What the kids need:
- swimming suit, towel, sunscreen (put this on in the morning), plastic bag for wet cloths, water bottle, and an extra snack.
- swimming suit, towel, sunscreen (put this on in the morning), plastic bag for wet cloths, water bottle, and an extra snack.
Here are the activities we have so far - but if you have something to add (Frisbee? any kind of outdoor game? cool water sprinkler? please bring it!!! -
** - No water guns allowed, sorry :( )
** - No water guns allowed, sorry :( )
We need a couple extra garden hoses!!! (Let me know if you have one you can bring?)
(I picked up one of these inflatable pools, and we have 2 round pools - if you have another pool, bring it!)
Kiddie Pools with fish and balls(try to keep these somewhat contained :)
* Aluminum boat building contest (how many marbles can it hold?)
Slip-n-slide, sprinklers, beach balls, Bubbles (tell them they need to share), sidewalk chalk etc.
I hope you can make it in!
May 15th Ice Cream Lab!Say goodbye to making ice-cream in zip-lock bags, this year we have these:
May 15th Ice Cream Lab!Say goodbye to making ice-cream in zip-lock bags, this year we have these:
recipe per ball:
1 pint of cream (2 cups), 2 tsp vanilla, ½ cup sugar
ice + ½ cup rock salt
* No throwing or kicking the balls!! Please roll, and shake them.
*They will need to be opened and stirred half way through the process.
No stations this time, just one activity. There are 5-6 balls per class, so split the kids into groups of 3-4 kids / ball. Depending on how many volunteers we get, will determine how many kids you will need to help.
If the weather is nice, we can do this outside - let's use the wooden benches over by the art room for this. I'll get a key for the water hose, so we can rinse out the balls between classes.
The "science" of it is to talk about chemical reactions while they are mixing, different states of matter, etc.
At then end, we'll give them each a cup and a spoon to eat their ice-cream! It should be simple, easy, and fun. Hope to see you all there!
April 17th - Butterflies, Bugs, and needs of living organisms
Introduction: Good morning kid scientists! Today we are going to learn about bugs!
Who can tell me what an insect is? Is a spider an insect?
Who can tell me what an insect is? Is a spider an insect?
in·sect
[ ín sèkt ]
- small six-legged animal: an air-breathing invertebrate animal arthropod with a body that has well-defined segments, including a head, thorax, abdomen, two antennae, three pairs of legs, and usually two sets of wings.
Station #1: Butterflies
I ordered some butterflies that they will have in their classrooms to watch grow for a few weeks. This station will be looking at the caterpillars, and talking about the different stages. Just ask them lots of questions to keep them involved!
Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet?
Smell with their antenna?
That butterfly wings are covered in scales?
That their mouth is a giant straw?
Did you know that some butterflies migrate thousands of miles?
Did you know that butterflies were not always butterflies?
Eggs:
Butterfly and moth eggs vary greatly in size between species, but they are all either spherical or ovate.
Butterfly eggs are fixed to a leaf with a special glue which hardens rapidly. The nature of the glue is unknown but the glue is so hard that the silk pad, to which the setae are glued, cannot be separated.
Eggs are almost invariably laid on plants. Each species of butterfly has its own hostplant range and while some species of butterfly are restricted to just one species of plant, others use a range of plant species
The egg stage lasts a few weeks in most butterflies but eggs laid close to winter, especially in temperate regions, go through a diapause (resting) stage, and the hatching may take place only in spring. Other butterflies may lay their eggs in the spring and have them hatch in the summer.
Caterpillars:
Butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, consume plant leaves and spend practically all of their time in search of food. What do caterpillars eat? Although most caterpillars eat plants, a few species eat insects.
Question: Are caterpillars good or bad?
Some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees; however, some species are agents of pollination of some plants, and caterpillars of a few butterflies (e.g., Harvesters) eat harmful insects.
Are caterpillars an insect?
Yes - Butterfly caterpillars have three pairs of true legs from the thoracic segments and up to 6 pairs of prolegs arising from the abdominal segments. These prolegs have rings of tiny hooks called crochets that help them grip the substrate.
How do caterpillars protect themselves from being eaten by birds and other predators?
Some caterpillars have the ability to inflate parts of their head to appear snake-like. Many have false eye-spots to enhance this effect. Some caterpillars have special structures called osmeteria which are everted to produce foul-smelling chemicals. These are used in defense.
Host plants often have toxic substances in them and caterpillars are able to sequester these substances and retain them into the adult stage. This makes them unpalatable to birds and other predators. Such unpalatibility is advertised using bright red, orange, black or white warning colors, a practice known as aposematism.
Pupa
Butterflies are characterized by their
scale-covered wings. The coloration of butterfly wings is created by minute
scales. These scales are pigmented with melanins that give them blacks and
browns, but blues, greens, reds and iridescence are usually created not by
pigments but the microstructure of the scales. This structural coloration is
the result of coherent scattering of light by the photonic crystal nature of
the scales.[9][10][11] The scales cling somewhat loosely to the wing and come
off easily without harming the butterfly.
Butterflies are important as pollinators for some species of plants although in general they do not carry as much pollen load as bees. They are however capable of moving pollen over greater distances. Flower constancy has been observed for at least one species of butterfly.
Migration
Many butterflies migrate over long distances.
Particularly famous migrations are those of the Monarch butterfly from Mexico
to northern USA and southern Canada, a distance of about 2500–3000 miles.
Lifespan:
There is an average life span of a butterfly - it is usually about one month. Although the smallest butterflies that you can usually spot feasting on the flowers in your front yard will usually only live about one week. Mourning Cloaks, some tropical Heliconians, and Monarchs are some of the only butterflies that have an average life span of about nine months. Butterfly coloring page:
Station #2: Crickets, Screeching Cockroaches!
(The pet store up on Northpark sells these, so I'll get a few containers of live ones to have for the lab)
Crickets:
Food: Crickets are omnivorous scavengers who feed on organic materials, including decaying plant material, fungi, and some seedling plants. Crickets have relatively powerful jaws, and several species have been known to bite humans.
3 main body sections: head, thorax, abdomen.
Females produce an egg case (ootheca) which
protrudes from the tip of the abdomen. After about two days, the egg cases are
placed on a surface in a safe location. Egg cases are about 0.9 centimetres
(0.35 in) long, brown, and purse-shaped. Immature cockroaches emerge from egg
cases in 6 to 8 weeks and require 6 to 12 months to mature. Adult cockroaches
can live up to one year, during which females produce an average of 150 young!
Station #3: Ants and Insect colonies!This is where we can display and talk about whatever bugs you have found around your house - beetles? moths? We'll see what everyone finds to bring in! Be sure to print out some info on the bugs that you bring in!I will also have a bunch of ants (from the playground) in a cage to look at and talk about.
I ordered some butterflies that they will have in their classrooms to watch grow for a few weeks. This station will be looking at the caterpillars, and talking about the different stages. Just ask them lots of questions to keep them involved!
Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet?
Smell with their antenna?
That butterfly wings are covered in scales?
That their mouth is a giant straw?
Did you know that some butterflies migrate thousands of miles?
Did you know that butterflies were not always butterflies?
Who knows the butterfly life cycle?
The butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult.
The butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult.
Eggs:
Butterfly and moth eggs vary greatly in size between species, but they are all either spherical or ovate.
Butterfly eggs are fixed to a leaf with a special glue which hardens rapidly. The nature of the glue is unknown but the glue is so hard that the silk pad, to which the setae are glued, cannot be separated.
Eggs are almost invariably laid on plants. Each species of butterfly has its own hostplant range and while some species of butterfly are restricted to just one species of plant, others use a range of plant species
The egg stage lasts a few weeks in most butterflies but eggs laid close to winter, especially in temperate regions, go through a diapause (resting) stage, and the hatching may take place only in spring. Other butterflies may lay their eggs in the spring and have them hatch in the summer.
Caterpillars:
Butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, consume plant leaves and spend practically all of their time in search of food. What do caterpillars eat? Although most caterpillars eat plants, a few species eat insects.
Question: Are caterpillars good or bad?
Some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees; however, some species are agents of pollination of some plants, and caterpillars of a few butterflies (e.g., Harvesters) eat harmful insects.
Are caterpillars an insect?
Yes - Butterfly caterpillars have three pairs of true legs from the thoracic segments and up to 6 pairs of prolegs arising from the abdominal segments. These prolegs have rings of tiny hooks called crochets that help them grip the substrate.
