Oreo Moon Phase Lab — 3/13/15

Who knew Space Science was so yummy?! Solar System Candy lab last week then our Oreo Lab today!!

Thanks to all my parent volunteers for supplying our Oreo cookies!! The kids were very appreciative.

We used our cookies to model the moon phases. 🙂

Here are pictures of all of our excited 4th graders as they worked on their lab.

We are going to try to wrap up our Space Unit by Friday of next week. We still have 2 Life Science standards to cover, and I’m wanting to review before we take our Aspire test on April 27.

Three Little Pig STEM activity — 2/6/15

We’ve worked so hard in Science this year!! We’ve finished our Earth Science objectives yesterday so I declared Friday as a fun day!!

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a fun challenge so I thought this would be a fun one for the day!

Each group of students were assigned the task of designing a house for the 3 little pigs out of toothpicks. After their houses were designed, I played the part of the big bad wolf with my hairdryer to see if they would stand up to the wind blow!

This was a fun activity to see the kids work together!! Here are some pics I snapped throughout the day!! I found this activity and the sheet here.

What’s Happening in Science — 10/27 to 10/31

It’s hard to believe that we are wrapping up our Physical Science with this weekly newsletter. We will come back to it during our big spring review. We are starting Week 9 this week, and we will have our quiz next Thursday (Nov. 6th.) We have lots planned and happening during the next 2 weeks!!

Monday –

We have 7 vocabulary words this week. Four of these words should look familiar to the kiddos — we’ve had them before during Week 8 and Week 5.

Today we are reading page 1 of our newsletter and illustrating NB 36. This will be our first page of our next Notebook Check.

Tuesday –

Today we are reading Force, Matter, and Motion. We are also having a Friction Lab today. We are using this neat lab page I found on teachers pay teachers. You can find the link here.

Wednesday – We will read about Gravity and Simple Machines. We will also complete our Simple Machine page on NB 38. I found this on teachers pay teachers. The link is available here. This will be our daily work grade for the week.

Thursday –

Today we will have a shorter class time due to a fun Reading activity this morning. We will begin learning about Issac Newton and start working on NB 39. I found this on teachers pay teachers. The link is here.

Friday —

Today we are having Halloween Lab Stations. I will post more information later in the week. 🙂

What’s Happening in Science – 10/20 to 10/24

This week we are learning about motion in our Week 8 Newsletter. We will test on Thursday. Our test will consist of 15 questions. It will be 9 questions from the newsletter and our six vocabulary words.

Monday —

Today we are going over our six new vocabulary words pictured below or on NB page 32. We are also reading page 1 of our newsletter and the portion about Robert Goddard.

Tuesday –

Today we are reading about how fast waves travel and reading A World in Motion. We will create a notebook page on NB 33. This will be our first daily work grade of the nine weeks.

Wednesday –

Today we are reading the Speeding Up and Giant Tractors section of our newsletter. We are also learning about Gravity. We will complete NB page 34 today.

Thursday –

Week 8 Quiz

Friday –

Today we will make a sundial if weather permits. Pictures to come 🙂

Electromagnet Lab — 10/9/14

Today we made electromagnets in class. I loved seeing our groups work together and hearing their squeals as their electromagnets started becoming magnetic.

Background – Electromagnets are different from regular magnets in a few ways. They can be turned on and off and their strength can be controlled. This makes them useful in many different technologies like headphones, washing machines, and electric motors.

Here are some pictures of groups with their electromagnets.

These students were the first in fourth period to make their electromagnet. 🙂

Sound Lab Stations – 9/24/14

This week we have been learning about Sound. Today we had our Sound Lab Station day. Students rotated between two stations. The first station was using straws to make duck calls. We talked about how the differing lengths of the straws affected the sound the straw made. My 4th period worked the best together of any of my classes — so I snapped their pictures as they worked and videoed one of our Duck Call lab groups. Enjoy!

http://instagram.com/p/tV5BAssZmx/?modal=true

Here are a couple of pictures of other 4th period kiddos working on their duck calls. I know parents will LOVE me for this!! 🙂 The information for this lab, and the link to the lab pages are in the post below or located here.

