Rest of Year
We have one investigation left in Environments and will be planting 4 types of seeds and testing their water and salt tolerance.
The test will be THURSDAY, MAY 19th.
May 9-13
Kids are leaning about range of tolerance and preferred environments for brine shrimp. Ask kids to describe how small and what brine shrimp look like as well as what amount of salt they prefer.
This week we will be finishing up Investigation 2 and will be doing an ICheck on Thursday which will be graded.
Friday, 3 groups will set up an experiment to see how much water plants prefer and 3 groups will set up an experiment to see how much salt plants can handle. We will observe corn, radishes, barley, and peas for the rest of the school year!
May 2-6
This week kids will be setting up an experiment to find out the range of tolerance that brine shrimp eggs will hatch in. We will observe each day and at the end of the week, kids will be able to change conditions to allow more eggs to hatch. We will do some readings this week as well.
April 25-29
Monday: We will go outside and do a deer simulation to find out how many living things can survive in an area, given a certain amount of food.
Tuesday: Kids will make food webs using items from a Kelp Forest. We will learn about phytoplankton and zooplankton as well as predators and prey.
Wednesday: We will read "Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary" and "Comparing Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems".
Thursday: We will review and discuss Big Ideas from our 2nd investigation. Kids will begin ICheck 2, which will be graded.
Friday: We will discuss and correct ICheck 2.
April 18-22
Monday: We have beetles! Kids will be observing the structures and behaviors of beetles. Some of our temperatures do not have any yet; kids will change their environment to allow the mealworms to change into the next stage sooner.
Tuesday: We will learn about and practice with food chains. We will learn about competition of resources and food webs.
Wednesday: We read about ecosystems, food chains, and food webs. Kids will do a response sheet over information we are learning about.
Thursday: We will observe changes in our mealworm environments.
Friday: We will observe our aquatic environment.
April 11-15
Students will be beginning investigation 2--ecosystems this week.
Monday: Students will observe their mealworms and record their observations in science notebooks. The focus question will be added as we begin an investigation to find the environmental factors in an aquatic system. We will set up the class aquariums as well.
Tuesday: Students will be setting up their aquarium log in their science notebooks and adding vocabulary words. They will add elodea and scud to their aquariums.
Wednesday: Students will be reading a story about freshwater environments and answering their focus question.
Thursday: Students will observe their mealworms and record their observations in science notebooks. We will review ecosystems and prepare an investigation involving food chains and food webs.
Friday: We will introduce how a food chain works and the different components. The students will be adding vocabulary terms to their science notebooks as well.
April 4-8
Monday and Tuesday: We will go outside to search for leaf litter critters. Students will create those found on a replicator. As a class, we will sort the critters by location, color, size, etc.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday: We will do ICheck which will be graded. We will then go over this as a class so students learn from mistakes they made.
March 29-April 1
Tuesday: We will set up an experiment to test which moisture level isopods prefer.
Wednesday: Pam Holz will be in to teach a lesson about environments and organisms.
Thursday: We will set up an experiment to test if isopods prefer to be in the light or in the dark.
Friday: Groups will set up their own terrariums with organisms and seeds. We will observe these the next 2 months and observe changes.
We are beginning our final science unit: ENVIRONMENTS!
This is a very hands on exciting unit. Kids will be learning and setting up experiments to find out about animal and plant environments. We will focus on only changing one factor for each experiment.
We begin by learning about mealworms. Kids will learn about structures and behaviors of mealworms and will then set up an experiment to find out how temperature affects mealworms and their life cycle. We will find out what mealworms become in a few weeks!
We will then learn about isopods. Kids will determine, through experiments, if isopods prefer dry, moist, or wet soil and if they prefer to be in the light or dark.
ENVIRONMENTS UNIT BEGINNING MARCH 16th!!
We will not be having science for a few weeks - instead we will be doing our Great Depression and Essay units.
February 4-12
Kids will finish wiring their rooms and will then make a house out of 3-4 rooms. I will take pictures!
Then we will be reading about electricity and doing some worksheets for a couple of days.
January 29th : Electricity TEST!
February 1-5: Kids will be wiring a shoe box which will become a room of a house. They will have to make a paperclip switch and wire a bulb, and possibly a fan, to the ceiling! At the end of the week, 4 kids will be grouped together to put their rooms together to make the house. If time, they will be able to carpet, wallpaper, and decorate their rooms. Look for photos at the end of the week! This is a fun week for kids to use what they have learned about electricity to create something pretty neat!