How do caterpillars protect themselves from being eaten by birds and other predators?
Some caterpillars have the ability to inflate parts of their head to appear snake-like. Many have false eye-spots to enhance this effect. Some caterpillars have special structures called osmeteria which are everted to produce foul-smelling chemicals. These are used in defense.
Host plants often have toxic substances in them and caterpillars are able to sequester these substances and retain them into the adult stage. This makes them unpalatable to birds and other predators. Such unpalatibility is advertised using bright red, orange, black or white warning colors, a practice known as aposematism.
Pupa
When the larva is fully grown, the larva stops feeding and
begins "wandering" in the quest of a suitable pupation site, often
the underside of a leaf.
The larva transforms into a pupa (or chrysalis) by anchoring
itself to a substrate and moulting for the last time. The chrysalis is usually
incapable of movement, although some species can rapidly move the abdominal
segments or produce sounds to scare potential predators.
The pupal transforms into a butterfly through metamorphosis
Butterflies!
There are between 15,000 and 20,000 species of butterflies worldwide!
Scales
Butterflies!
There are between 15,000 and 20,000 species of butterflies worldwide!
Scales
Food
As adults, butterflies consume only liquids which are
ingested by means of their proboscis. They sip water from damp patches for
hydration and feed on nectar from flowers,
A proboscis is an elongated tubular mouth used for feeding and sucking.
A proboscis is an elongated tubular mouth used for feeding and sucking.
Butterflies are important as pollinators for some species of plants although in general they do not carry as much pollen load as bees. They are however capable of moving pollen over greater distances. Flower constancy has been observed for at least one species of butterfly.
Migration
Lifespan:
There is an average life span of a butterfly - it is usually about one month. Although the smallest butterflies that you can usually spot feasting on the flowers in your front yard will usually only live about one week. Mourning Cloaks, some tropical Heliconians, and Monarchs are some of the only butterflies that have an average life span of about nine months. Butterfly coloring page:
Station #2: Crickets, Screeching Cockroaches!
(The pet store up on Northpark sells these, so I'll get a few containers of live ones to have for the lab)
Crickets:
There are about 900 species of crickets!
They tend to be nocturnal - or come out at night
experiment - cover up the cricket cage and see what happens. Do the crickets chirp more if they think it is daytime? or if it is dark in their cage?
They tend to be nocturnal - or come out at night
experiment - cover up the cricket cage and see what happens. Do the crickets chirp more if they think it is daytime? or if it is dark in their cage?
The sound emitted by crickets is commonly referred to as
chirping; the scientific name is stridulation. Only the male crickets chirp.
The sound is emitted by a large vein running along the
bottom of each wing, covered with "teeth" (serration) much like a
comb. The chirping sound is created by running the top of one wing along the
teeth at the bottom of the other wing. As he does this, the cricket also holds
the wings up and open, so that the wing membranes can act as acoustical sails.
* look at the cricket through a magnifying glass - can you see how it is making it's noise?
* rub two sticks together (one stick with "teeth cut into it) to demonstrate how they chirp.
* look at the cricket through a magnifying glass - can you see how it is making it's noise?
* rub two sticks together (one stick with "teeth cut into it) to demonstrate how they chirp.
*There are four types of cricket songs - how many different sounds can you hear?
Crickets chirp at different rates depending on their species
and the temperature of their environment. Most species chirp at higher rates
the higher the temperature is (approximately 62 chirps a minute at 13°C in one
common species; each species has its own rate). The relationship between
temperature and the rate of chirping is known as Dolbear's Law. According to
this law, counting the number of chirps produced in 14 seconds and adding 40
will approximately equal the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.
experiment: Count the number of chirps, add 40, and see how close to the temperature you get!
The crickets might be afraid, so tell the kids to be quiet or they will not be able to hear them chirp! Also, crickets are nocturnal, so cover the cage up so they think it is dark and safe - that is when you might get a few to chirp.
experiment: Count the number of chirps, add 40, and see how close to the temperature you get!
The crickets might be afraid, so tell the kids to be quiet or they will not be able to hear them chirp! Also, crickets are nocturnal, so cover the cage up so they think it is dark and safe - that is when you might get a few to chirp.
Crickets, like all other insects, are cold-blooded. They
take on the temperature of their surroundings. Many characteristics of
cold-blooded animals, like the rate at which crickets chirp, or the speed at
which ants walk, change with
temperature. The colder it is, the
slower they go. The warmer it is, the
faster the walk and chirp.
Food: Crickets are omnivorous scavengers who feed on organic materials, including decaying plant material, fungi, and some seedling plants. Crickets have relatively powerful jaws, and several species have been known to bite humans.
Roach!!!
3 main body sections: head, thorax, abdomen.
Cockroaches can travel quickly, often darting out of sight
when someone enters a room, and can fit into small cracks and under doors
despite its fairly large size. It is considered one of the fastest running
insects! In an experiment carried out at the University of
California, Berkeley in 1991, a Cockroach was recorded running at a speed of
3.4 mph, about 50 body lengths per second! Which would be comparable to a human
running 210 mph!!!
Roach Race!
Let's see how fast a cockroach can really run! shake all the cockrocahes to one side of the pan - then set the pan down, and watch them run! To get them to run, make one side dark by putting a piece of paper over it - in order to hide, they will hopefully run to the dark side of their cage.
Roach Race!
Let's see how fast a cockroach can really run! shake all the cockrocahes to one side of the pan - then set the pan down, and watch them run! To get them to run, make one side dark by putting a piece of paper over it - in order to hide, they will hopefully run to the dark side of their cage.
Habitat:
American cockroaches generally live in moist areas, but can
survive in dry areas if they have access to water. They prefer warm
temperatures around 29 °C (84 °F) and do not tolerate cold temperatures. In
residential areas, these cockroaches live in basements and sewers, and may move
outdoors into yards during warm weather. These cockroaches are common in
basements, crawl spaces, cracks and crevices of porches, foundations, and
walkways adjacent to buildings.
Cockroaches are scavengers that feed on decaying organic
matter and a variety of other foods.
They can eat cheese, leather, bakery products, starch in bookbindings,
manuscripts, glue, hair, flakes of dried skin, dead animals, plant materials,
soiled clothing, and glossy paper with starch sizing. Always clean any spills
or messes that have been made so that the cockroaches will not be attracted to
the food source!
Cockroaches have three developmental stages: egg, nymph, and
adult.
Station #3: Ants and Insect colonies!This is where we can display and talk about whatever bugs you have found around your house - beetles? moths? We'll see what everyone finds to bring in! Be sure to print out some info on the bugs that you bring in!I will also have a bunch of ants (from the playground) in a cage to look at and talk about.
Ants!
They are social insects – they work together! They live in colonies, some colonies can have millions of ants in them! Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. Different ants have different jobs to do, just like us! In each colony there are different castes with workers, soldiers, queens, and drones.
There are around 22,000 different species of ants, and they live everywhere (except Antarctica).
Ants use pheromones for more than just making
trails. A crushed ant emits an alarm pheromone that sends nearby ants into an
attack frenzy and attracts more ants from farther away. (So don't smoosh ants or their friends will come get you!!) Several ant species
even use "propaganda pheromones" to confuse enemy ants and make them
fight among themselves.
Why do ants walk in lines? They are following a pheromone trail!
experiment: I'll have some pieces of paper with "pheromone trails" on them. (peppermint oil trails). Can they smell out the trail on the paper?
Ant homes - what is under the pile?
Ant homes:
They are social insects – they work together! They live in colonies, some colonies can have millions of ants in them! Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. Different ants have different jobs to do, just like us! In each colony there are different castes with workers, soldiers, queens, and drones.
There are around 22,000 different species of ants, and they live everywhere (except Antarctica).
Look in the ant colony, can you tell which ants are doing which jobs?
Workers - These ants work outside the colony, scouting, and bringing back food.
Soldiers - These ants have larger mandibles and are good at biting things! They also help the worker ants when they are not protecting the colony from a threat.Queens and Drones - These are the mommy and daddy ants!
Communication
Workers - These ants work outside the colony, scouting, and bringing back food.
Soldiers - These ants have larger mandibles and are good at biting things! They also help the worker ants when they are not protecting the colony from a threat.Queens and Drones - These are the mommy and daddy ants!
