Lesson One: Germ Science
Lesson Two: Animal Classification
Live Lesson with Mrs. Cecil and Mrs. Haker
Lesson Three: Reptiles
Lesson Four: Live Lesson, Monday April 6th
Lesson Five: Science Lesson and Zoom with Mrs. Cecil Wednesday, April 8th
Lesson Six: Science with Mrs. Cecil and Mrs. Haker: Monday, April 13th and Tuesday, April 14th
Lesson Seven: Science with Mrs. Cecil, Wednesday April 15th
Lesson Eight: Monday, April 20th with Mrs. Cecil and Tuesday, April 21st with Mrs. Haker
Lesson Nine: Wednesday, April 22nd with Mrs. Cecil
Lesson Ten: Monday, April 27th with Mrs. Cecil and Tuesday, April 28th with Mrs. Haker
Lesson Eleven: Wednesday, April 29th with Mrs. Cecil
Lesson Twelve: Monday, May 4th and Tuesday, May 5th with Mrs. Cecil and Mrs. Haker
Lesson Thirteen: Wednesday, May 6th with Mrs. Cecil
Lesson Fourteen: Monday, May 11th and Tuesday, May 12th with Mrs. Cecil and Mrs. Haker
Lesson Fifteen: Wednesday, May 13th with Mrs. Cecil
Lesson Sixteen: Monday, May 18th with Mrs. Cecil
Lesson One
GERM Science
Science Objectives: The student will be able to list the four different types of germs and how they can be useful or harmful.. The student will discuss the why, when, and how of hand-washing and how this one skill is paramount to maintaining a healthy body. The student will learn how to make several tools that are often used to ensure germs do not spread from person to person.
Kids Health: Why do I need to wash my Hands?
Download and print worksheet to complete with above video.
Download and print worksheet for the above link
______________________________________________________________________
Activity: Make Germs Scatter Experiment
__________________________________________________________________________
How Your Immune System Works:
Meet Chloe and Nurb! When you get sick, your immune system comes to the rescue. Find out more in this movie for kids.
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Mini-lesson – How does hand sanitize kill germs?___________________________________________________________________________
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Challenge:
Make a face mask for someone who needs it.
Bonus: Character Building Lesson!
Lesson Two
Learning Objectives:
- Living things can be sorted into groups in many ways.
- Animals are grouped, or classified, by similar characteristics.
Science: How do Scientists classify living things/organisms?
Monday Biology students, K-6, have been learning about the classification of all living things. We have started with single-celled organisms and progressed to simple, multicellular living things, and living things classified as invertebrates. The week before our Spring Break, we explored the living creatures in the phylum arthropoda.
The next few weeks, we will be looking at living things in the kingdom animalia that are vertebrates. We will be exploring the 5 most well known classes of vertebrates: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians. Next week, we will explore vertebrates in the class reptilian and list their main characteristics. I will have a live Zoom “conference” with a few of the reptiles that live at my house!
Print these notes to use in this lesson and put them in your biology notebook
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Activity 1
Mystery Science: How many different kinds of animals are there?
In this Mystery, students examine how scientists organize animals into groups based on their characteristics. In the activity, Animals Sorting Game, students study animal traits and use these traits to sort animal cards into mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates. Students are then challenged to make decisions about animals that don’t fall neatly into any of those categories.
Downloadable Animal Cards: Print and color to learn more about each animal
Downloadable Challenge Cards: Print and test your knowledge about the animals you’ve studied
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Activity 2 (Geared toward younger students)
Listen to the story Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo by Karma Wilson
Animal Classification: Many different kinds of animals live at the zoo (ask your student to list all the animals he remembers from the book). You may want to write down the animals your student remembers. Ask him to group them in different ways (animals that can fly vs. animals that can’t; animals with two legs vs. animals with four; animals who live in water vs. animals who live on land; etc.) Tell your student that scientists have grouped animals in a special way; they’ve grouped animals based on their similarities and differences. One of these groups in the Animal Kingdom is called vertebrates. Within the classification vertebrates (animals with backbones), there are five different categories: Mammal, Reptile, Bird, Amphibian, and Fish.
