Apologia Chemistry Begins

Today we started Chemistry with two activities: The Checks Lab Activity and The Cube Activities.  (The cubes are located after the article.). My class is 'inquiry-based', which uses data to drive discussions.  We also covered some administrivia.  Our class is using Google Classroom as a tool to house resources and keep records.

NSTA Review: 'Who Made My Lunch?'

Librarians, looking for a series to support National School Lunch week?  'Who Made My Lunch?' by Bridget Heos and illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman is ideal.  This six book series includes all the components of a typical child's lunch: peanut butter, jelly, wheat bread, cheese, ice cream, and chocolate.  The six titles are 'From Milk to Ice Cream', 'From Milk to Cheese', 'From Cocoa Beans to Chocolate', 'From Grapes to Jelly', 'From Peanuts to Peanut Butter', and 'From Wheat to Bread'.  Few children grow up on farms.  Instead children are disconnected from the origins of the food from the grocery store.  What offers more appeal than chocolate bars and ice cream or a classic PB& J sandwich?  The series is intended for the early elementary grades, K-3.  The text is clear without condescension.  For example, in 'From Wheat to Bread', the authors explains, " The wheat sprouts quickly.  But this is winter wheat.  During the cold months, it goes dormant.  That's sort of like taking a nap."  (p.6).  In 'From Peanuts to Peanut Butter', Heos includes interesting details, "At the peanut butter factory, you'll roast the peanuts in a hot oven.  The tray moves up and down so that the peanuts shake while they bake.  This way, they cook evenly." (p.15). At the end of each title is a map displaying where the grapes, peanuts, cocoa beans, etc is grown.  (p.23). On the last page (p.24) are brief glossaries, websites, and bibliographies.  The websites, while brief, are germane.  In the Chocolate book is a link to Fair Trade information and Peanuts includes a site about peanut and tree nut allergies.  The Grapes, Wheat,and Peanuts books could serve as springboards for class discussions about plant growth and cultivation before a science lesson planting seeds.  Any of these titles dovetail with nutrition lessons.  I'm confident children will find these books engaging.  The 'Who Made My Lunch?' Series would make an excellent addition to any library or classroom.

Into to Chemistry: Reaction in a Bag Lab

Here is one of the first labs we do in Chemistry, in lieu of a lecture on the ' Scientific Method'.  Flinn Scientific's Reaction in a Bag hones observation skills, introduces an indicator solution and produces a fabulous reaction.  I'll post photos when we get to this lab.

Science Fair Links

I put these links together for a work shop and wanted to share these.

Science Fair Resources 

1. Car exhaust Lab: http://lorpub.gadoe.org/State%20of%20Georgia/GAVS%20Shared/Science/APES_AirPollutionClimateChange_Shared/AirQuality.pdf
2. Project Worksheet: http://sc087.k12.sd.us/Science%20Fair%20Resources/5-12sciencefairprojectworksheet.pdf
3. Planning Guide: http://northport.k12.ny.us/backpack/getfile.aspx?id=177898
4. Science Fair Project Template (google)
5. Science Fair Information Packet: https://www.berkeleycountyschools.org/cms/lib/WV01000962/Centricity/Domain/34/Elementary%20Book.pdf
6. How to organize Science Fair: https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/blog/2011/03/04/science-fair-planning-and-creative-ideas/
7. Step by Step: https://www.phsd144.net/cms/lib3/IL01001725/Centricity/Domain/572/ScienceFairPacket.pdf
8. Bubble Rocket:http://wveis.k12.wv.us/teach21/cso/upload/UP3612WS7.doc
9. Do Pump Caps Preserve fizz?  http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=176937 and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fizz_keeper
10. Stain Removal:https://www.education.com/science-fair/article/best-way-stains-out-of-clothes/
11. Mud watt: https://www.homesciencetools.com/mudwatt-science-fair-pack
12. Water test:https://www.homesciencetools.com/watersafe-science-project-kit
13. Salt Water Energy: https://www.education.com/science-fair/article/salt-water-energy/ and Envirobattery: https://www.homesciencetools.com/enviro-battery-kit
14. Most effective sunscreen: https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/uv-reactive-beads/
15. Kits and Ideas:https://www.teachersource.com/category/science-fair-ideas
16. Jelly Marbles: https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/vanishing-jelly-marbles/
17. Reaction Rocket:https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.teachersource.com/downloads/lesson_pdf/RKT-625.pdf
18. Clothes that Glow: https://sciencenotes.org/list-of-things-that-glow-under-black-light/ and Glow Putty and more: https://www.brit.co/glowing-products/
19. Homemade Hand Warmers: https://www.homesciencetools.com/a/homemade-hand-warmers
20. Bird Feeders: https://www.homesciencetools.com/a/bird-science-projects-for-elementary (number of birds or variety
21. List of Winning Projects: https://www.berkeleycountyschools.org/cms/lib/WV01000962/Centricity/Domain/34/Elementary%20County%20Winners.pdf

Get ready for Chemistry!