Communication
Ants communicate with each other using pheromones (smell), sounds,
and touch. Like other insects, ants perceive
smells with their long, thin, and mobile antennae. The paired antennae provide
information about the direction and intensity of scents. Since most ants live
on the ground, they use the soil surface to leave pheromone trails that may be
followed by other ants. In species that forage in groups, a forager that finds
food marks a trail on the way back to the colony; this trail is followed by
other ants, these ants then reinforce the trail when they head back with food
to the colony. When the food source is exhausted, no new trails are marked by
returning ants and the scent slowly dissipates. This behavior helps ants deal
with changes in their environment. For instance, when an established path to a
food source is blocked by an obstacle, the foragers leave the path to explore
new routes. If an ant is successful, it leaves a new trail marking the shortest
route on its return. Successful trails are followed by more ants, reinforcing
better routes and gradually identifying the best path.
Why do ants walk in lines? They are following a pheromone trail!
experiment: I'll have some pieces of paper with "pheromone trails" on them. (peppermint oil trails). Can they smell out the trail on the paper?
Ant homes - what is under the pile?
Ant homes:
Complex nests are built by many ant species, but other species are nomadic and do not build permanent structures. Nests may be found in the ground, under stones or logs, inside logs, or in hollow stems.
How do Ants help us?
Ants kill other insects like wasps and termites, so you might not want to kill off all the ants in your yard! They also help aerate the soils to help plants grow. Some people eat ants, and others have ants as pets! (Ant Farms)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7th Lab: Wed March 20th
Objects in the sky: Sun, Moon, and Stars
I'll set the telescopes up in the hallway looking through the windows, the rest we can do in their classrooms. (I think if we go outside, the kids will be too distracted by the playground equipment ;).
Introduction:
Good morning kid scientists! Did you have a good spring break? Guess what we did over spring break - we went camping and star-gazing! How many of you have ever looked at the stars in the night sky? If you get far away from the city lights, and the moon isn't too full, you can see lots and lots of stars. Today we're going to talk about those stars, about our sun, and about our moon. We'll learn what makes the day and night, and why the moon changes shape through the month, and about the stars - including the star that is closest to us. Does anyone know what the closest star is? It's the sun! Has anyone ever seen a shooting star? Those aren't really stars, they're asteroids - and we're going to learn about them too. OK - are you ready to start? Remember, a good scientist always:
1. asks lots of questions
2. makes good observations
3. experiments to find the answers!
Station 1: Sun
Shadows, Sundials, and eclipses.
The Sun:
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is
almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic
fields. It has a diameter of about 1,392,684 km, about 109 times
that of Earth, and its mass (about 2×1030 kilograms, 330,000 times that of
Earth) accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System.
Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while
the rest is mostly helium. The
Sun formed from the gravitational collapse. A bunch of matter gathered in the
center, while the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that would become the
Solar System. The central mass became increasingly hot and dense, eventually
initiating thermonuclear fusion in its core.
Day/Night:
What makes the day and the night? The daytime is when we're on the sunny side of the Earth, and the night is when we are on the shady side of the Earth. The Earth rotates once every day - Let's do an experiment to see how the day and night work!
Use a flashlight and a ball to demonstrate day/night - then use kids, point a child so that they are facing the big yellow ball - this is daytime! then turn them around so that their back is towards the yellow ball - now you are looking out into the cold darkness of outer-space, this is night!
Shadows:
Shadows: Have you ever wondered where your shadow comes from? and why it changes shape through the day? A long time ago, before people had mechanical clocks and watches, they used the sun to tell them what time it was. Have you ever seen a sunrise early in the morning? In the morning the sun is on the horizon, then it rises up in the sky until it is directly overhead at noon. Then it slowly descends back to the horizon, until sunset.
The sun always rises in the East, and sets in the West, because the Earth rotates towards the East. Have one student hold the flashlight (sun) and rotate the ball with the sundial in front of the light. Watch how the shadow changes through the "day".
Sunrise:
High Noon (no shadow, sun is directly overhead):
Sunset: now the shadow is going the other direction, because the sun is shining from another direction!
How Sundials work - because shadows change through the day, we can use shadows to tell what time it is! If your shadow is really long, it's the morning or evening. If your shadow is short - it's lunchtime.
I'll have a handout so they can make a sundial at home, and record where the shadows fall throughout the day.
Make an eclipse!
Sense we are learning about shadows, let's learn about a very special type of shadow called an eclipse. A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets in front of the sun, and blocks out the light for a little bit!
Flashlight sun, paper moon - move the moon in front of the sun, and look at the shadow. Remember, never look at the sun!!! You can watch sunspots, and eclipses by looking at the shadow the sun makes on paper. If you ever look into the sky, and the sun is darkened, you will know what happened - you have seen an eclipse!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not enough time for this one, but fun to do at home!!
Sunspots:
Safe Sun watching:
"One safe way to observe sunspots or eclipses is to project an image of the Sun through a telescope or binoculars onto a white screen -- paper plates, walls and sidewalks all work nicely. If you're using a telescope, be sure that any small finder telescope is capped. If you're using binoculars, keep the cover on one of the two tubes. Never look through a telescope or binoculars to point them at the Sun -- partial or total blindness will almost surely result.
On the screen you should see a bright circle of light. This is the disc of the Sun. Adjust the distance between the screen and the telescope until the disk is about the size of a small paper plate. The image will probably be blurred; focus your telescope until the circle becomes sharp. Using this method you can see considerable detail in and around sunspot groups. Pinhole projectors and certain types of solar filters can also afford a safe view of the Sun. Pinhole projectors usually produce a small and unsatisfying image, but they are better than nothing if you don't have a telescope or binoculars."
I don't think we'll have time for the pinhole viewer - but you can explain to them how it works so they can try it at home. (the solar storms on the viewer aren't too impressive - just a black dot on the image you see, but they work great for viewing eclipses!)
Station 2: Moon, phases of the moon, day/night, moon craters.
A little about the moon - 3 minutes:
What is the moon? The moon orbits the Earth, just like the Earth orbits the sun. The moon is much smaller than the earth, and because of this, the gravity on the moon is much less than it is on the moon. You can jump a lot higher on the moon than you can on the Earth!
The Apollo Mission Control Center is right here in Houston! It's in Building 30 at the Lyndon B. Johnson Manned Space Flight Center, has anyone here been to the NASA center?
The Sun:
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is
almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic
fields. It has a diameter of about 1,392,684 km, about 109 times
that of Earth, and its mass (about 2×1030 kilograms, 330,000 times that of
Earth) accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System.
Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while
the rest is mostly helium. The
Sun formed from the gravitational collapse. A bunch of matter gathered in the
center, while the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that would become the
Solar System. The central mass became increasingly hot and dense, eventually
initiating thermonuclear fusion in its core.Day/Night:
What makes the day and the night? The daytime is when we're on the sunny side of the Earth, and the night is when we are on the shady side of the Earth. The Earth rotates once every day - Let's do an experiment to see how the day and night work!
Use a flashlight and a ball to demonstrate day/night - then use kids, point a child so that they are facing the big yellow ball - this is daytime! then turn them around so that their back is towards the yellow ball - now you are looking out into the cold darkness of outer-space, this is night!
Shadows:
The sun always rises in the East, and sets in the West, because the Earth rotates towards the East. Have one student hold the flashlight (sun) and rotate the ball with the sundial in front of the light. Watch how the shadow changes through the "day".
Sunrise:
High Noon (no shadow, sun is directly overhead):
How Sundials work - because shadows change through the day, we can use shadows to tell what time it is! If your shadow is really long, it's the morning or evening. If your shadow is short - it's lunchtime.
I'll have a handout so they can make a sundial at home, and record where the shadows fall throughout the day.
Make an eclipse!
Sense we are learning about shadows, let's learn about a very special type of shadow called an eclipse. A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets in front of the sun, and blocks out the light for a little bit!
Solar eclipse - when the Moon's shadow crosses the Earth's
surface,
Lunar eclipse - when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow.
Lunar eclipse - when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow.
Flashlight sun, paper moon - move the moon in front of the sun, and look at the shadow. Remember, never look at the sun!!! You can watch sunspots, and eclipses by looking at the shadow the sun makes on paper. If you ever look into the sky, and the sun is darkened, you will know what happened - you have seen an eclipse!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not enough time for this one, but fun to do at home!!
Sunspots:
Safe Sun watching:
"One safe way to observe sunspots or eclipses is to project an image of the Sun through a telescope or binoculars onto a white screen -- paper plates, walls and sidewalks all work nicely. If you're using a telescope, be sure that any small finder telescope is capped. If you're using binoculars, keep the cover on one of the two tubes. Never look through a telescope or binoculars to point them at the Sun -- partial or total blindness will almost surely result.