VIDEO: Watch Brainpop Jr: Classifying Animals
K-2 Click to download a lapbook! Write in characteristics for each category that you remember from the video. We will continue adding characteristics as we learn more about each category.
Older students
VIDEO: Watch Animal Classification for Children
Animals are classified into different groups based on their characteristics. Invertebrates are animals that do not have a spine, or backbone. Vertebrates are animals that do! Vertebrates are further classified into fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Come and learn what makes animals a part of these groups in this fun, kid-friendly
3-6=Download Lapbook: Write in characteristics for each category. We will continue to add characteristics as we learn more about each category.
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Here’s an extra link for those that want to dig deeper!
Live Lesson with Mrs. Cecil and Mrs. Haker
Lesson Three: Reptiles
Learning objectives
Students will be able to:
- Identify the main characteristics of reptiles
- Name and describe the four main categories of reptiles — lizards, snakes, turtles/tortoises, and crocodiles.
- Distinguish reptiles from other vertebrates
All About Reptiles– Read more about reptile characteristics and facts.
Video: Reptiles (provided by BrainPop)
Smithsonian National Zoo Reptile Discovery Center (Geared toward older students but great collection of information)
Take a trip to the Reptile Discovery Center, virtually of course! Here you’ll find awesome images, fact sheets and conservation information for over 70 reptiles and amphibians.
Science Experiment: Reptile Egg
Ever wondered what a reptile egg feels like? Take a crack at this experiment and let us know what you discovered during next week’s Zoom class.
This link provides you with directions on how to make an easy and really cute CD animal that you can hang up in your room or garden. Try making your own turtle or get creative and show us your reptile creation during our next Zoom class.
Lesson Four: Zoom Lesson Monday, April 6th
Lesson Five:Wednesday April 8th Lesson with Mrs. Cecil
Wednesday’s Exploration Science K-6th
Newton’s Bottle
Objectives:
–The learner will recall Newton’s First Law of Motion and be able to define the terms inertia and friction.
–Utilizing prior knowledge, the learner will hypothesize the outcome for the following experiments:
Materials Needed:
2 Glass Soda bottles
Several dollar bills, some old, some new
7-10 Quarters
Activity #1:
- Flatten the dollar bill onto a clean, flat surface. Place the bottle open end down in the center of the dollar bill. Steady the bottle carefully. It should be standing in the center of the dollar bill, upside down.
- Try to pull the dollar bill out from under the bottle without:
-
- touching the bottle
- Knocking the bottle over.
WERE YOU ABLE TO PULL THE DOLLAR BILL OUT FROM UNDER THE BOTTLE WITHOUT KNOCKING OVER THE BOTTLE?
- Now, carefully roll up the dollar bill on one end, rolling towards the bottle.
- When the rolled up dollar bill reaches the mouth of the glass bottle, slowly nudge the bottle towards the far edge of the bill. Continue to roll up the dollar bill until it is completely out from under the bottle that is left standing alone, upside down.
CHALLENGE:
Place a dollar bill between 2 glass bottles, stacked mouth to mouth and balanced on one another. Now, are you able to swipe the dollar bill out from between the two bottles without the bottles falling? Does swiping the dollar bill quickly or rolling it slowly and carefully keep the bottles balanced? What about a dollar bill that is wrinkled, old or dirty? How does FRICTION change the results? Try other papers with different surfaces: construction paper, sandpaper, index card, cardboard.
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Activity #2:
- Place the dollar bill as centered as you can on the mouth of a soda bottle.
- Place a stack of 6 quarters on top of the bill so they’re balanced directly over the mouth of the bottle.
- Point an index finger and use it to quickly swipe the dollar bill out from between the bottle and the quarters. Be careful to not hit either the coins or the bottle.
WERE YOU ABLE TO SWIPE THE DOLLAR BILL AWAY WITHOUT KNOCKING OVER THE BOTTLE OR COINS?
