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!