On the screen you should see a bright circle of light. This is the disc of the Sun. Adjust the distance between the screen and the telescope until the disk is about the size of a small paper plate. The image will probably be blurred; focus your telescope until the circle becomes sharp. Using this method you can see considerable detail in and around sunspot groups. Pinhole projectors and certain types of solar filters can also afford a safe view of the Sun. Pinhole projectors usually produce a small and unsatisfying image, but they are better than nothing if you don't have a telescope or binoculars."
Station 2: Moon, phases of the moon, day/night, moon craters.
A little about the moon - 3 minutes:
What is the moon? The moon orbits the Earth, just like the Earth orbits the sun. The moon is much smaller than the earth, and because of this, the gravity on the moon is much less than it is on the moon. You can jump a lot higher on the moon than you can on the Earth!
The Moon is the only celestial body other than Earth on
which humans have visited. The Soviet Union's Luna program was the first to
reach the Moon with an unmanned spacecraft in 1959. The United States' NASA Apollo
program achieved the only manned missions to date, beginning with the first
manned lunar orbiting mission by Apollo 8 in 1968, and six manned lunar
landings between 1969 and 1972, with the first being Apollo 11. These missions
returned over 380 kg of lunar rocks, which have been used to develop a
geological understanding of the Moon's origins, the formation of its internal
structure, and its subsequent history.
The Apollo Mission Control Center is right here in Houston! It's in Building 30 at the Lyndon B. Johnson Manned Space Flight Center, has anyone here been to the NASA center?
Let's learn about the phases of the moon - 3 minutes.
The moon orbits the Earth about once every month. Some nights the moon is full - you can see the whole thing! Other nights there is only a sliver of the moon in the sky, and some nights you won't be able to see the moon at all. why does the moon look differently at different times of the month?
Demonstrate phases of the moon - one child is the sun, one the earth, and one the moon. Rotate and allow each child to have a turn being either the sun, earth, or moon. We don't have a dark room, so instead of a light, we have a ball that is orange on one side (the sunny side) and dark on one side (the shady side). Simply make sure that the "sunny side" is always pointed towards the sun. Walk the moon around the earth, making sure the moon's bright side is always pointed towards the sun. Let the earth turn around, and see what side of the moon they can see.
Sun - moon - Earth: when the moon is inbetween the Earth and the sun, the earth sees the dark side of the moon.
Sun - Earth - Moon: this is a full moon (the earth is pointed towards the sunny side of the moon)
Here's a youtube of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiY7fw71Lr8
Moon craters - 3 minutes:
If you have ever looked at the moon, you will notice that it is covered with big cirles - it looks a little like Swiss cheese! Can anyone make a hypothesis (guess) what all those circles are? Let's see if we can make some circles of our own in order to answer this question.
Throw marbles into a tray filled with flower / chocolate pudding mix, and watch the impressions that the marble make. Those impressions look a lot like the circles that are on the moon! We used rocks/marbles to make our circles - what made the circles on the moon?
Asteroids! Does anyone know what an asteroid is? There is a bunch of stuff zooming around in outer space - there are great big stars, and there are planets like the Earth zooming around the stars - and then there is a bunch of smaller stuff zooming around too. Chunks of rock and ice that are not big enough to form a planet or a moon are called asteroids. Asteroids are what make the big circles in the moon.
The moon does not have an atmosphere - no air - nothing to burn up the Asteroids, so they all hit the surface easily, and with no wind, and no rain on the moon, the circles don't erode away like they do on Earth. What is on the moon sits on the moon for years and years.
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Station 3: Stars - constellations, telescopes, star facts
What is a Star?
A star is a massive sphere of plasma held together by
gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of
the energy on the planet. The brightest stars on can be grouped together into
constellations to help us remember which star is which.
Most stars shine due to thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen
into helium in its core. Fusion releases lots of energy – like a big
fire. Once a star's hydrogen is all used
up, it starts forming other elements.
All the different elements – rocks – sand – and us – were once part of a
star. Did you know that you came from a
star? Old massive stars explode, then all the exploded stuff collects back together
to form planets, and moons.
Binary and multi-star systems consist of two or more stars that rotate around one another. Lots of stars can get together and make clusters or galaxies.
Binary and multi-star systems consist of two or more stars that rotate around one another. Lots of stars can get together and make clusters or galaxies.
Our galaxy
Constellations - talk about how a long time ago, people connected the stars to form shapes, and made up stories about the shapes. We use these shapes to help navigate, and call them constellations.
- Go though a few of the winter constellations that are in the sky right now. (you will have a set of pictures, with descriptions on the back, of each). Orion is in the sky right now - it is a winter constellation, and is easy to find because of the three big stars in a row that make up his belt.
The big dipper points to the north star - polaris. The north star is important because it lies nearly over our axis of rotation, it stays at the same spot in the sky. The other stars rise and set - kind of like our sun - they change place, but the north star stays put while all the others rotate around it. We can use the North star to help navigate in the night.
The northern cross, or Cygnus, is another easily identifiable constellation - it lies along the milky way.
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System.
This name derives from its appearance as a dim "milky" glowing band
arching across the night sky, in which the naked eye cannot distinguish
individual stars.
- They will have a worksheet to do at home where they can connect the dots, and make their own constellations.
How can we better see the stars? With Telescopes!
We use our eyes to look at things. The bigger our eyes are, the more we can see. Think of an owl with their great big eyes, and well they can see in the dark with their large eyes. A telescope is like a big eye - if we look through it, it's like making our eyes larger. The bigger the telescope is, the more light it lets in, the more it can see.
An optical telescope gathers and focuses light, just like our own eyes gather light. Telescopes increase the apparent size of distant objects as well as their apparent brightness. They work by using one or more curved glass lenses and/or mirrors, to gather light and bring it to a focal point.
The refracting
telescope which uses lenses to form an image. (long brown telescope - look through the front to see the glass lenses in it)
The reflecting
telescope which uses an arrangement of mirrors to form an image. (fat white
telescope - look through the front to see the mirror in the back)
- use binoculars / telescopes to look into the trees and see how far away you can see! Describe the world's largest telescopes, and what they have seen.
- advertise the HISD observatory, open to the public - free - on the first Friday of each month, and encourage them to go outside at night with their parents to look at the stars.
Introduction:
Good morning kid scientists! Are you ready to rock? Because we're going to learn about rocks today!! Did you know that there are over 4,000 different types of minerals?? But don't worry, only around 30 are commonly found in the Earth's crust. So where do all these rocks come from? How are they made? How are they destroyed? What do we use rocks for? We're going to learn about 3 main kinds of rocks - Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic.Then we're going to learn about erosion - how big strong rocks can be broken apart with little drops of water, ice, and wind. Rocks are strong and hard right? So how can a little bit of water and wind tear them apart? That's what you'll learn about in the erosion station!
Finally, we're going to learn about the water cycle - How does the water get all the way up onto the tops of mountains? Where do rivers begin? and where do they end? . Much of the landscape - like the grand canyon - is formed by water, and all life on earth depends on clean water for it's survival, so it's important to know where our water comes from, where it goes, and how to keep it clean.
OK - are you ready to start? Remember, good scientists always ask lots of questions, make good observations, and learn through experimentation. Can you be a good scientist for me today? Your parents are going to want to know what you discovered today!!
Station #1 Rocks!
- Igneous Rocks - are formed from red hot lava that comes exploding out of volcanoes - pretty exciting, huh? (show picture of volcano)
-igneous comes from the Latin word for "fire" (think of "ignite)
- How hot is lava? Hot enough to melt rock! 700 to 1,200 °C (1,292 to 2,192 °F).
- Where does it come from? When we hold a lava rock, we are holding something that came from below the crust of the Earth.
The slower the lava cools, the larger the crystals it forms. There are over 700 different kinds of igneous rocks!
- Sedimentary rocks are made when layers of mud and debris pile up on top of one another - this type of rock is where we find dinosaur fossils!
- Metamorphic rocks are formed by squishing sand together under really really high pressures and temperatures. Sedementary rocks turn into metamorphic rocks if they are squished with enough force. Diamonds are metamorphic rocks - if you take a worthless lump of carbon (like coal), and put it under a high enough pressure and temperature for long enough - it turns into a diamond!!
