3rd - Endless Energy

Now that we're experts in wiring electrical circuits, we investigated the Law of Conservation of Energy. That's a mouthful that basically tells us that energy is never created or destroyed.

The student wired a simple circuit with a light and observed how energy changes from stored energy in a battery to electricity to light and heat.

Then they removed the light and replaced with with a small buzzer motor.

Ask your student what kinds of energy were observed with the buzzer motor: motion (kinetic), sound (also kinetic) and heat (from the friction).

I wish you all a very safe and fun holiday break. In the new year, we will embark on the study of animals, the solar system and plants.

5th - Where's the Water

My apologies in advance if your toilet wasn't flushed or your fifth grader has been nagging siblings about leaving the tap running while brushing their teeth.

This week the fifth grade participated in a simulation to represent the location of the earth's water. We learned a number of things relating both to the world's water supply and where our water comes from closer to home.

Ask you student what portion of your family can be supported by the water available in Santa Clara county. (It's 1/2. About 51% of our water is imported from elsewhere).

In addition to discussing the local water supply we investigated the proportion and location of fresh water in the world.

Ask your student how much of the world's water is in the oceans (about 97%) and to tell you about the "toast" that we had in class.

As a community dependent upon others for a great deal of our water, I encourage you to work with your children to explore ways that we can decrease water consumption.

3rd Grade - Electricity

A million years or so ago, I was an undergraduate studying physics and computer science. I had a reasonable theoretical background in science but little practical experience. As one of just a handful of females in the class, I was seriously nervous about the hands-on lab component of the course.

A classmate (and new friend) took me under his wing and gave me a crash course in using multimeters, breadboards, and other lab equipment. Today I got to "pay it forward" in a small way. The third grade explored electricity.

Ask your student whether electricity is matter or energy. Do they rememberwhat electricity is? (For our purposes, it is the flow of electrons.)

We built simple series circuits and tested a variety of items to see if they were conductors or insulators. Conductors allow the electrons that produce electricity to flow. Insulators prevent electricity from flowing.

Does your student remember an example of a conductor? An insulator?

Mrs. Pine will revisit this concept with the students in 4th grade when they investigate parallel and series circuits along with electromagnets. Hopefully our students who pursue science, engineering or other technical courses in college will feel very well prepared having had their first hands-on lesson before the age of 10. :-)

Science Rocks!

3rd Grade - Pumpkin Math

Working with authentic numbers, or numbers that have relevance to them, is a great springboard for math learning.

Over the past two weeks, the third grade classes have dug out and counted the seeds for twenty-three pumpkins.

The question investigated was whether a large, medium or small pumpkin had the most seeds.

Ask your student what we discovered. Hint: the point of the lesson was to learn that not every question has an easy answer and we don't always get what we expect in science.

In addition to the science portion of the lab, this lesson gave us the opportunity to manipulate large numbers. The most seeds found in one pumpkin this year was 901. That is a lot of counting!!!

The third grade will have on-going opportunities to work the numbers that add up to over 9,000 seeds including how to share large numbers equally. (Remember, we don't know how to do long division yet!)

Work with authentic numbers at home. Have your student decide on how to share the grapes evenly amongst family members or how to cut a cake into equal shares. This develops richer understanding of important mathematical concepts. .

1st - Gas Detectives

Gas is invisible but on Oct 23rd, the first grade used their sight, hearing, touch and smell to find clues that it exists. We watched a candle extinguish when we covered it with a jar.

Ask your student why they can smell good food when it is cooking?

We moved ping-pong balls without touching them. Ask your student for a demonstration.

Finally we closed our eyes and listened to various sounds including a drum, bell, harp & tuning fork. We discussed how gas is needed for the vibrations of the sound to be carried to our ears.

Ask your student where the three smallest bones in their body are? (their ear)

Have a fun & safe Hallowe'en.

5th - Digestion

In keeping with our theme of the human body, we moved on from respiration to digestion. There are no lack of giggles when discussing digestion with fifth graders . We discussed the

- role of the esophagus in moving food to the stomach

- two forms of digestion

- where the body absorbs nutrients.

Ask you student what the two types of digestion and how they happen.

We "digested" crackers to model physical and chemical digestion at work.

Ask your student to tell you about Mrs. A's friend who just had a remarkable surgery.

1st Grade - Liquids

We carried on our investigation of matter with a lesson filled with liquids.

We used our eyes, hands, noses and tongues to develop an understanding of the common properties and differences between liquids. The students came well-prepared by their classroom teachers and are showing a great understanding of how liquids fill their containers and behave.

Ask you student to show you how two water droplets become one.

We learned a new word that can be used to describe liquids: viscosity.