CHALLENGE:
Try it again but this time use less or more quarters. How does this change the results? Now, see if you can balance a second bottle on top of the bottle, a dollar bill, and a stack of coins. Can you repeat the same trick without knocking everything over? Take what you know about friction and inertia and test the bill in between other identical objects stacked on top of each other. (like cups, cans, or jars)
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NOTES (older students keep lab notes in their science binders)
- Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion — ____________ states an object in motion or at rest tends to stay in motion or at rest UNLESS a force acts on it to change its speed, direction, or movement.
- _____________ is the tendency of one surface to give resistance on another object when this object moves across its surface.
- Activity #1 demonstrates INERTIA. But it is the ______________ of the magician’s trick of pulling the tablecloth off of a table. In this experiment, the balanced bottle wants to stay at rest in this upside down position. Using the magician’s trick and quickly whipping out the dollar, causes TOO MUCH inertia and this force makes the bottle fall. The key here is ___________ and __________. The friction between the bottle and the dollar bill is strong and you need to reduce the impact of this friction by slowly and steadily rolling the dollar, making sure you use less force and the bottle will not be tipped over. Old and dirty dollar bills are usually more crumpled and these factors increase the friction and make this experiment more difficult.
- Activity #2 demonstrates FRICTION. The surface of a dollar bill that is clean and smooth does not create much friction between the dollar bill and the stack of coins or the bottle below. With very little friction, the dollar bill doesn’t pull on the coins or the bottle and they remain balanced. Add more ______________ by using sandpaper or cardboard and see what happens. Adding or decreasing the number of quarters to this experiment changes the force needed to whip out the dollar bill.
DRAW your observations and results of the two experiments.
ANSWER KEY TO NOTES:
- Inertia
- Friction
- Opposite, slow and steady
- Friction
Lesson Six: Monday, April 13th and Tuesday, April 14th
Monday, April 13th with Mrs. Cecil
Recorded Zoom Session:
April 13th/14th Science K-6
Lesson Objectives:
- Define amphibian
- Identify common characteristics of amphibians
- Describe the various types of amphibians – frogs & toads, salamanders, & caecilians (seh-SILL-yens)
- Describe where amphibians live and how they obtain food
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REMEMBER TO PRINT AND COMPLETE YOUR NOTES WORKSHEET AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS LESSON.
Activities:
Mystery Science: Why do frogs say “ribbit”
This Mystery is a case study in biodiversity using the frogs of North America. In the activity, Who’s Calling?, students learn to identify frogs by their unique calls and investigate which of two locations has a greater variety of frogs. After listening to recordings of frog calls, students create words that will remind them of the sounds, and then use those words to identify frog sounds in different environments.
Amphibians Video and Quiz (Free access with registration)
In this BrainPOP movie Tim and Moby teach you the history and biology of amphibians, those crawly-jumpy creatures that includes frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts. Take the quiz at the end of the video to see how much you can remember.
Read more about Amphibians
Meet the Animals – Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Want to learn more about the Emperor Newt, Tomato Frog or just explore some of the amphibians on exhibit. Visit “Meet the Animals” web page and click on Amphibian as the Type of animal to narrow your search.
Amphibian Word Search
How many keywords can you find in this fun word search?
PRINT ME: Amphibian Word Search
Click here to download the handy fact wheel and try quizzing yourself or a sibling. If you feel like going the extra mile, create your own fact wheel with some leaping fun facts!
Read Aloud – Frogs by Gail Gibbons (Read by Jennifer Schaffer)
With her signature bright, well-labeled diagrams and simple text, Gail Gibbons introduces the habitat and life cycles of frogs, and gives a brief overview of common frog behaviors. Important vocabulary is introduced, defined, and reinforced with kid-friendly language and clear illustrations—plus a page of intriguing frog trivia.
Toad Abode
Using a small pot and some bold colored paint or paint pens, you can create a home that just might attract your own backyard toad.