Crayon Rock Cycle: link
After explaining/making crayon rocks, look at the real Sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks! We classify rocks according to their hardness, color, density, crystal structures/morphology, and streak color (rub rock against plate, and see what color it leaves behind)
- Igneous Rocks - are formed from red hot lava that comes exploding out of volcanoes - pretty exciting, huh? (show picture of volcano)-igneous comes from the Latin word for "fire" (think of "ignite)
- How hot is lava? Hot enough to melt rock! 700 to 1,200 °C (1,292 to 2,192 °F).
- Where does it come from? When we hold a lava rock, we are holding something that came from below the crust of the Earth.
The slower the lava cools, the larger the crystals it forms. There are over 700 different kinds of igneous rocks!
- Sedimentary rocks are made when layers of mud and debris pile up on top of one another - this type of rock is where we find dinosaur fossils!
- Metamorphic rocks are formed by squishing sand together under really really high pressures and temperatures. Sedementary rocks turn into metamorphic rocks if they are squished with enough force. Diamonds are metamorphic rocks - if you take a worthless lump of carbon (like coal), and put it under a high enough pressure and temperature for long enough - it turns into a diamond!!
Crayon Rock Cycle: link
- Weathering: shave crayons,
- Erosion: pick up crayons and move them,
- Deposition: drop crayon shavings onto aluminum foil & fold into packet.
- Compaction to form Sedimentary Rocks: Smoosh the crayon shavings together by hand.
- Heat & Pressure to form Metamorphic Rocks: put packet of shavings into vise & apply heavy pressure.
- **Melting
and Cooling to
form Igneous Rocks: I made some igneous crayon rocks at home in the oven - show them the melted crayon rock, and ask them how they think it formed (I just put it in the oven)
After explaining/making crayon rocks, look at the real Sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks! We classify rocks according to their hardness, color, density, crystal structures/morphology, and streak color (rub rock against plate, and see what color it leaves behind)
Station #2 Erosion!
Compare river rock and jagged rock - what made this smooth rock smooth? Here's a hint - this smooth rock came from a river. The river jumbled the rock around and broke off all the jagged edges. It's amazing that something as hard as a rock could be broken apart and reshaped by something as soft as water! Rivers and streams carve away the rocks and landscape around them, they dig out trenches in the land - the Grand Canyon was made from a river! (Show picture of Grand Canyon). Also, when water freezes it expands. If water soaks into cracks in a rock, and then freezes, it can force the cracks to open up. Wind can also cause erosion over a long time period.
Erosion can make beautiful land formations, but it can also be a real problem for farmers and builders. Farmers depend on the dark nutrient rich topsoil to grow big healthy crops. If the topsoil is eroded away - blown away in the wind, or carried away with the rain, they will not be able to grow very much food. Let's experiment to see what kinds of soil are most resistant to erosion.
- Hypothesis: If we pour water in, which will wash away the fastest?
- Experiment: Pour water in.
- Where did the most erosion happen? Why?
Talk about how vegetation preserves topsoil, and topsoil is important for growing plants.
- When is erosion a problem?
- When is erosion not a problem?
Station #3 Water Cycle
Rocks and water are the two main components of our Earth's crust. They influence one another, and shape one another. How do rivers form? Where does the water come from? and where does it go? We know that if we pour water out of a cup, it will run down onto the floor - just like water in a river will run down a hill. If water is always running down, how did it get to the top of the hill in the first place?Water can be found in 3 different phases of matter - as a gas, or a liquid, or a solid. If water gets really really cold, what does it turn into? What happens to it when you put water into the freezer? (ice) What happens to water when it gets really really hot? When you put a pot of water onto the stove? (steam). Think about solid ice, liquid water, and steam - which ways do each of these travel? Ice cubes fall, liquid water falls, but steam rises!
Think about steam - that's how we can get water to go up, instead of down. If we could turn water into steam, then the steam could float to the tops of mountains. How does nature make steam though? In our kitchen, we use a hot stove. What is there outside that is really really hot? (the sun). When that hot sun shines outside, it warms up the lakes, the oceans, and all the water around us. Some of that water evaporates and floats up into the air. Then it turns into clouds that are blown by the wind over the land. when the water in the clouds cool down, what happens? it rains! or snows, or hails!
The snow on top of mountains melts during the spring and summer, and provides lots of water to streams and rivers.
We'll do something similar to the above, except we will use cotton balls as clouds (the "cloud" will soak up water out of the "lake/ocean" and then carry the water up into the "mountains".
Talk about steam - what makes clouds?
Use bottle with ice-water to talk about condensation. Where did the water droplets on the outside of the bottle come from? (the air).
Coloring page if there is time. (If there's not enough time to color it, at least use it to show them the water cycle)
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Fifth Lab - Drought recovery Trees, Plant Life Cycle, Leaf Chromatography,
Thank you for your suggestions!
Inside:
Intro:
"The 2010–2012 Southern United States drought is a severe to extreme ongoing drought plaguing the US South, including parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The worst effects have been in Texas, where near-record drought has parched the state since January 2011. Texas suffered an estimated $7.62 billion in crop and livestock losses, surpassing its record loss of $4.1 billion in 2006. In Texas, combined with the rest of the South, at least $10 billion in agricultural losses were recorded in 2011. In 2010-11, Texas experienced its driest August–July (12-month) period on record." - link
For our K-science fair project, we are going to investigate: What native plants are best able to survive the drought and why?
To answer this question, we are going to go outside, look at, and learn about plants. We will take data on the different types of plants we find, we'll look for new growth, and which plants have the most new growth, and which plants have produced the most new seedlings. We'll think about root structures, and how plants are able to get, and store water. We'll look at leaves and learn what happens to leaves when the plant dries up or goes into dormancy.
Activity #1: Inside - Lab Notebook intro, and Leaf Chromatography Lab Notebook
Talk to the kids about the importance of keeping a lab notebook, talk about how good scientists always write everything that they see and do down!
Record your hypothesis in the lab notebook:What plants do you think have best survived the drought? Trees? Shrubs? Grass? Why? Look at the plant ID card, and talk about some of the plants on it - have each child pick what plant they think would best survive and talk about why.
Leaf Chromatography - Inside
I will bring in some bags of leaves so we can do this one inside.
You can start this one, then go on to the next activities while the coffee filter is soaking, then come back to see how it turned out.
Remember this photosynthesis reaction? What happens if there isn't enough water (H2O)?
Photosynthesis needs water, and Chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the generic name for the intensely colored green pigments which are the photoreceptors of light energy in photosynthesis. Photosynthesis, allows plants to absorb energy from light. Chlorophyll absorbs light most strongly in the blue portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, followed by the red portion. However, it is a poor absorber of green and near-green portions of the spectrum, hence the green color of chlorophyll-containing tissues. Chlorophyll was first isolated by Joseph Bienaimé Caventou and Pierre Joseph Pelletier in 1817. There are different types of cholorphylls, and you can find them with chromatography.
Activity #2: Parts of a Plant - Inside
I'm going to get a dozen small plants, one for each group, that you can uproot, and talk about in the classroom.
For this activity, you will teach the kids about different parts of a plant, and what they do.
Roots:
Find a small plant/shrub along the edge of the greenbelt, and pull it out of the soil so that you can see the roots. Talk about how the roots anchor the tree to the earth, soaks in water and minerals for the plant, and helps prevent soil erosion. What types of root structure would best help a plant in a drought? Would a deep root structure help?
Talk about how some companies have engineered plants to have deep root structures to better survive a drought. - http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/root-dig-dekalb-drought-tolerant-corn.aspx
What plants have the deepest and most extensive root structureUse the answer to this question to help you decide what plants would do best in a drought.
Leaves:
Plants need energy from the sun to carry out photosynthesis, or to make food. from link: During photosynthesis, sunlight energy is used to power chemical reactions that combine water with the air's carbon dioxide to form starchy carbohydrate.
In a drought, there is not as much water (H2O) and without water, photosynthesis cannot happen.
Leaves do serve other purposes, including the following:
The more
surface area a leaf has the more energy from the sun it can absorb. But, during a drought, increased surface area can lead to increased water loss through evaporation, so smaller leaves might be better in a drought. Which leaves do you think are the most drought resistant? what plant is least likely to wilt in the hot sun if it does not have enough water?
Stems:
link - Stems have four main functions which are:
Seeds:
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food.
- Seed Dispersal: Some seeds are carried by the wind, others by water, and still others by animals. Try to find some seeds, and talk about how they are transported, and where the best place to plant them would be.