January 25-29
Monday: Kids will learn how diodes work and we will also explore the difference between series and parallel circuits.
Tuesday: Kids will have one final day to work on their levels of electricity!
Wednesday: We will begin reviewing for the test.
Thursday: We will play Jeopardy to review for the test.
Friday: Electricity TEST
*If you haven't already brought in a shoe box, please do so! If you have extras, we will take them for kids that do not have one. This will be used to make a room that kids will wire with a switch, bulb, and batteries.
January 19-22
This week kids will be learning how switches work. Partners will make a switch using a paperclip and index card. Wednesday - Friday, those partners will use the switch to create a working flashlight out of construction paper and electricity materials. Look for photos at the end of the week as kids will be reading in the dark using their flashlights!
Please remember to send in a shoebox by January 29th!
January 11-15
This week, kids will test a circuit by finding the hidden circuit in a box. The connections will be made with a hidden wire and brass fasteners.
I will do some quick assessments to see if I need to reteach what we have been learning about. Kids will learn the secret language of electricity and will then have a couple more days to work on their levels of electricity, using the secret language, which makes drawing their circuits easier!
January 4-8
This week we will learn and label the parts of a lightbulb. Kids will predict and then test how many D cell batteries it takes to light a regular sized bulb. We will learn how to troubleshoot and figure out what is wrong with a circuit that is not working.
Then we will learn about conductors and insulators. Kids will create a small circuit and will test a variety of objects, like paper clips, straws, pencils, nails, etc, and will see if that item can complete the circuit.
On Friday, groups will each get to make their own filament using clay, batteries, wires, and 2 types of wires. If made correctly, the filament will light up!
December 14-23
Kids will have one more day to work on levels this week and will then do them once in a while during the rest of the unit.
We will move on to doing labs. Kids will take a closer look at circuits and identify and experiment with batteries, bulbs, and wires. We will work in groups to help each other! We will then learn what is inside a lightbulb. We will look closely at all the parts and will learn the names of each and how they work.
Dec. 1-14
We began our 2nd unit: ELECTRICITY! This has been a favorite of many kids in the past.
Kids continue working on 13 levels of electricity. Each student has passed level 1 and has lit the bulb using a battery, a bulb, and 1 wire. Each attempt must be drawn and labeled in their science notebooks. When they figure out how to light the bulb, they show me and then move to the next level, which includes more materials. Kids will eventually be using more wires, more bulbs, bulb holders, battery holders, switches, and fans! All kids will not get through the 13 levels and that is okay.
Kids WILL become frustrated at some point during the next few weeks, but once they light the bulb they will be motivated to move on! I do give clues after a day or two if kids have worked hard.
Each student will need 1 shoe box at the end of this unit (in about 10 weeks). This box will become a room of a house that kids will wire with a bulb, battery and a switch made out of a paperclip! You can send the box in whenever and I can store them in my room.
November 9-November 11
This will be the last 2 weeks of our first unit. Each class will get to make a class stepping stone to see how concrete is used. We will do some more readings that go along with our learning.
I am sending home all 3 IChecks today (11/5) so kids can start reviewing.
We will review by playing Jeopardy and the final test will be on THURSDAY, NOV. 12th.
October 26- 30
We are learning about different properties to identify rocks and minerals. Kids are getting to do scratch test, streak test, and magnet test as well other observations.
We will then get to observe the rock granite and will figure out which minerals make up that rock by a variety of tests and observations.
October 19-23
We are now learning about the differences between rocks and minerals and are using observations and tests to identify the minerals fluorite, calcite, gypsum, and quartz. We will observe, do the scratch test and do the streak test to help us ID the minerals. We will also do the acid test. We will use the Mohs hardness scale to help us figure them out as well.
Pam Holz comes on Thursday and will do hands on activities for kids to learn about how the 3 types of rocks - igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic - are made.
October 12-16
This week we will begin our 3rd investigation of our Soils, Rocks, and Landforms unit. We will learn about the difference between rocks and minerals in this investigation as well as how scientists identify them. We will do a variety of tests on rocks.
Kids will get to go outside and choose a unique rock. They will then write observations about it and other students will have to identify the rocks by using their descriptions.
We will also observe calcite, fluorite, gypsum, and quartz. We will do the scratch test and streak test on these rocks to help us identify them. We will learn out Mohs scale to help determine the hardness of minerals.
