8. All about energy!Week of 12/07/13
Energy is the ability to make everything happen! You need energy to run and play, sing and think. Where does energy come from you ask? Well energy sources can be food, batteries and fuel like coal, wood natural gas and oil. Some sources of energy are renewable. Renewable energy sources are forms of energy that can be replaced easily and often times do not hurt the environment. Examples of this are solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectric energy, and geothermal energy. Nonrenewable energy sources are those that can not be easily replaced and seem to hurt the environment. We are using them faster than they can be replaced! Examples of nonrenewable energy are coal, petroleum, fossil fuels, and natural gas.
Energy can be broken town into to major types known as Kinetic energy and Potential energy. Potential energy is energy that is stored and Kinetic energy is energy of motion. We see examples of potential and kinetic energy everyday. Take a peak at some of the pictures below! 7. What is a phase change?Week of 11/15/13
Phase changes happen all the time in our everyday lives. Have you ever had a ice cream melt when you took it outside on a hot summer day? Well if you have, you have witnessed a phase change. A phase change is a change in the state of matter of an object. The ice cream was a solid and now it's a liquid. There are many phase changes that we will be looking at in the next two weeks. So far the kids are able to identify freezing from a liquid to a solid, melting a solid to a liquid, evaporating a liquid to a gas and condensing a gas to a liquid.
6. creating our own data sheets!Week of 10/28/13
This week students had the opportunity to choose which objects they wanted to collect data on. Each students was able to choose 3 items for their group to measure. Students in their teams found 10-12 items and recorded the mass in grams of each item in a data table. Then students drew conclusions as to whether certain materials had greater mass than others. Students quickly found out that metals had the most mass and plastic products had the least mass. 5. Measuring mass!Week of 10/21/13
This week we discussed the importance of uniform units of measure. Students were given three objects to weigh using paper clips. Little did they know I gave them different sized paper clips. The students shared out their data and quickly noticed that they all had very different results. We then decided to measure the same objects using grams (g). The students had a great time using the balances to collect their data! Take a look!
4. matter is all around us!Week of 10/14/13
Matter is all around us! Everything we see and feel is made of matter. Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. in third grade we begin discussing what the molecular structure of matter looks like. We define each state of matter based on it's properties (shape, volume, texture, color etc.). In order to help the students remember each state of matter and their properties we made flip books. Here are a few examples:
3. All about me!Week of 9/09/13
Students were asked to write down characteristics and attributes about themselves that made them successful scientists. Then they had to explain how these characteristics help them become successful scientists. Some students wrote that the are intelligent, team player, helpful, curious and kind. This team of third graders shows me these qualities and many others everyday!
2. Creating a useful diagram!Week of 09/16/13
Scientist use diagrams to help teach people about the parts of objects. In a diagram we discussed the importance of the following criteria:
1. Building our teams!Week of 09/02/13
This year in science we will spend a lot of time working in teams. To help create a sense of "team" and camaraderie I posed the marshmallow challenge to the kids. In eighteen minutes the students had to work together to build the tallest free-standing structure that would hold the weight of a marshmallow. The materials the received were 20 pieces of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string and one marshmallow. They did a wonderful job rising to the challenge!
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Ms. Lohitsa
Teaching is a passion not a profession! Useful links Video on potential and kinetic energy Types of Energy Solids and liquids Gases all around us Article on changing states of matter Measuring mass and volume Vocabulary 1. Solid 2. Liquid 3. Gas 4. Matter 5. Mass 6. Volume 7. Physical properties 8. Chemical properties 9. Phase change 10. Convert 11. Atoms 12. Energy 13. Forms of energy 14. Energy source 15. Potential energy 16. Kinetic energy 17. Renewable 18. Non-renewable 19. Fossil fuel 20. Conserve 21. Energy transfer 22. Energy transformation 23. Refract 24. Reflect 25. Absorb 26. Convert |