- Some plants, like ferns and moss don't use seeds to reproduce - instead they use roots and spores.
- Plants that produce smaller seeds can generate many more seeds per flower, while plants with larger seeds invest more resources into those seeds and normally produce fewer seeds. Small seeds are quicker to ripen and can be dispersed sooner, so fall blooming plants often have small seeds. Many annual plants produce great quantities of smaller seeds; this helps to ensure at least a few will end in a favorable place for growth. Herbaceous perennials and woody plants often have larger seeds; they can produce seeds over many years, and larger seeds have more energy reserves for germination and seedling growth and produce larger, more established seedlings after germination.
In a drought, many plants will die. In order for life to continue, plants will need to leave behind seeds that will produce new plants that replace the ones that have died. Seeds are a main ingredient for drought recovery! Record what seeds you are able to find, and what plants have the most seeds.
What you are going to look for outside:
- What plants look the healthiest
- New seedlings - what plants are able to reproduce?
- Plants that have died - what types of plants have died, and why?
- bugs, and what plants the bugs are eating.
Talk about what they will be looking for, before you go outside.
Activity #3: New Growth - Outisde
This will be the only part that we do outside - walk along the greenbelt edge of the playground, and look at the plants.
Kingwood Pine Beetle Infestation -
Record observations of what plants look the healthiest, what plants have the most seeds, and what plants show the most growth.
Draw pictures of the leaves and plants that you see - if you don't know the name of a plant, just draw a picture of it, and we can figure out what it is later.
Look at the data you have collected, and make a conclusion of what plant species has best survived the drought.
**Note - there is no right or wrong answer! The important part is that the kids learn about plants, the parts of a plant, their life cycles, and how they survive - and to think about this in terms of a real life problem - ie - the drought.
Activity #4: Plant a Tree
At the end of the lab, we'll gather everyone together, and each class will plant a tree. I was able to get 2 Chinese Pistachio Trees (which are supposed to be bug and drought resistant) and two little peach trees, so there is one tree for each class to plant.
While the volunteer is planting the tree, each group can present it's findings to the rest of their class.
It would be fun to get a class pict with everyone by their tree that they planted!
Come back inside - look at the leaf chromotography, and get everything collected for their posters.
***If you have a pict for their poster, email it to me - musicalmom@cebridge.net - and I will print it and get it to the person putting the poster together for your class.
Thank you so much for all your help!!!
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4th lab - Energy:
Intro:
We use energy to cook food, light the room at night, transport us on cars/planes, keep our homes warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. Anytime anything moves or does something, it uses energy to do it!
What are some things that need energy?
Cars and airplanes: Get energy from gas,
Lights, TV, radio - electricity
living organisms: get energy from food, use energy to move.
Talk about different types of energy needs, different types of fuel, and why it is important to conserve energy.
Talk about renewable energy, pros and cons of different sources of energy.
Station #1: Wind Energy
Youtube of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqZ8lBNPccY
Energy is used to move things, and wind can move things - so wind has energy!
What is wind made up out of? - Air. When energy makes air move around, that air turns into wind. How can we get air to move around? Through a pressure difference. Pressure is force per area. If I push on your hand with my finger, I'm putting pressure on your hand. If we take some air, and force it into a balloon, we're putting force and pressure on that air. The air doesn't like to be pushed on - just like you don't like to be pushed! The air that we push and squeeze into this balloon wants to get out, and get out fast! It wants to travel from the high pressure inside the balloon to the low pressure outside the balloon. If we open up the bottom of the balloon, all of that pressurized air comes running out of there - it makes wind!
Let's use the wind energy to do work - let's use it to move something around!
Balloon helicopters
Balloon (wind) cars:
- you can have a little balloon car race, talk about how the car will go faster the faster the wind goes - compare the speeds of a car with a big balloon to one with a smaller balloon etc. etc.
anemometer - measuring wind speed
"The 2010–2012 Southern United States drought is a severe to extreme ongoing drought plaguing the US South, including parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The worst effects have been in Texas, where near-record drought has parched the state since January 2011. Texas suffered an estimated $7.62 billion in crop and livestock losses, surpassing its record loss of $4.1 billion in 2006. In Texas, combined with the rest of the South, at least $10 billion in agricultural losses were recorded in 2011. In 2010-11, Texas experienced its driest August–July (12-month) period on record." - link
For our K-science fair project, we are going to investigate: What native plants are best able to survive the drought and why?
To answer this question, we are going to go outside, look at, and learn about plants. We will take data on the different types of plants we find, we'll look for new growth, and which plants have the most new growth, and which plants have produced the most new seedlings. We'll think about root structures, and how plants are able to get, and store water. We'll look at leaves and learn what happens to leaves when the plant dries up or goes into dormancy.
Activity #1: Inside - Lab Notebook intro, and Leaf Chromatography Lab Notebook
Talk to the kids about the importance of keeping a lab notebook, talk about how good scientists always write everything that they see and do down!
Record your hypothesis in the lab notebook:What plants do you think have best survived the drought? Trees? Shrubs? Grass? Why? Look at the plant ID card, and talk about some of the plants on it - have each child pick what plant they think would best survive and talk about why.
Leaf Chromatography - Inside
I will bring in some bags of leaves so we can do this one inside.
Watch this vids:
You can start this one, then go on to the next activities while the coffee filter is soaking, then come back to see how it turned out.
Remember this photosynthesis reaction? What happens if there isn't enough water (H2O)?
CO2 + 2H2O + sunlight
---> O 2 + (C H2O)n + H2 O
or...
carbon dioxide + water + sunlight ---> oxygen + carbohydrate + water
or...
carbon dioxide + water + sunlight ---> oxygen + carbohydrate + water
Photosynthesis needs water, and Chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the generic name for the intensely colored green pigments which are the photoreceptors of light energy in photosynthesis. Photosynthesis, allows plants to absorb energy from light. Chlorophyll absorbs light most strongly in the blue portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, followed by the red portion. However, it is a poor absorber of green and near-green portions of the spectrum, hence the green color of chlorophyll-containing tissues. Chlorophyll was first isolated by Joseph Bienaimé Caventou and Pierre Joseph Pelletier in 1817. There are different types of cholorphylls, and you can find them with chromatography.
We will use coffee filters, and rubbing alcohol to compare the chlorophyll in different plants. Other plant pigments are carotene (an orange pigment found in carrots), lutein (a yellow pigment found in fruits and vegetables), and lycopene (the red pigment responsible for the color of tomatoes).
Which plants have the most chlorophyll, and can
produce the most energy from sun? If a leaf is brown and all dried up
from the sun/drought, is it able to produce energy for the plant?
from -link
Step 1: Give each child a coffee filter strip, write their initials on the top of their strip (top = end without a point)
Step 2: Place a leaf on the paper 1/4 inch above the cut. Roll the edge of a coin over the leaf, pressing green leaf juice into the paper. Make sure they each get a dark, thick line of green - the darker and thicker, the better!
Step 3: Tape the strip to the center of a pencil, and carry them over to a side counter (or into the hallway, or other out of the way place)
Step 4: Volunteers - pour a 1/2-inch layer of rubbing alcohol into the bottom of a jar. (Note - don't let the kids touch or hold the alcohol!) put the leaf that was used in the cup too (just as a label so we can know which strips came from which leaves)
Step 5: Tape your paper strip to the middle of a pencil and hang it so that the very tip of the strip touches the alcohol. (The colored strip of leaf "juices" should not touch the alcohol -- you may have to adjust the length of the strip.)
Step 6: Lay a piece of foil over the top of the jar to keep the alcohol from evaporating.
Step 7: Do the other activities while the alcohol moves up the filter paper, carrying the pigments along with it. In 10 to 20 minutes the colors should be separated.
How many colors do you see? Could you see them in the leaf itself? The finished paper is called a chromatograph. Let it dry, we'll use them on the sci-fair boards.
from -link
Step 1: Give each child a coffee filter strip, write their initials on the top of their strip (top = end without a point)
Step 2: Place a leaf on the paper 1/4 inch above the cut. Roll the edge of a coin over the leaf, pressing green leaf juice into the paper. Make sure they each get a dark, thick line of green - the darker and thicker, the better!
