Most science lessons start with an anchoring event. This is a short, but interesting idea/phenomenon to get the students engaged. Today's was: can you really fry an egg on a hot sidewalk? After watching a video and thinking about this question, students continued with last week's adventure of being "stranded on a deserted island." They had to consider the insulating and conducting properties of different materials. Students tested different materials to determine which material is best for making oven mitts.. Last week we looked at the properties of absorbency, texture, and durability.
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This week we went back to the idea that by taking advantage of the properties of materials, we can solve many problems in our lives. Students explored the material properties involved in meeting basic needs. Today they thought about the question, "Why do we wear clothes?" Clothes are used for more than just protecting modesty. They are also used to protect us from the elements and even insects. Students explored the different properties of materials used for clothing and selected materials to construct a hat that protects them from the sun. In addition to shielding from the sun, the hat also needed to be sweat-absorbing and comfortable to wear. In the final session of our mini unit on the "work of water," students investigated the question, "What's strong enough to make a canyon?" Students used a model of rain and land to explain what causes a canyon to form. We continued with our mini unit on water. For today's session, the focus question was: Why is there sand at the beach? In this Mystery, students investigated the effects of rocks tumbling in a river. From the results of their investigation, they constructed an explanation for why there is sand at a beach. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. So before we went in for science, students had 15 minutes of extra recess. Check out the fun (and lots of mud!) below. For Science on February 16th, we started a mini unit on the "Work of Water." This unit helps students develop the idea that water is a powerful force that reshapes the earth’s surface. Students see that water isn’t just something we drink. It carries sand to create beaches, carves out canyons and valleys and, as ice, scrapes entire areas flat. Today's focus question was: If you floated down a river, where would you end up? Students developed a model of the earth’s surface and used it to discover an important principle about how rivers work. |
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