Ask your student if they remember what the word means and whether viscosity helped to predict the winner of "The Great Liquid Race"

Measurement is an important theme that will be developed throughout elementary school. Providing your child with opportunities to measure at home when cooking will help them acquire a good practical and academic foundation of volume.

5th Grade - Respiration

Today's lab focussed on the role of the diaphragm in respiration.

Ask your student to show you where the diaphragm is in their body and how it works.

We built models of our respiratory system with soda bottles, balloons, plastic wrap and tape. It's a project that is easily replicated at home.

You can find an example similar to the one we built at:

http://www.adprima.com/respdiagram.htm

The lesson also provides me with the opportunity to share the very personal story of my father-in-law, who we lost to lung cancer in October of 2008. The understanding of the respiratory that the students develop in 5th grade allows them to understand the conditions of emphysema and alveolitis that dad developed. He had a lung transplant but eventually succumbed to cancer two years later.

We discussed how important it is to no take up smoking despite peer pressure that one might have during middle and/or high school. We also remembered that smoking doesn't make someone a bad person but instead that smoking is a very difficult habit to give up and one that shouldn't be started by young people who are informed.

1st Grade - Solids

First graders began their investigation of matter with a look at solids.

Though students know much about solids through everyday experiences, it is important to develop skills of observation and classification in order to start viewing the everyday world with a scientist's eye.

We explored properties of solids such as length, mass, hardness, texture and shape.

Ask you student to pick four solids in your home.

Have them compare the solids. How are they the same? How are they different?

In coming weeks we will examine liquids and gases and how they are the same and different from solids.

3rd Grade - Chemical Change

Contrasted to our last lab on Physical Change this week we examined Chemical Change.

Chemical change happens when the molecules in a substance break apart and form something new. There are five signs that a chemical change has occurred. Today we found out that one of those signs is the production of a gas.

Ask your student the name of the tiny particles that make up matter. (molecules)

Ask your child to describe what happened when we combined baking soda and vinegar.

Ask them if they observed a physical change or chemical change.

We have completed our 3 labs on matter. Next up is a special lab that ties into Halloween. It you have any spare pumpkins, we need them in all sizes. Drop me note to tracey AT ananmalay DOT com if you have some to spare.

5th Grade - It's all Green to Me

As we investigate the systems of living things, the 5th grade took a closer look at photosynthesis in the lab. We learned that the glucose molecules that are made by plants using carbon dioxide and water are very large.

Ask your student if they remember how many atoms in a glucose molecule.

We took a close up look at the amazing "factories" that are leaves. Who knew that so much could happen inside such a thin object.

Students opined on which leaf in a group would produce the most food. The one with no chlorophyll was not the winner.

We also examined how water moves up a celery stalk.

Ask your student what part of the celery was colored.

Science Rules!

3rd Grade - Physical Change

During our last meeting, we explored the physical change of matter. Physical Change describes when something changes from:

- a solid to a liquid (popsicle melting)

- a liquid to a solid (making ice cubes)

- a gas to a liquid (condensation on the bathroom mirror)

- a liquid to a gas (puddles evaporating).

Ask your student about the tasty treat that we enjoyed in the lab and what steps we needed to take to make it.

We also discussed how the molecules behave differently in each type of matter.

Ask your student whether molecules in a gas or solid move more quickly.

Bonus question: Ask them why gases are invisible.

Next up, we'll explore Chemical Changes.

Science Rules!

1st Grade - Math & Science

Math & Science go hand in hand at all levels. This month, first graders applied their numeracy skills to an investigation on how the mass of grapes and raisins is different. We used the balance scales to compare the mass of grapes and raisins.

Instead of doing a direct comparison, we used the standard mass of a "teddy bear weight". This gave us a concrete example of comparing things using a common measurement unit.

Ask your 1st grader whether grapes or raisins have more mass.

Then ask them why? We love "why" questions in the science lab.

You could also ask them if bigger things always have more mass (think about a golf ball compared to a balloon).

Science Rules!

5th Grade - Building Blocks of Life

What many of us began learning in high school is now introduced in 5th grade. Our grade five students are exploring cells, tissues and ultimately organ and organ systems in plants and animals.

Ask your student how a cheek cell varies in size from an onion skin cell.

Ask them what a leaf has in common with your kitchen.

Labs for this unit will include investigations on cells, photosynthesis, digestion and respiration.

3rd Grade - It Matters

3rd Graders are exploring Matter during the month of September. In third grade, we define matter as "anything that takes up space".

Ask your third grader if light is matter.

We will explore matter as a solid, a liquid and a gas and see how matter can change from one state to another.