Step 3: Tape the strip to the center of a pencil, and carry them over to a side counter (or into the hallway, or other out of the way place)
Step 4: Volunteers - pour a 1/2-inch layer of rubbing alcohol into the bottom of a jar. (Note - don't let the kids touch or hold the alcohol!) put the leaf that was used in the cup too (just as a label so we can know which strips came from which leaves)
Step 5: Tape your paper strip to the middle of a pencil and hang it so that the very tip of the strip touches the alcohol. (The colored strip of leaf "juices" should not touch the alcohol -- you may have to adjust the length of the strip.)
Step 6: Lay a piece of foil over the top of the jar to keep the alcohol from evaporating.
Step 7: Do the other activities while the alcohol moves up the filter paper, carrying the pigments along with it. In 10 to 20 minutes the colors should be separated.
How many colors do you see? Could you see them in the leaf itself? The finished paper is called a chromatograph. Let it dry, we'll use them on the sci-fair boards.
Activity #2: Parts of a Plant - Inside
I'm going to get a dozen small plants, one for each group, that you can uproot, and talk about in the classroom.
For this activity, you will teach the kids about different parts of a plant, and what they do.
Roots:
Find a small plant/shrub along the edge of the greenbelt, and pull it out of the soil so that you can see the roots. Talk about how the roots anchor the tree to the earth, soaks in water and minerals for the plant, and helps prevent soil erosion. What types of root structure would best help a plant in a drought? Would a deep root structure help?
Talk about how some companies have engineered plants to have deep root structures to better survive a drought. - http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/root-dig-dekalb-drought-tolerant-corn.aspx
What plants have the deepest and most extensive root structureUse the answer to this question to help you decide what plants would do best in a drought.
Leaves:
Plants need energy from the sun to carry out photosynthesis, or to make food. from link: During photosynthesis, sunlight energy is used to power chemical reactions that combine water with the air's carbon dioxide to form starchy carbohydrate.
CO2 + 2H2O + sunlight
---> O 2 + (C H2O)n + H2 O
or...
carbon dioxide + water + sunlight ---> oxygen + carbohydrate + water
or...
carbon dioxide + water + sunlight ---> oxygen + carbohydrate + water
In a drought, there is not as much water (H2O) and without water, photosynthesis cannot happen.
Leaves do serve other purposes, including the following:
- On the tree:
- they create shade that cools the forest in the summer
- they keep wind from drying out the forest ecosystem
- they provide food for a complex community of herbivorous organisms, including deer and many kinds of insects, which in turn serve as food for insectivorous birds
- Fallen onto on the ground:
- they are like a blanket that keeps the soil from temperature extremes
- they keep the soil from drying out
- they decay and enrich the soil with organic matter and nutrients that can be recycled
Stems:
link - Stems have four main functions which are:
- Support for and the elevation of leaves, flowers and fruits. The stems keep the leaves in the light and provide a place for the plant to keep its flowers and fruits.
- Transport of fluids between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem.
- Storage of nutrients.
- The production of new living tissue. The normal life span of plant cells is one to three years. Stems have cells called meristems that annually generate new living tissue.
Seeds:
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food.
- Seed Dispersal: Some seeds are carried by the wind, others by water, and still others by animals. Try to find some seeds, and talk about how they are transported, and where the best place to plant them would be.
- Some plants, like ferns and moss don't use seeds to reproduce - instead they use roots and spores.
- Plants that produce smaller seeds can generate many more seeds per flower, while plants with larger seeds invest more resources into those seeds and normally produce fewer seeds. Small seeds are quicker to ripen and can be dispersed sooner, so fall blooming plants often have small seeds. Many annual plants produce great quantities of smaller seeds; this helps to ensure at least a few will end in a favorable place for growth. Herbaceous perennials and woody plants often have larger seeds; they can produce seeds over many years, and larger seeds have more energy reserves for germination and seedling growth and produce larger, more established seedlings after germination.
In a drought, many plants will die. In order for life to continue, plants will need to leave behind seeds that will produce new plants that replace the ones that have died. Seeds are a main ingredient for drought recovery! Record what seeds you are able to find, and what plants have the most seeds.
Prepare to go outside
**Talk about edible vs. toxic plants, but tell them not to eat anything
unless their parents wash it first and tell them it's ok! and to watch
out for things like poison ivy (leaves of 3, let it be!). Also - be on
the lookout for plant eating bugs! During a drought, weakened plants
can be killed by bugs (like the pine tree beetle), so talk about what
defense mechanisms the plants have to protect themselves against
predators. What you are going to look for outside:
- What plants look the healthiest
- New seedlings - what plants are able to reproduce?
- Plants that have died - what types of plants have died, and why?
- bugs, and what plants the bugs are eating.
Talk about what they will be looking for, before you go outside.
Activity #3: New Growth - Outisde
This will be the only part that we do outside - walk along the greenbelt edge of the playground, and look at the plants.
Kingwood Pine Beetle Infestation -
Record observations of what plants look the healthiest, what plants have the most seeds, and what plants show the most growth.
Draw pictures of the leaves and plants that you see - if you don't know the name of a plant, just draw a picture of it, and we can figure out what it is later.
Look at the data you have collected, and make a conclusion of what plant species has best survived the drought.
**Note - there is no right or wrong answer! The important part is that the kids learn about plants, the parts of a plant, their life cycles, and how they survive - and to think about this in terms of a real life problem - ie - the drought.
Activity #4: Plant a Tree
At the end of the lab, we'll gather everyone together, and each class will plant a tree. I was able to get 2 Chinese Pistachio Trees (which are supposed to be bug and drought resistant) and two little peach trees, so there is one tree for each class to plant.
While the volunteer is planting the tree, each group can present it's findings to the rest of their class.
It would be fun to get a class pict with everyone by their tree that they planted!
Come back inside - look at the leaf chromotography, and get everything collected for their posters.
***If you have a pict for their poster, email it to me - musicalmom@cebridge.net - and I will print it and get it to the person putting the poster together for your class.
Thank you so much for all your help!!!
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4th lab - Energy:
Intro:
We use energy to cook food, light the room at night, transport us on cars/planes, keep our homes warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. Anytime anything moves or does something, it uses energy to do it!
What are some things that need energy?
Cars and airplanes: Get energy from gas,
Lights, TV, radio - electricity
living organisms: get energy from food, use energy to move.
Talk about different types of energy needs, different types of fuel, and why it is important to conserve energy.
Talk about renewable energy, pros and cons of different sources of energy.
Station #1: Wind Energy
Youtube of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqZ8lBNPccY
Energy is used to move things, and wind can move things - so wind has energy!
What is wind made up out of? - Air. When energy makes air move around, that air turns into wind. How can we get air to move around? Through a pressure difference. Pressure is force per area. If I push on your hand with my finger, I'm putting pressure on your hand. If we take some air, and force it into a balloon, we're putting force and pressure on that air. The air doesn't like to be pushed on - just like you don't like to be pushed! The air that we push and squeeze into this balloon wants to get out, and get out fast! It wants to travel from the high pressure inside the balloon to the low pressure outside the balloon. If we open up the bottom of the balloon, all of that pressurized air comes running out of there - it makes wind!
Let's use the wind energy to do work - let's use it to move something around!
Balloon helicopters
- you can have a little balloon car race, talk about how the car will go faster the faster the wind goes - compare the speeds of a car with a big balloon to one with a smaller balloon etc. etc.
anemometer - measuring wind speed
From above website:
"This anemometer cannot not tell the wind speed in miles per hour, but it can give you an idea of how fast the wind is blowing.
Using your watch, count the number of times the anemometer spins around in one minute. You are measuring the wind speed in revolutions (turns) per minute. Weather forecasters' anemometers convert the revolutions per minute into miles per hour (or kilometers per hour).
Wind speed is important for wind energy. Wind turbines -- which are the machines that change the movement of the wind into electricity -- need a constant, average wind speed of about 14 miles per hour before the wind turbines can generate electricity. That's why wind farms, where there are a lot of wind turbines grouped together, are located in windy spots."
Station 2 - Sun Energy, (plants, food, and fuel) "Hello boys and girls. I'm the Sun. I don't want to brag, but I am a very important source of energy."
(Hold up celery)
"Plants don't eat like people do. Instead, they use sunlight for energy to grow, stay warm, and stay alive. If there were no plants, what would animals and people eat? You people certainly need me!"
(Hold up tree branch)
"As a tree grows it stores the sun's energy in its wood. When the wood is burned, it releases the sun's energy as heat and light."
(Hold up dinosaur)
"Long ago, when the dinosaurs were still alive, plants and animals used the sun's energy. When they died, the sun's energy was stored in them. Today some of these old dead plants and animals with the stored sun's energy have changed into coal, oil and natural gas."
