Science
Energy
Our next unit in science is all about energy! There are several different vocabulary words that are important to know in this unit and you can see those below. These are the same words that we have up in our classroom.
Energy is all around us. Energy is the ability to do work. We need energy for everything we do. Animals and plants also need energy. Energy is needed to listen to the radio, watch television and even roast a marshmallow! There are three main forms of energy heat, light and sound.
Heat is one form of energy. Heat energy can change things. It can make things warmer, cook the food we eat, and even melt an ice cream treat on a hot day. The largest heat source we have is the sun. We use a thermometer to measure how hot or cold something is. A few examples of objects that produce heat are the sun, fire, irons, stoves, and hairdryers.
Light is another form of energy. Light helps us see objects. We see light with our eyes. Light travels in a straight line and can make things more visible. The sun is our major light source. The sun's light helps plants grow. There are other sources of light too. These sources can be natural or artificial. A few examples of objects that produce light include the sun, stars, light bulbs, fireflies and lightning.
Sound is another form of energy. Sound energy helps us hear noise. We hear sound with our ears. Sound is produced when something vibrates, or moves back and forth quickly. Sound travels in waves. We can't see sound waves because they are invisible. Sound waves can bend and go around corners. For example, you can hear the TV even if you are in another room. Volume is how loud or quiet a sound is. Pitch is how high or low a sound is. A few examples of objects hat produce sound would be a clock, guitar, radio, birds and the television.
Energy is all around us. Energy is the ability to do work. We need energy for everything we do. Animals and plants also need energy. Energy is needed to listen to the radio, watch television and even roast a marshmallow! There are three main forms of energy heat, light and sound.
Heat is one form of energy. Heat energy can change things. It can make things warmer, cook the food we eat, and even melt an ice cream treat on a hot day. The largest heat source we have is the sun. We use a thermometer to measure how hot or cold something is. A few examples of objects that produce heat are the sun, fire, irons, stoves, and hairdryers.
Light is another form of energy. Light helps us see objects. We see light with our eyes. Light travels in a straight line and can make things more visible. The sun is our major light source. The sun's light helps plants grow. There are other sources of light too. These sources can be natural or artificial. A few examples of objects that produce light include the sun, stars, light bulbs, fireflies and lightning.
Sound is another form of energy. Sound energy helps us hear noise. We hear sound with our ears. Sound is produced when something vibrates, or moves back and forth quickly. Sound travels in waves. We can't see sound waves because they are invisible. Sound waves can bend and go around corners. For example, you can hear the TV even if you are in another room. Volume is how loud or quiet a sound is. Pitch is how high or low a sound is. A few examples of objects hat produce sound would be a clock, guitar, radio, birds and the television.
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Forces and Motion, Gravity and Magnetism
Our current science unit is all about forces, motion and magnets.
Let's start with forces. We first started with some vocabulary words and discussed words such as position, motion and speed. Position is the place where something is. Motion is the change in the position of an object and speed is how fast or slow something moves. We then proceeded to talk about what makes things move. We all agreed that objects don't move on their own, you have to use a push or a pull to put something in motion. Together we talked about ways that we can push or pull. The greater the force, the greater distance an object will move. We talked about kicking a soccer ball, if you kicked a ball lightly, it won't go very far, but if you kicked a ball hard then it will go farther.
We then talked about friction and how friction is a force that occurs when one object rubs against another object. Friction pushes against moving objects and causes them to slow down. If we go back to our soccer example above. Let's say you kicked the ball hard, even though you used a lot of force, the ball will not roll forever. The ball will eventually come to a stop because it will encounter friction from the ground.
Next, we moved onto gravity. We learned that gravity is always pulling objects down. We talked about how gravity is what keeps us on the ground and that gravity is always pulling on every object and trying to pull it to the ground. We also discussed that the bigger the object, the greater the force. We did a fun experiment in class where students learned about gravity. We placed our notebooks on our desks and we observed that the notebooks were not moving, even though gravity was pulling it down. It stayed where it was because the desk was holding it up. We then slowly pushed the notebook off the sides of our desk and eventually as more of our notebook was pushed over the desk, gravity took over and pulled the notebook down to the ground. Even repeating the experiment, we found the same conclusion, the notebook fell to the ground (albeit sometimes it opened or closed or bounced on the ground).
One example that we looked at closely this week was the game of baseball and how it was full of forces. A pitcher pushes the ball towards the batter. The batter pushes the bat towards the ball and if they connect, the bat then pushes the ball in the opposite direction. We also discussed how the ball flying in the air will come back down because gravity is pulling it down. We also watched a Magic School Bus episode about gravity to help us learn about gravity in a different way. You can watch this episode below.
Let's start with forces. We first started with some vocabulary words and discussed words such as position, motion and speed. Position is the place where something is. Motion is the change in the position of an object and speed is how fast or slow something moves. We then proceeded to talk about what makes things move. We all agreed that objects don't move on their own, you have to use a push or a pull to put something in motion. Together we talked about ways that we can push or pull. The greater the force, the greater distance an object will move. We talked about kicking a soccer ball, if you kicked a ball lightly, it won't go very far, but if you kicked a ball hard then it will go farther.
