covered the Socials Studies curriculum, I did Science. We did a number of experiements and labs, however, we did not do Science Fairs and I think if I were to teach that again, I would certainly explore this idea.

This year in my grade 8 class we are doing a Renaissance Fair. All the grade 8 classes do a week of rotational lessons, each station a different area of the Renaissance. Then they choose an area of inquiry to explore further. They then spend several weeks doing PBL on a topic of their choice for a final presentation - the Renaissance Fair.

This is an annual thing at our school. In the past, as a grade 6/7 teacher I have enjoyed attending the fair and bringing my classes to see the displays and projects Grade 8s prepare. I can't wait to see it all come together next month!

Science: Pizza Cells

Source: journey2excellence.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I don't know if I could eat this, but it looks like a fun way to learn about cells no? If you like food ans science here is another one...

Source: teach.genetics.utah.edu via Amanda on Pinterest

Science Cycles...

There are so many fun ways to teach Science. Two years ago when I was teaching Grade 6/7 at middle school I got a great activity from a teacher in my community. It was the Rock Cycle and each person started off as a rock and would go to different stations and roll dice to see what happened to them as a rock.

For example they would go down a river and break down or they would erupt from volcano and so on and so forth. They record where they travel to and why, this helps understand how rocks erode or compact and how they move between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock.  In the end they did a comic on their journey as a rock.

Here are some samples:

I blogged about this project before - see here.

 Well, there is a similar activity for the water cycle that I saw this on a blog:

I absolutely adore the water cycle simulation game.  There are several free versions of this on the web, but my favorite is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  You put up signs in different parts of your room for lake, soil, river, plants, ocean, etc.  Each station has a cube to roll.  Students travel through the water cycle as a drop of water.

As a TTOC this would be a fun science lesson to plan and have to use if/when you need it.

Clark government cuts Science World program for kids

Christy Clark and the Liberals putting Families First... right?

Wrong!

Again!

Though this cut is to an important education program, so it makes sense they cut funding - that is what they do best!

Vancouver Sun writes:

VICTORIA - The B.C. government has cut funding to a Science World program that brought innovative education to hundreds of thousands of children across the province. In an interview Thursday, the chair of Science World's board of directors said his organization will no longer be able to run the Program for the Awareness and Learning of Science, which included free fieldtrips and touring educational science programs to communities around the province. "Why it's so important is we're of the view that graduates in science, technology, engineering and math are the natural resources of the future," said Andrew Harries, chair of Science World's board of directors, adding the BC PALS program helped inspire kids to follow careers in these areas. "Any government that doesn't recognize that is short changing its society." Harries said provincial funding of the program began in 2005, adding the province has contributed between $1 million and $2 million each year since. He said the program allowed Science World to extend its reach into communities across the province, including many First Nations communities. "Science World will roll up in a truck and it will take its hands on, highly visual and entertaining form of science learning to kids that just don't get to experience that," he said. "There are very few communities, in fact very few schools in the regions, that the PALS program hasn't reached in the past few years." Education Minister George Abbott has not yet commented on the issue. Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Clark+government+cuts+Science+World+program+kids/6856207/story.html#ixzz1z8K2rLKa