SCIENCE Understanding the World Around Us
Dec 24, 2015
SCIENCE
Understanding the World Around Us
Polar Bear, Polar Bear
Clap your hands and stomp your feet after each of the Polar Bear’s tricks.
Preparation: Bear shaped bottle; yellow, blue, red, food coloring; magic cleaner; water.
Children have a natural interest about the world around them.
Children act as scientists as they question their surroundings.
The SCIENCE AREA Place it near a window and away from active play
The focus is to allow the child to explore the world around them through hands on, activities, displays, and simple science experiments.
Have a table set up where materials are available for the child to examine with his/her senses.– Include items like: microscopes, magnifying glasses, globe,
pictures, plants, leaves, nuts and seeds, rocks, real and plastic animals, insects, seashells, building materials, experiments….
Introduce New Vocabulary and Skills: Problem Solve, Transformation, Reversal, Classification, Explore,
CHEMISTRY 1. Suspension
– Fireworks in a Glass 2. Chemical reaction
– Volcano 3. Chemical change
– Shiny Penny – 1/4c white vinegar 1 tsp salt in one glass. Add a dull or darkened penny and let sit. Check periodically.
– Pour bowl ¼ full of vinegar, place chicken bone in vinegar, cover bowl with lid.
– Make Butter
CREATIONS of MATTER:
GAK½ C Elmers Glue
1 C water
Food Coloring
1 Tbsp Borax
Pour glue and ½ c water in bowl and mix with a spoon. Add food coloring. In another bowl, put ½ c water and all of borax. Mix. Pour both bowls together and mix. When it becomes thick, mix with hands. Store in ziploc bag.
Silly PuttyIn a zip loc bag, place 1 In a zip loc bag, place 1 tablespoon Elmer's glue, 1 tablespoon Elmer's glue, 1 tablespoon water and 2 drops of tablespoon water and 2 drops of food coloring Mix well. In a food coloring Mix well. In a container mix 1/2 cup water and container mix 1/2 cup water and 1 tablespoon Borax. After the 1 tablespoon Borax. After the glue, water, and food coloring glue, water, and food coloring have been mixed, add 1 have been mixed, add 1 tablespoon of the borax mixture. tablespoon of the borax mixture. Close Ziploc and mix well. The Close Ziploc and mix well. The result is a very, very close result is a very, very close
resemblance to the silly putty.resemblance to the silly putty.
PHYSICAL Balance
– Does air have weight? 2 balloons and a ruler. Weight and Size
– Lift a bottle with a stick Gravity
– Drop various objects to see how they fall Water: Test Sink or Float
– Scuba Diver– Dancing raisins
Magnets– Dancing Socks
Machines: wheels, gears, lever (nutcracker) Conductor/Insulator
– ice cubes on a metal baking sheet, ice cubes on a piece of cardboard, which melts faster? Pour salt on ice cube and a string.
– Electricity Static on hair with balloons.– Crayon Melt on a hot plate
BOTANY Plants and trees
– Do leaves breath? Place a leaf in a glass of water and watch as bubbles form on the leaf.
– matching leaves with the tree. Germination
– sprout seed in plastic bag– Grass Head Guys. Grow grass in a
stocking and potting soil.
Photosynthesis– one plant in sun, one plant in
dark.
BIOLOGY Living and non-living things Animals
– Care of pets Habitats and Diets
– Make a home for a bird, study what a bird eats.
Living and non-living things– seashells, pet fish, watch tad poles develop,
hatch chickens. Our 5 senses
– smelling jars, tasting table, sound cans, touch gel bags.
Your Human Body
ASTROLOGY-METEOROGY
Sun– make a sundial, sun prints on paper.
Light and Dark – Shadow tracing – outdoors with the sun, indoors with the
flashlight. Moon and Stars
– shapes, chart phases of the moon The water cycle
– Make a cloud in a jar. Weather
– tornado in a bottle.– Thunder in a brown bag
Season changes
ECOLOGY Conservation Recycling Erosion Care of the
Environment– Worms in soil
BEST LEARNED THROUGH:
Experiences of the senses: – eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and touch
First hand experiences Simple experiments Unplanned discoveries Exciting discussion Observation Predictions
They are eager to learn about their world
Remember the SCIENTIFIC PROCESS?
Observe: notice, wonder explore. Ask questions Create a hypothesis Predict outcome Perform experiment Analyze results Evaluate hypothesis
CHARACTERISTICS OF A SCIENCE TEACHER:
Facilitator, observer Expands vocabulary Makes connections
– (books, exploration) Acknowledges ideas Follow up Questions
– To encourage children to discover scientific principles, the teacher should use effective questioning. These questions will help the child discover concepts for him/herself.
Effective Questioning OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS:
– Promotes discussion - requires decision-making skills• ** What are you observing?• How could you group these?• What happens when you ….?• ** What do you think will happen if….• What can you do to make that happen?• How does it look the same or different than it did yesterday?• ** How did you do that?• I wonder how _______ works?• What can you change to make ______ work/happen out?• When did this happen? What happened afterward?• ** I don’t know either. Let’s see if we can find out
CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS: – Single answer or Yes/No answers
• What color is it?• What shape is it?• Do you like to look at the fish?
BOOKS AND SONGS
Always include Books and Songs