The next two pictures are from our other lab station. This lab was called Vibrating Ruler station. We’ve been talking about the different pitches of sound in Science — and this lab was a great test for listening to the different pitches of sound from different lengths of rulers. I found this lab activity here.

 

 

What’s Happening in Science the week of 9/8 – 9/12

We are continuing to work on our Week 3 Newsletter this week — Matter Changes. On Monday — We are reviewing our 8 vocabulary words. These words are located on page 10 of our Interactive Science Notebooks or you can find them here. We will also read our Joseph Priestly spotlight, and learn about the Properties of Matter. The picture below is our notebook page for today. It is located on page 12 of our notebooks, and it will be part of our next notebook check. I purchased this sheet and the powerpoint we will use in class from The Science Penguin. It is located here for anyone interested. Tuesday — We are reviewing vocabulary, and we are reading the sections in our newsletter titled Science Then and Now/Nylon is Invented. We will be completing Author’s Purpose on NB page 13. It is pictured below. This sheet was an excellent opportunity for us to tie-in Reading and Science.   On Thursday we will take our Open Newsletter Quiz. This quiz will consist of their 8 vocabulary words, and important information from their newsletter. As we read our newsletter, we discuss, highlight, and write in important information that will help them on their quizzes.

On Friday, we will start our Week Newsletter 5 – All About Energy.More information to come!! I’m so excited about all the things we are learning.

Tall Cup Challenge — 8/22/14

Today in Science, I passed out our Science test from yesterday. We looked at our Bananas from our experiment, and then we split up into groups for our Tall Cup Challenge. My homeroom had already done this — and it was so much fun! Each group got 48 small plastic cups. They were given the instructions that the tallest tower would win at the end of the specified time. It was very interesting to see these kiddos work together!!

2nd Period winners!! Look at those proud faces!!

5th Period 2nd place winners 🙂 .. Only 2nd place group ALL day! They worked so very hard!!

4th Period winners — Loved this group!! They built their structure and it tumbled at about three minutes before the timer went. They built it back — and won!!

5th Period 1st Place winners!!

6th Period — LOVE these girls!

My 8th Period bunch!! 🙂

What’s Happening in Science – 8/18 – 8/22

This week in Science we are starting our Weekly Newsletters. We are on week 1, and our focus will be on the Scientific Method and Science Tools. As we read our newsletter in class, we will highlight important information. We will take an Open Newsletter Quiz on Thursday in class. Students will be able to use their Newsletters to help them answer questions. Students have the newsletter in their Science pocket.

Monday – Students got their newsletters. I introduced their 4 vocabulary words for this week – investigation, prediction, hypothesis, and experiment. We read page 1 and completed page 4 on Science Tools.

Tuesday – We will learn about the Scientific Method today.

Wednesday – In class today we will begin ‘The Great Banana Experiment.’ More information to come .. Isn’t it cute though?! We will also learn about thermometers.

Thursday – We will take our Week 1 Science Quiz.

Friday — All classes will participate in The Tallest Cup Challenge. I will post pictures on Friday!!

Save Fred — 8/15/14

One of my favorite STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) Challenges to do is one called Save Fred. It’s perfect to kick the year off with in Science!!

To do this challenge, students were divided up into groups of four to five students. They were then told the sad story of Fred. Fred, the gummy worm, loves to boat on the lake at Bear Creek. You may have seen him there over the summer! He drives his boat a little too fast .. And everyone always warns him to wear a life preserver because he can’t swim. But that Fred .. He just doesn’t listen! Well .. on the fateful morning of Friday, the worst thing happened! He capsized his boat and is in danger of drowning! His life jacket is stuck under his boat, and he is on top of his boat. If he reaches to grab it, he’s scared he will fall in. Students were then challenged to help save him!

Each group was given:
4 paper clips
A gummy worm (Fred)
A gummy life saver (life jacket)
A plastic cup (the boat)

Students were told they could not touch any of the objects — they had to use their 4 paper clips to place the life jacket on Fred. I love seeing their facial expressions when they learn they have to use paper clips!!! 😬

All Fred’s were saved in fourth grade!! Even though some kiddos were obsessed with eating poor Fred after they saved his life. 🙂 Poor Fred– what a day!!