Learn more about how to make your own TOAD ABODE here.
FOR MORE ON AMPHIBIANS, GOOGLE “ANIMAL FACT FILES” and choose short, informative videos about many different kinds of animals. Here’s one of many videos:
Amphibians Notes Worksheet:
PRINT and place in your notebook when completed!
Lesson Seven: Wednesday, April 15th: Exploration Science with Mrs. Cecil
Objectives:
The student will review the definitions of force and surface area.
The student will explore how the surface area of an object can decrease the effects
of this force.
Materials:
Paper towel or toilet paper rolls
Tissue paper or kleenex
Rubber or hair bands
A stick or chopstick
½ cup of salt or rice
Plastic bottle
Dry rice (enough to fill the water bottle)
Experiment #1: Magic Tissue Paper
- Place the tissue paper over one end of the toilet paper roll and make sure it is as flat as possible. Carefully, hold the tissue in place with a rubber or hair band.
- Try puncturing the tissue paper using your wooden stick. How easy was it?
- Place a new piece of tissue paper over the end of the toilet paper roll and hold it in place with your band, the same as before.
- Set the toilet paper roll, tissue side down, on a flat surface. Make sure the tissue and roll are flat.
- Pour salt, or whatever you want to try, into the toilet paper roll until it is 3/4-full.
- Lightly tap the toilet paper roll on the hard surface to help pack the salt.
- Now, try to push your stick through the tissue paper on the end. How easy is it now?!?
Challenge:
Try different materials in the toilet paper roll such as rice, baking soda, gravel,
sugar, beads. What works best? What doesn’t work?
Try different lengths of tubes. Does the length of the tube make a difference?
Try different types of thin papers, like toilet paper or paper towels. Record your observations below:
Experiment #2: Floating Rice Bottle
- Fill a plastic bottle up with rice but stop about an inch from the top.
- Put the lid on the bottle and shake it to fluff up the rice, until it looks nearly full.
- Now, put your stick or chopstick in the center of the bottle and CAREFULLY lift. Careful, it will make a mess!
- Now, you want to put some extra rice into the bottle. To make room for the extra rice, tap the bottom of the bottle on the table. Add more rice and continue to tap, until all of the space is taken up by the rice.
- It is time to try to lift the bottle again. Put your stick in the bottle this time and carefully lift the bottle up by the stick. It should “stick” to the rice well enough to lift the bottle.
Challenge:
Try different sizes of sticks and bottles.
Try different amounts of rice in the bottle. What is the least amount of rice that you can use and still make it “stick?” Is there a point where there is too much rice?
Try different types of objects. Do pebbles or sugar or salt work the same way? Record your observations below:
Notes for Experiment #1:
- I bet it was obvious to you that the wooden stick can easily push through a piece of tissue paper that’s wrapped around a cardboard tube. Remember, FORCE is a ___________ or ___________ on an object that can cause the object.
- But, what changes when you add salt to the tube? The amount of _________ you use to push into the tube remains the same. I bet you even add even MORE force into the tube once the salt is added to try to break the tissue!
- Does the salt give the tissue magical hero strength? ______________
- The key to the tissue paper’s sudden strength is the addition of salt. BUT WHY? Any guesses why salt appears to make the tissue super strong? ____________________________________________________________
- The tiny grains of salt add one special “trick” we have learned about before.
Two words: _____________ __________
- SURFACE AREA is the measurement of the outer areas a solid object has around it. Basically, it’s the surface or ____________ of any object, all of the way around it. Think of a cube and how many sides it has.
- The ¾ cup of salt we poured into the tube is made up of thousands of salt grains. We could not count them all! All of the force of you pushing the stick into the tube spreads from grain to grain of salt and against the outside of the tube. The force is also spread across the entire area of the tissue paper, instead of just one small area of the thin tissue paper. The _______________ surface area of all of the salt makes the tissue paper appear magically stronger!
Draw a PICTURE of experiment #1 below:
Notes for Experiment #2
1.This “magic trick” dates back thousands of years. But it isn’t really magic, it’s
just __________________.