If you want to see what kids are doing in science, ask them to bring home their science composition notebook! This is a collection of all our labs and notes and can be great discussion. Have them explain to you what they are learning about!
Oct. 5-9
We are continuing to learn about erosion and deposition and I can tell that kids are picking up on the concept them more we see it and learn about it. We went outside and observed erosion and deposition in our schoolyard.
We now move on to Earth's Rapid Changes: earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and floods. Kids will learn how these changes can move material quickly and further than normal.
At the end of the week, we will begin our study of rocks and minerals.
September 21-25
This week kids will use stream tables to observe what happens to sand and clay mixture when water creates erosion and deposition. I will post pictures of this! We will learn how erosion, deposition, valleys, and other events in nature take place to move soil. Also this week kids will see how slope and flood conditions create erosion and deposition. They will again get to experiment using the stream table as a model. It will be an exciting, messy week in science!
September 14-18
This week we will see if any of the rocks we observed last week left any residue when mixing with an acid. We will discuss chemical reactions and how to observe them.
We then will begin an investigation on Schoolyard Soils. Kids will observe soils from a variety of locations around the school and we will notice differences and similarities between them.
We will end the week with an ICheck to see what concepts are learned and which are needing to be retaught.
September 4-11
We will learn about physical weathering and will get to see what happens to 2 rocks, granite and conglomerate, when they are shaken. Both rocks react very differently when shaken in a jar. We will also freeze water in a glass bottle to see what happens when water freezes between rocks.
Then we will observe the rocks basalt, limestone, marble, and sandstone. We will use vinegar as an acid to see what happens to each of these rocks when acid rain happens. Then we will pour the liquid into petri dishes to see if anything is in the acid after the liquid evaporates. We will read a story called "Weathering".
August 31-September 4
So far in science we have discussed rules and expectations of class. Kids also took a pretest on our first unit: Soils, Rocks, and Landforms. This will be an 8-10 week unit. All work will be done in class and lab notes will be in their composition notebooks. Kids can bring them home if they would like to show you their work but it is really important that they are back in class each day.
We are ready to start our labs! We will head outside for a bit to search for different types of soils and observe difference in them. Each group will then get 4 samples of soil from different locations. We will do observations and try to figure out where each sample is from based on what the soil is made of. We will even mix the samples with water to form layers.
We have one investigation left in Environments and will be planting 4 types of seeds and testing their water and salt tolerance.
The test will be THURSDAY, MAY 19th.
May 9-13
Kids are leaning about range of tolerance and preferred environments for brine shrimp. Ask kids to describe how small and what brine shrimp look like as well as what amount of salt they prefer.
This week we will be finishing up Investigation 2 and will be doing an ICheck on Thursday which will be graded.
Friday, 3 groups will set up an experiment to see how much water plants prefer and 3 groups will set up an experiment to see how much salt plants can handle. We will observe corn, radishes, barley, and peas for the rest of the school year!
May 2-6
This week kids will be setting up an experiment to find out the range of tolerance that brine shrimp eggs will hatch in. We will observe each day and at the end of the week, kids will be able to change conditions to allow more eggs to hatch. We will do some readings this week as well.
April 25-29
Monday: We will go outside and do a deer simulation to find out how many living things can survive in an area, given a certain amount of food.
Tuesday: Kids will make food webs using items from a Kelp Forest. We will learn about phytoplankton and zooplankton as well as predators and prey.
Wednesday: We will read "Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary" and "Comparing Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems".
Thursday: We will review and discuss Big Ideas from our 2nd investigation. Kids will begin ICheck 2, which will be graded.
Friday: We will discuss and correct ICheck 2.
April 18-22
Monday: We have beetles! Kids will be observing the structures and behaviors of beetles. Some of our temperatures do not have any yet; kids will change their environment to allow the mealworms to change into the next stage sooner.
Tuesday: We will learn about and practice with food chains. We will learn about competition of resources and food webs.
Wednesday: We read about ecosystems, food chains, and food webs. Kids will do a response sheet over information we are learning about.
Thursday: We will observe changes in our mealworm environments.
Friday: We will observe our aquatic environment.
April 11-15
Students will be beginning investigation 2--ecosystems this week.
Monday: Students will observe their mealworms and record their observations in science notebooks. The focus question will be added as we begin an investigation to find the environmental factors in an aquatic system. We will set up the class aquariums as well.
Tuesday: Students will be setting up their aquarium log in their science notebooks and adding vocabulary words. They will add elodea and scud to their aquariums.