We then talked about friction and how friction is a force that occurs when one object rubs against another object. Friction pushes against moving objects and causes them to slow down. If we go back to our soccer example above. Let's say you kicked the ball hard, even though you used a lot of force, the ball will not roll forever. The ball will eventually come to a stop because it will encounter friction from the ground.
Next, we moved onto gravity. We learned that gravity is always pulling objects down. We talked about how gravity is what keeps us on the ground and that gravity is always pulling on every object and trying to pull it to the ground. We also discussed that the bigger the object, the greater the force. We did a fun experiment in class where students learned about gravity. We placed our notebooks on our desks and we observed that the notebooks were not moving, even though gravity was pulling it down. It stayed where it was because the desk was holding it up. We then slowly pushed the notebook off the sides of our desk and eventually as more of our notebook was pushed over the desk, gravity took over and pulled the notebook down to the ground. Even repeating the experiment, we found the same conclusion, the notebook fell to the ground (albeit sometimes it opened or closed or bounced on the ground).
One example that we looked at closely this week was the game of baseball and how it was full of forces. A pitcher pushes the ball towards the batter. The batter pushes the bat towards the ball and if they connect, the bat then pushes the ball in the opposite direction. We also discussed how the ball flying in the air will come back down because gravity is pulling it down. We also watched a Magic School Bus episode about gravity to help us learn about gravity in a different way. You can watch this episode below.
Magnetism
The last thing that we discussed in this unit was about magnetism. Magnets can attract or pull some objects. Magnets can attract objects through solids, liquids and gases. The farther a magnet is from the object, the weaker the magnets pull will be. Magnets are attracted or will pull at objects with iron or nickel in them. We will also do an experiment to see what kinds of objects a magnet will attract. Students will be able to use objects such as pencils, crayons, erasers, paperclips etc. We will also briefly discuss the magnetic poles on magnets. We will discuss how each end of a magnet has poles, there is a north pole and a south pole. Students will learn that when you put opposite magnetic poles together they will attract each other, but if you put the same poles together they will repel or push apart. |
Matter
Our next unit in science is all about matter. We first started this unit with learning about the definition of matter, which is anything that takes up space and has mass (weight). We first started by looking at different objects and determining whether they had mass or not. We will continue on by learning more about the 3 states of matter: Solid, Liquid and Gas and how they can change from one state to another.
During this unit we are really focusing on the 3 states of matter: solids, liquids and gases. We will spend a lot of time talking about the properties of each state of matter.
Solids
Liquids
Gases
We will also watched a short video about how water can be all three states of matter. Water can be a solid when frozen (ice cubes), a liquid and it can be a gas when it evaporates (like steam from boiling water).
I am including below a short video about states of matter that students can use. We did not watch this in class but it does have some great information in it. It does go a little beyond what we talked about (it mentions the molecules but students are not required to know this right now), it also mentions the water cycle, which we will come back to later this year.
During this unit we are really focusing on the 3 states of matter: solids, liquids and gases. We will spend a lot of time talking about the properties of each state of matter.
Solids
- has a shape of it's own
- has properties such as: hard, soft, smooth, rough, different colors, bend, float, sink, made of different materials and colors and more
- all solids have mass
Liquids
- takes the shape of whatever container it is in, without a container, liquid flows and has no shape
- all liquids have mass
- can be thin like milk or thick like honey
- has volume (amount of space that something takes up)
- you can measure volume of a liquid with a measuring cup
Gases
- spreads out to fill the space it is in
- we cannot see the gases in the air, but they are all around us
- can have different masses, but generally gases have only a little mass
We will also watched a short video about how water can be all three states of matter. Water can be a solid when frozen (ice cubes), a liquid and it can be a gas when it evaporates (like steam from boiling water).
I am including below a short video about states of matter that students can use. We did not watch this in class but it does have some great information in it. It does go a little beyond what we talked about (it mentions the molecules but students are not required to know this right now), it also mentions the water cycle, which we will come back to later this year.
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What is a scientist and the Scientific Method
In science we started our year out by discussing what a scientist is and does and the types of tools that scientists use. We did this by creating a lapbook that helped us explore some of the tools that scientist use, what scientists do and it introduced us to the scientific method. We learned how the scientific method is a process that scientists go through to ask and answer questions. We learned about each step and discussed how we use our 5 senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch) to observe the world around us. Then we got a chance to put our knowledge into action with our very first science experiment. We posed a question to students... can you make a boat from clay and have it float. Students got to discuss with their groups how they wanted to design their boat, what would it look like and described it. Then they had a chance to build and test their design. If it sank or took on water, they were able to go back and adjust their design and idea and try again. In the end, all groups were successful and some teams were able to build boats that help 19 of our math unifix cubes!