- Inserting the stick into the bottle of packed rice, takes up additional space.
Rice is not a fluid, so it can not be as easily displaced as fluids can.
Remember, DISPLACEMENT is the __________ or ____________ of an object, usually a fluid, that is pushed away and equals the amount of the object that replaced the object or fluid. (Remember, Eureka?!?) The rice is packed in so tightly that there is little room to move so it presses against the sides of the bottle. The stick is wedged in between the tiny spaces between the individual pieces of rice.
- As you tap the bottle, you are packing down the rice, filling in spaces that are not really “empty” in between each grain of rice. The spaces that look
empty really have __________ in the small spaces between each rice
grain.
- Our friend, and sometimes enemy, _____________ helps hold the stick in the
bottle as it is lifted in the air.
Draw a PICTURE of Experiment #2 below:
Answer Key:
Experiment #1:
- Push or pull
- Force
- NO!
- Any hypothesis here
- Surface area
- Outside
- Increased
Experiment #2:
- SCIENCE!
- Weight or volume
- Air
- Friction
Lesson Eight: Monday, April 20th and Tuesday, April 21st
Zoom Lesson with Mrs. Cecil
Zoom Lesson with Mrs. Haker (pt. 1 and pt 2)
Learning objectives:
Define birds
List the 5 main characteristics of birds
Discover interesting facts about different types of birds
Describe where birds live and what they eat
Lesson Notes:
Download the lesson notes to print here!
Lesson Links:
All About Birds for Children: Animal Learning for Kids- FreeSchool
Listen to story: A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Betz Jenkins
Class share: Simple Brick Birds Building Instructions
This link offers easy instructions on using blocks to build a duck, cardinal, peacock or owl. Choose a bird from this website or try building your own and then answer these questions:
- Common name:
- Scientific name:
- Diet:
- Size:
- Weight:
- Where it lives:
- Interesting fact to share with class:
Mystery Science Mini-lesson: Why do birds lay eggs in the spring?
Mystery Science: How could you get more birds to visit a bird feeder?
In this Mystery, students investigate which kinds of birds are likely to visit a bird feeder based on what they eat. In the activity, Design a Bird Feeder, students first draw their own bird feeder design to attract a specific type of bird. Then they build a prototype of their bird feeder using available materials.
Read more about birds:
- National Geographic- Birds
- Bird Facts for Kids
More videos about birds:
Animal Fact Files has many videos about birds. Check them out!
Add your favorite species of birds to your animal book or add them to your printed notes!
Lesson Nine: Wednesday, April 22nd with Mrs. Cecil
Exploration Science
Objectives:
The students will explore the physics of balanced forces.
The students will discover how laws of geometry and physics work together to balance the forces of gravity and weight.
Materials:
3 glasses or glass bottles or jars
3 butter knives
Drinking glass or container
Water
Several pieces of light weight printer paper
A book or two
A rubber band
Other Non-breakable objects
Experiment #1:
- Place three glass soda bottles or containers at an equal distance apart, in a triangular shape.
- Now, add the butter knives, making sure the glass containers or bottles are close enough to one another so that the blade of one knife lays atop the handle of another.
- Gently, rest the knives on top of the bottles, placing the handle of the knives on the open end of the glass container or bottle. The knives will stay interweaved and balanced.
- Set a drinking glass on top of the very center of the knives. The cup should sit balanced and steady.
- Pour water into the drinking glass to check if your design is balanced.
- Draw a picture of your structure below:
Challenge:
Try this with other objects. Will forks or spoons work? What about different sized glasses or containers? In a safe place (not near your paperwork or computer!) try adding more water to the middle container. Does the weight of the center container change the balance? How can you make this experiment more difficult?
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Experiment #2:
- Apply what you have learned about balancing forces. Do you think you could balance a book on a rolled up piece of paper? Try as many ways as you can think of to make the paper “stronger.” Remember our last few experiments and how we made things appear to be stronger by distributing the force and maintaining balanced forces.