Wednesday: Students will be reading a story about freshwater environments and answering their focus question.
Thursday: Students will observe their mealworms and record their observations in science notebooks. We will review ecosystems and prepare an investigation involving food chains and food webs.
Friday: We will introduce how a food chain works and the different components. The students will be adding vocabulary terms to their science notebooks as well.
April 4-8
Monday and Tuesday: We will go outside to search for leaf litter critters. Students will create those found on a replicator. As a class, we will sort the critters by location, color, size, etc.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday: We will do ICheck which will be graded. We will then go over this as a class so students learn from mistakes they made.
March 29-April 1
Tuesday: We will set up an experiment to test which moisture level isopods prefer.
Wednesday: Pam Holz will be in to teach a lesson about environments and organisms.
Thursday: We will set up an experiment to test if isopods prefer to be in the light or in the dark.
Friday: Groups will set up their own terrariums with organisms and seeds. We will observe these the next 2 months and observe changes.
We are beginning our final science unit: ENVIRONMENTS!
This is a very hands on exciting unit. Kids will be learning and setting up experiments to find out about animal and plant environments. We will focus on only changing one factor for each experiment.
We begin by learning about mealworms. Kids will learn about structures and behaviors of mealworms and will then set up an experiment to find out how temperature affects mealworms and their life cycle. We will find out what mealworms become in a few weeks!
We will then learn about isopods. Kids will determine, through experiments, if isopods prefer dry, moist, or wet soil and if they prefer to be in the light or dark.
ENVIRONMENTS UNIT BEGINNING MARCH 16th!!
We will not be having science for a few weeks - instead we will be doing our Great Depression and Essay units.
February 4-12
Kids will finish wiring their rooms and will then make a house out of 3-4 rooms. I will take pictures!
Then we will be reading about electricity and doing some worksheets for a couple of days.
January 29th : Electricity TEST!
February 1-5: Kids will be wiring a shoe box which will become a room of a house. They will have to make a paperclip switch and wire a bulb, and possibly a fan, to the ceiling! At the end of the week, 4 kids will be grouped together to put their rooms together to make the house. If time, they will be able to carpet, wallpaper, and decorate their rooms. Look for photos at the end of the week! This is a fun week for kids to use what they have learned about electricity to create something pretty neat!
January 25-29
Monday: Kids will learn how diodes work and we will also explore the difference between series and parallel circuits.
Tuesday: Kids will have one final day to work on their levels of electricity!
Wednesday: We will begin reviewing for the test.
Thursday: We will play Jeopardy to review for the test.
Friday: Electricity TEST
*If you haven't already brought in a shoe box, please do so! If you have extras, we will take them for kids that do not have one. This will be used to make a room that kids will wire with a switch, bulb, and batteries.
January 19-22
This week kids will be learning how switches work. Partners will make a switch using a paperclip and index card. Wednesday - Friday, those partners will use the switch to create a working flashlight out of construction paper and electricity materials. Look for photos at the end of the week as kids will be reading in the dark using their flashlights!
Please remember to send in a shoebox by January 29th!
January 11-15
This week, kids will test a circuit by finding the hidden circuit in a box. The connections will be made with a hidden wire and brass fasteners.
I will do some quick assessments to see if I need to reteach what we have been learning about. Kids will learn the secret language of electricity and will then have a couple more days to work on their levels of electricity, using the secret language, which makes drawing their circuits easier!
January 4-8
This week we will learn and label the parts of a lightbulb. Kids will predict and then test how many D cell batteries it takes to light a regular sized bulb. We will learn how to troubleshoot and figure out what is wrong with a circuit that is not working.
Then we will learn about conductors and insulators. Kids will create a small circuit and will test a variety of objects, like paper clips, straws, pencils, nails, etc, and will see if that item can complete the circuit.
On Friday, groups will each get to make their own filament using clay, batteries, wires, and 2 types of wires. If made correctly, the filament will light up!
December 14-23
Kids will have one more day to work on levels this week and will then do them once in a while during the rest of the unit.
We will move on to doing labs. Kids will take a closer look at circuits and identify and experiment with batteries, bulbs, and wires. We will work in groups to help each other! We will then learn what is inside a lightbulb. We will look closely at all the parts and will learn the names of each and how they work.
Dec. 1-14
We began our 2nd unit: ELECTRICITY! This has been a favorite of many kids in the past.