(Hold up toy car)
"When we use gasoline in a car we are using very old sun's energy to make the car go!"
"By myself, I can keep you warm and give you light. I can be used to heat your home and heat your water. You must agree that I'm really quite wonderful!"
- Show a solar powered yard light, it soaks in the sun's energy during the day, and uses it to make a light during the night.
Insulation: The sun makes things hot! One of the biggest energy uses we have is for air conditioners that help keep it cool inside during the summer. We also want to keep it warm in the winter! If we insulate buildings, we protect what is inside from the temperatures outside, and save energy. Insulation can be used to trap energy! It can either trap heat inside something, or keep heat out. What makes the best insulation? - pass around ice cubes - hold the ice with their bare hands, then using different materials - a plastic bag, cardboard, cotton, etc. etc. you can't feel the ice through the cotton - cotton is a good insulator. Animals have fur that insulates them, and we wear cloths that insulate us, and keep our warm energy in! There is also insulation inside the walls in your house.
Plants get energy from the sun, and we get energy from plants. How much energy do different types of food and plants have?Learn about energy contents of different types of foods - read box, learn about calories etc. etc.
Look at different empty food containers, how many calories are in the food? What is the energy content?
The energy content of a food is a
measure of how many calories the food contains. Your body needs a
certain number of calories each day -- the required amount varies with
your age, gender, weight status and activity level -- to maintain
itself.
-
Physicists measure the energy content of food by burning it using a bomb calorimeter, which is a strong metal container surrounded by a water bath. The food is dried and ground into a powder and placed in the bomb calorimeter. The physicist then pumps pure oxygen at high pressure into the metal container to ignite the food, and measures the resulting energy release in calories.
-
In a less explosive way than a bomb calorimeter, your body
burns calories to create energy.
- The small calorie or gram calorie (symbol: cal)[3] approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 °C at standard atmospheric pressure (101.325 kPa). This is approximately 4.2 joules.
- The large calorie, kilogram calorie, dietary calorie, nutritionist's calorie or food calorie (symbol: Cal)[3] approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 °C. This is exactly 1,000 small calories or approximately 4.2 kilojoules.
Station 3: Water Energy:
Youtube of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd6IaAJgPjs&feature=plcp
3 of the four classrooms have sinks, so we'll just do this part by the sink, and I'll have some big bins that you can do it over too. (For the classroom without the sink, I'll just have some 2L's filled with water, and you can do it over the bins) Thanks!
Hydroelectric dam – I ordered a couple of these on Amazon -
Water that moves has energy! We can capture the energy of water by using a wheel. we simply place the wheel within the water current, and the water makes the wheel turn around and around - and we can get energy from it! This is how a hydroelectric dam works. Waterfalls are a great place to put a waterwheel. The faster the water flows, the faster the wheel will turn.
Water Pressure
More pressure = more energy!
from: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/hydro-power.html
- take a milk carton, punch holes up the side. Water coming out of the lower holes will shoot a stream out farther than the upper holes because it is under more pressure.
Water Turbine:
We have some kiddie-pools in the science closet, I'll just pull them out into the hall, and we can do this one over the pools. You just fill it up with water, then unplug the holes, and the water makes the carton spin around. (or fill it up while it is upside down, then drop it right side up, and watch it spin)
Does anyone have any of these (or similar) toys at home? If you do, can we borrow them?
Good webages to read through on energy:
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/light-friction.html dominos for a nuclear reaction: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/nuclear.html and a simple cut out wind sensor: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/anemometer.html
http://www.nmsea.org/Curriculum/Primer/energy_physics_primer.htm
http://www.eia.gov/kids/http://www.ehow.com/info_8484153_thermal-energy-science-experiments-kids.html
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/energy.html
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3rd Lab: Seasons and Weather Patterns
Tuesday No 13th training session if you can make it, 8:00, in the cafeteria. If you can't make it, just read through the lab info below!
Wed, Nov 14th
8:00 set-up during
morning announcements
8:15 - 9:00 Williamson & Galindo
9:00 - 9:45 Vela
& Terry
9:45-10:00 clean-up
Intro
Hi kid scientists! Today we are going to learn about the four different seasons of the year, and what types of weather go with each of those seasons. Who can tell me what the 4 seasons are? (Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring). What season is it right now? What season comes next? Why is it cold out for part of the year, and really really hot out for other parts of the year? What different types of weather do we see outside during the different seasons? etc. etc. after brief 10 minute discussion, split everyone up into three different groups, rotate between groups ~ every 10 minutes. (assign someone to be the time-keeper, give one minute warnings, and then tell everyone to switch stations)
8:10 - 9:00 Williamson & Galindo
8:10-8:20 Intro talk – split into groups
8:20-8:30 – stations
8:30-8:40 -
stations
8:40-8:50 -
stations
8:50-9:00 – gather
up & organize supplies for the next two classes
9:00 - 9:45 Vela & Terry
9:00-9:10 intro/split into groups
9:10-9:20 – stations
9:20-9:30 – stations
9:00 - 9:45 Vela & Terry
9:00-9:10 intro/split into groups
9:10-9:20 – stations
9:20-9:30 – stations
9:30-9:40 –
stations / cleanup
Station 1: What makes the seasons?
Sun: Drape a yellow blanket, and give a flashlight to the
child who is the sun
Earth: Drape a blue cape around the child pretending to be
the Earth
Rotate Earth around sun through different seasons:
sorry the vid is so dark, I think it looks better if you watch it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTqxIPy9eKM&feature=youtu.be
Rotate Earth around sun through different seasons:
sorry the vid is so dark, I think it looks better if you watch it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTqxIPy9eKM&feature=youtu.be
- The Earth should always be tilted towards one wall (child’s face pointed towards one wall)
- Summer – “earth” child stands in front of the “sun” child, facing the sun, and facing the back wall. The sun shines the flashlight at the Earth’s stomach – It’s hot! The Earth is tilted towards the sun!
- Fall – walk the earth a quarter of the way around the sun, keeping them facing the same wall, so that their side will now be facing the sun. the sun will shine their flashlight on their side, and you can talk about how now it is not as bright, the Earth is not tilted directly towards the sun anymore.
- Winter – walk the child half way around, keeping them facing the same wall, so that now their back is towards the sun – they are tilted away from the sun, and tilted towards the dark cold outerspace. The sun is behind them, and so now they are cold. – Describe winter, with snow on the trees, and Christmas time, and New Years.
- Spring – walk to the 3 / 4 mark, keep them facing the same wall, so that now the sun is shining on their side again – it’s starting to get warmer out again! Talk about the little plants starting to grow again, little flowers popping up, Easter eggs, many animal babies are being born.
- Summer – complete the year long journey by bring them around to summer again!
I will have pieces of paper with the months of the year, and pictures of the different seasons to put on the floor in a circle around the sun – so as you walk them around, you can recite the months of the year (they are learning these months), and see pictures of the holidays/weather that go along with the different seasons.
Rotate through taking turns for who is the sun, and who is the Earth, until everyone has had a turn. If you still have time, you can also explain day and night, or you could also get a 3rd child to be a moon, and talk about the phases of the moon.
another youtube about how the Earth's tilt creates seasons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4_-R1vnJyw&feature=related
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Station
2: Storms!
Talk about hurricanes, tornadoes, snow storms,
hail, rain, etc. ect. Different types of
clouds. Water bottle tornado – swirl the water around in a water bottle to make a little funnel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzw3DcDblIg
(I don't have the above toy, but I think I can make one by drilling holes in the lids etc.)
Lightning:
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/lightningact.html
Lightning occurs when static electricity builds up between the thunderclouds and the landscape beneath them.
make static electricity – (if the humidity is low, this will work)
- rub balloon on hair
- scoot tennis shoes around on the carpet, try to get a little pop off your finger.
- pie pan/styrophome plate” - see youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ig-AjtZ8oc
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/lightningact.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ig-AjtZ8oc
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/lightningact.html
Storm safety – Get out of the pool if there is lightning! Watch the weather report on the news, and be prepared! If there is extra time, talk with the kids about different types of weather they have seen, have they ever seen snow? hail? what is the worst storm they have ever been in?
Talk a little about different types of clouds, and weather.
Just decorate one season at a time, and talk about that season while they are working.
Talk about what animals do during the different seasons: hibernation, changing coat colors, bird migration, etc. etc.
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jOHN t. fOWLER