- Now, roll the paper into a tall cylinder, side to side, and wrap a rubber band around the tube to keep it in place.
- Can you balance the textbook on top of the paper cylinder now? What made the difference?
- Find other items to balance on top of your powerful tower or paper. Make sure you only add items that are not breakable!
- How many items were you able to get on top of your paper cylinder before it was crushed under the weight of the objects? If you have a scale, weigh the items you added. If you don’t have a scale, make a see-saw balance to weigh your objects.
- Draw your experiment below.
Challenge:
What other shapes have “super powers?” Can you list other geometric shapes that have super strength? Test out other shapes and experiment with balancing forces. You are expanding your knowledge of physics and geometry! What if you change the type of paper you used? Would thicker paper add more strength?
Print me! Notes for April 22nd Science Lesson
How do you balance a glass between bottles using only three knives?
Lesson Ten: Monday, April 27th with Mrs. Cecil and Tuesday, April 28th with Mrs. Haker
Monday with Mrs. Cecil
Tuesday with Mrs. Haker
Learning Objectives:
Define the animal class of fish
Identify the 5 characteristics of fish
Discover interesting facts about fish
Learn more about fish and how they live in their environment
Lesson Notes: Download me and print! Fish Notes
Lesson Links:
Follow these links to learn more about fish.
Take the quiz at the end to test your knowledge!
- Video: Fish BrainPOP Jr. (free access with registration)
- Video: Fish BrainPOP (free access with registration)
Read more about fish using these links:
Mystery Science Mini-lesson: Why can’t fish breathe on land?
Mystery Science Mini-lesson: Do fish Sleep?
Animal Fact Files Fish Videos:
Short, informative videos about many different types of fish.
CHALLENGE ACTIVITIES:
Can’t get enough? Here are some additional activities for you to explore.
Building Block Fun: Ocean LEGO Projects Build
Build an Ocean theme habitat with ideas from this link. Show off your building abilities during our next Zoom class. Don’t forget to include your fish!
Video: Facts about fish for kids by Homeschool POP
Fish facts! This learning video for kids is the classroom edition of Fish for Kids video.
National Geographic – Learn more about a variety of fish
Awesome Aquascope – Have you ever looked at the surface of a pond or stream and wished you could see what was going on down there? With this awesome aquascope, now you can.
Read Aloud Story: Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni (Lesson provided by Scholastic)
Review amphibians, birds and fish with this sweet story of a tadpole and minnow who are friends in the pond. These two friends live happily in the pond until the tadpole becomes a frog and leaves. He brings back fantastic descriptions of the outside world.
Help children focus on the similarities, differences, and friendship between the fish and the frog with the following discussion questions:
- How were the fish and the frog alike at the beginning of the story?
- In what ways did they become different from each other as they grew?
- How did the fish feel when he heard about the many things the frog had seen?
- What happened to the fish when he jumped out of the water? What did he learn from this?
Lesson Eleven: Wednesday, April 29th with Mrs. Cecil
Wednesdays–Exploration Science
Objectives:
The students will build on their knowledge base for Newton’s first law of motion.
The students will explore the differences between the “twin forces”–centripetal
and centrifugal forces.
Materials:
A wire coat hanger
A penny
2 clear, plastic cups
Hot glue gun or strong, clear tape
2 lightweight ping-pong style balls or other identical round objects
A pencil or another object you can use as a “handle”
Experiment #1:
- Bend the hook portion of the wire hanger until the end is pointed back in the opposite direction.
- Stretch the hanger until the hanger is diamond shaped with the hook at the bottom end.
- Balance the penny on the hooked end of the hanger.
- Begin to swing the hanger back and forth. Use a very small amplitude (swing height) at first and gradually increase the swing until you can spin it in a full circle.
Here’s a link with step by step visuals for this experiment:
Challenge:
Try using other coins or objects. What if you didn’t bend the wire hanger? Will a plastic hanger work? What objects can you swing in a circle and hold them in place?