Kids continue working on 13 levels of electricity. Each student has passed level 1 and has lit the bulb using a battery, a bulb, and 1 wire. Each attempt must be drawn and labeled in their science notebooks. When they figure out how to light the bulb, they show me and then move to the next level, which includes more materials. Kids will eventually be using more wires, more bulbs, bulb holders, battery holders, switches, and fans! All kids will not get through the 13 levels and that is okay.
Kids WILL become frustrated at some point during the next few weeks, but once they light the bulb they will be motivated to move on! I do give clues after a day or two if kids have worked hard.
Each student will need 1 shoe box at the end of this unit (in about 10 weeks). This box will become a room of a house that kids will wire with a bulb, battery and a switch made out of a paperclip! You can send the box in whenever and I can store them in my room.
November 9-November 11
This will be the last 2 weeks of our first unit. Each class will get to make a class stepping stone to see how concrete is used. We will do some more readings that go along with our learning.
I am sending home all 3 IChecks today (11/5) so kids can start reviewing.
We will review by playing Jeopardy and the final test will be on THURSDAY, NOV. 12th.
October 26- 30
We are learning about different properties to identify rocks and minerals. Kids are getting to do scratch test, streak test, and magnet test as well other observations.
We will then get to observe the rock granite and will figure out which minerals make up that rock by a variety of tests and observations.
October 19-23
We are now learning about the differences between rocks and minerals and are using observations and tests to identify the minerals fluorite, calcite, gypsum, and quartz. We will observe, do the scratch test and do the streak test to help us ID the minerals. We will also do the acid test. We will use the Mohs hardness scale to help us figure them out as well.
Pam Holz comes on Thursday and will do hands on activities for kids to learn about how the 3 types of rocks - igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic - are made.
October 12-16
This week we will begin our 3rd investigation of our Soils, Rocks, and Landforms unit. We will learn about the difference between rocks and minerals in this investigation as well as how scientists identify them. We will do a variety of tests on rocks.
Kids will get to go outside and choose a unique rock. They will then write observations about it and other students will have to identify the rocks by using their descriptions.
We will also observe calcite, fluorite, gypsum, and quartz. We will do the scratch test and streak test on these rocks to help us identify them. We will learn out Mohs scale to help determine the hardness of minerals.
If you want to see what kids are doing in science, ask them to bring home their science composition notebook! This is a collection of all our labs and notes and can be great discussion. Have them explain to you what they are learning about!
Oct. 5-9
We are continuing to learn about erosion and deposition and I can tell that kids are picking up on the concept them more we see it and learn about it. We went outside and observed erosion and deposition in our schoolyard.
We now move on to Earth's Rapid Changes: earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and floods. Kids will learn how these changes can move material quickly and further than normal.
At the end of the week, we will begin our study of rocks and minerals.
September 21-25
This week kids will use stream tables to observe what happens to sand and clay mixture when water creates erosion and deposition. I will post pictures of this! We will learn how erosion, deposition, valleys, and other events in nature take place to move soil. Also this week kids will see how slope and flood conditions create erosion and deposition. They will again get to experiment using the stream table as a model. It will be an exciting, messy week in science!
September 14-18
This week we will see if any of the rocks we observed last week left any residue when mixing with an acid. We will discuss chemical reactions and how to observe them.
We then will begin an investigation on Schoolyard Soils. Kids will observe soils from a variety of locations around the school and we will notice differences and similarities between them.
We will end the week with an ICheck to see what concepts are learned and which are needing to be retaught.
September 4-11
We will learn about physical weathering and will get to see what happens to 2 rocks, granite and conglomerate, when they are shaken. Both rocks react very differently when shaken in a jar. We will also freeze water in a glass bottle to see what happens when water freezes between rocks.
Then we will observe the rocks basalt, limestone, marble, and sandstone. We will use vinegar as an acid to see what happens to each of these rocks when acid rain happens. Then we will pour the liquid into petri dishes to see if anything is in the acid after the liquid evaporates. We will read a story called "Weathering".
August 31-September 4
So far in science we have discussed rules and expectations of class. Kids also took a pretest on our first unit: Soils, Rocks, and Landforms. This will be an 8-10 week unit. All work will be done in class and lab notes will be in their composition notebooks. Kids can bring them home if they would like to show you their work but it is really important that they are back in class each day.
We are ready to start our labs! We will head outside for a bit to search for different types of soils and observe difference in them. Each group will then get 4 samples of soil from different locations. We will do observations and try to figure out where each sample is from based on what the soil is made of. We will even mix the samples with water to form layers.