Experiment #2:
- Place your lightweight objects like ping-pong balls inside your two plastic cups. I added color to the balls so we could see what happens more clearly.
- Use your clear tape or hot glue to seal the cups together, mouth to mouth, so that the balls are sealed together inside.
- Glue or tape your “handle” to the middle of the cups at the point where they meet, mouth to mouth. You may have to add extra tape or glue here so that the handle stays in place at the center.
- Holding your cups by the “handle” spin them and see what happens to the balls inside. Explain what happens and why.
Here’s a link with step by step visuals for this experiment:
Challenge:
Will this work with ALL objects you place inside? Does the size of the cup matter? What if the weight of the objects inside were of different weights? Test your theories and write your observations below:
Notes for Experiments:
- According to Newton’s first law of motion, objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an external, or outside, force.
- Newton’s law requires the penny to continue moving along its path to the circle. A force is required to keep it always turning toward the CENTER of the circle. This is often confusing when one considers that at the top of its arc, the penny is accelerating downward because of the motion, but that the force of gravity is also downward. So, how does it stay in place?
- Main idea–Centripetal force is the INWARD force that keeps the moving in a circular pattern towards the CENTER of a circle.
- Centri means “center” movement. The circular movement forces objects INWARD to the center, or radius. THINK ABOUT SITTING ON THE INNER CIRCLE of a merry-go-round.
- Centrifugal force isn’t really a “force.”It means “center FLEEING.” It is an OUTWARD pressure the object feels as the object is moving in a curved path, AWAY from the center of rotation. THINK ABOUT SITTING ON THE OUTER EDGE of a merry-go-round.
- Diagram of riders on a merry-go-round:
- Merry Go Round
- Both centripetal and centrifugal forces work together to keep the object moving at a steady speed in a CIRCULAR path.
More fun with these two “twin forces?’’ Here’s a few of the experiments we did in class today and a few extra activities for fun:
Marbles and Jello: Centripetal Force
Can you make a centrifuge?
Lesson Twelve: Monday, May 4th and Tuesday, May 5th with Mrs. Cecil and Mrs. Haker
**There were some technical issues with recording Mrs. Cecil’s Lesson on Monday, however, Mrs. Haker’s video below covers the same lesson plan**
Tuesday with Mrs. Haker
Learning Objectives:
The student will list the five main characteristics of mammals.
The student will identify a few mammals whose characteristics differ from the five main characteristics.
The student will discover uncommon facts about mammals and discuss well known facts.
Lesson Notes:
Print me! Biology Notes on Mammals
Lesson Links:
All About Mammals:
BrainPop– Mammals
Animal games, activities, and videos
Strangest facts about mammals
Mystery Science Lesson –Why do Bears Hibernate?
CHALLENGE:
NEXT WEEK, present an animal to the class. This living thing can be a vertebrate or an invertebrate. It can be your favorite animal or a living creature you have learned about. Challenge yourself to find out something new about the living thing you choose and present this to our class next week.
Lesson Thirteen: Wednesday, May 6th with Mrs. Cecil
Wednesday’s Exploration Science
Click here to print a copy of today’s lessons and notes
Materials:
Empty tea bags
Glass plate or pan (NOT plastic)
A lighter or matches
Two nickels
A clear plastic cup
A match
A balloon
Experiment #1– The Great Tea Bag Liftoff
- Use scissors to cut off the top of the tea bag, the string and the label.
- Empty the tea leaves out of the tea bag.
- Unfold and straighten the empty tea bag, opening it so it is in an OPEN cylindrical shape.
- Place it right side up on the plate or pan.
- Use your lighter, and WITH A PARENT’S HELP, light the top rim of the bag on fire all the way around the edge. What is the heat doing to the air both inside and outside the tea bag? _____________________________________________________________________________
- Let the bag burn completely to ash and watch as it lifts off the surface and rapidly rises into the air. As the bag cools, it will lower back onto the surface. Take note of any material that remains and describe what you see:_______________________________________________________
- Draw a PICTURE or your experiment below:
NOTES:
- There are three principles that make your great teabag lift off:
- There’s the density difference between the air inside and outside the cylindrical shaped tea bag. As the flames move down the bag, they heat the air trapped inside. Remember, heated molecules move ________________ and spread out inside the tea bag. These molecules are much farther apart than those outside the tea bag where there are cooler molecules. The air INSIDE the tea bag is less _________ than the air outside. Remember, warmer, less dense air rises above cooler, denser air.
- The burning bag generates hot, less dense air inside it and above it. This leads to a “thermal” or a convection current of rapidly rising hot air above the flames. THINK, HOT AIR BALLOON. The space inside the tea bag must be filled so the cooler, ________ ________ air outside of the burning tea bag rushes in from the bottom to fill the space under the heated air.
- As the bag burns, it changes into ash and smoke.The hot smoke rises, lifts away, and disperses into the air. Remember: GAS ALWAYS tries to escape and spread ___________. A thin, fragile outline of the tea bag is all that remains. Because it is so lightweight, the force of the rising, hot air is strong enough to quickly lift it upward. As it rises, it cools and then falls back to the surface.
- What objects can you think of that scientists utilize that follow these three principles? ______________________________________________________________________
Challenge:
Does the shape of the tea bag matter? Try tea bags not in a cylindrical shape. Research how rockets and hot air balloons work and write a bit about it below:
Experiment #2: Matchstick Merry-Go-Round.
- Lay one nickel on a flat surface and balance the other nickel on top, vertically.
- Carefully place a matchstick across the balanced nickel.
- Place a plastic cup over the matchstick and nickels.
- Blow up your balloon.
- Quickly rub the balloon against your shirt or hair to generate static electricity.
- Rotate the balloon around the outside of the plastic cup.
- What does the match do? _____________________________
- Draw your experiment below:
Notes:
- What science principles make the matchstick rotate? ________________ and _________________
- When you rub the balloon on your hair or fabric, you give the balloon additional ______________, generating a negative static charge. The match has a ___________ charge.
- When an object has a _______________ charge, it will repel the electrons of other objects and attract that object’s protons. When the neutrally charged object is lightweight, the negatively charged object will attract the lightweight object, making it try to follow the negatively charged object until it loses its charge.
- Will this experiment work without the nickels? _______ Why or why not?__________________________________________________________________
Challenge:
Try changing the amount of time or speed in which you rub the balloon. Try different objects to rub your balloon on. Which objects give you more and less static electricity? How far away can you move the balloon from the cup and still get the match to spin or how quickly can you make the match spin without it falling off of the balanced nickel?
Lesson Fourteen: Monday, May 11th with Mrs. Cecil and Tuesday, May 12th with Mrs. Haker
Monday with Mrs. Cecil:
Monday, Part 2
Tuesday with Mrs. Haker
REMINDER:
This week, present an animal to the class. This living thing can be a vertebrate or an invertebrate. It can be your favorite animal or a living creature you have learned about. Challenge yourself to find out something new about the living thing you choose and present this to our class this week.
Remember to find out your living thing’s scientific name and some interesting facts about it. Be sure to find out in what Class or Family your living thing belongs.
Think of a fun way to share your living thing with everyone in class. A picture, a video, a living example. (Hey, some of you may actually have a pet echidna or rhinoceros!)
Science is FUN!
Lesson Fifteen: Wednesday, May 13th with Mrs. Cecil
Please read BEFORE class on Wednesday so that you can be prepared!
After reading the below instructions for Wednesday’s lesson, click here to join our Zoom class on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.!
YOU are the teacher this week.
On our last classzoom together, YOU get to be the teacher!
If you would like to accept this challenge, find an experiment to share with the class. Show us your experiment and teach us the science principles observed in your experiment.
Have fun with this and let’s enjoy our last classzoom together!
SCIENCE IS FUN!
Lesson Sixteen: Monday, May 18th with Mrs. Cecil
Zoom Class from May 18th