Chemistry begins in ten days!   Yeah!  I have twenty items scheduled to do the first day.  Honestly, I make up a long list of skills the kids need and label it all 'Day One'.  Day One continues for two weeks.  First is The Checks Lab which uses checks as a device for kids to use existing data to determine what the story is behind all of the checks.  The science is to base your hypothesis on existing evidence.  (I like to remind kids that their faith is also based on evidence from
God.). These teacher notes may help.  I also teach about the inquiry process using this Cube Activity.  Both of these activities are from inquiry-based workshops I gave through College Board.  Both are instrumental in instructing how to approach science.

Young Explorer Human Anatomy: Chapter One Cells

The first unit in Human Anatomy introduces Cells.  Make clay animal cell models.  Have the kids color and label animal cells first.  Next have the kids create their own models in clay.  Some children like to make flag labels to poke into their model.  Others prefer to make keys.  It doesn't matter.  Then, by all means, make an edible cell; the kids love cells made with candy!  I like to make, color, and label animal cells in several media.  Trust me, the kids will be able to identify cell parts.  Be sure to have the older children complete the Journal activities requiring them to understand the function of the different organelles.  This is an easy way to differentiate instruction.  Everyone made models; the older children had a greater depth of understanding.

Young Explorers Human Anatomy: Skeletal System

A friend of mine is prepping her Anatomy program for fall.  One of our lessons was the skeletal system.  I bought a plastic skeleton from Target in early October for $15.   The first question I asked the children was, "Is this toy skeleton scientifically accurate?"  We used  worksheets and spent time naming and labeling the bones before we determined the skeleton was accurate.  Older children can write the names of the bones and tape them on to the skeleton or review these names with younger children orally.  We did lots of both.  The kids liked making all sorts of skeletons.  We liked pasta skeletons to make and label and full size paper skeletons.  This one comes in pieces!  While you are on the skeletal system, try to make a spinal cord with a pool noodle or an egg carton spinal cord, like the ones we made.  (I wish I had thought to buy pool noodles on clearance!  I had saved egg cartons, though.). We used blank skeleton worksheets for quizzes.  The older children wrote the names, some of whom needed word list.  Younger children identified the names orally when quizzed.  (My class was eleven children ages 6-11.)

After Science4Us! Review...

Well after slamming Science4Us!, I thought I should list science resources for K-2.
1. Apologia Young Explorers Science is one of the best elementary science series I've ever encountered.  Every one of the texts has loads of hands-on activities.  The journals are loaded with even more resources.
2.  Scratch from MIT teaches kids to code.  I think coding games trumps playing educational games.  Now this is science.
3.  NASA's Kids Club is free, interactive, online program.
4. PBS Kids Squad is also interactive and free, too.
5. Steve Spangler has videos (and experiements, galore!). So, if you want to see a demo before trying the lab. Go here first.
6.  Science is Fun is from Shakashiri, who's been developing materials for young people for decades. Try an experiment.
7.  TOPS Learning Systems have free experiments to try.  These books are all fabulous and require inexpensive equipment.  Lots of value, especially, if you can buy these used.

NSTA Review: Science4Us!

Science4Us! Is an online, interactive science book, a software program with apps available.  The book has elements of a Learning Management System embedded in the program: lessons plans and student assignments which allows the teacher to select class activities for a computer science session.   I tried the program with both an iPad and a Dell laptop and was much more successful accessing programs with the laptop.  The app downloaded to an iPad quickly.  My demo login information went unrecognized; so I couldn’t evaluate the app.  (I might mention that Virginia is misspelled in the student drop-down menu.)   However, the program loads quickly and is easy to navigate on a laptop.   Science4Us! makes adding and editing student assignments intuitive.  This book has loads of videos, games, and activities for both teachers and students.  The graphics and animation feel clumsy and the educational songs are weak.  Smartphones are ubiquitous; kids expect high quality video animation and graphics. Science4Us! doesn’t deliver engaging animation.  The science content is solid; but, will a child watch a video if the narration is irritating and the message is too repetitive?  The Science4Us! website offers free ‘hands-on’ activities, such as slime, or sorting buttons, which are fine.  But, is this program a good value?  Home-school families may join for a monthly fee of $7.95 per student.  I imagine the price for a large school district is much lower.  I don’t think this is a good value, even as a tool for science review or enrichment, especially in light of the broad number of free resources online, such as those from NASA.   Instead, early elementary-aged children (K-2) would profit more from ‘hands-on’ science lessons mixing, using magnets, and measuring, especially if the lessons are prefaced with good non-fiction science books and a lively class discussion.

Home-schoolers: The Young Explorers Series and Homescience Tools vastly outperform this program.

Chemistry and Physical Science TOPS

This lab from TOPS Science dovetails well with Density.  Check it out!

TOPS Learning

If you haven't heard of TOPSScience, try this sample lesson.  All of their lessons use simple equipment and materials, even Electricity and Magnetism.  I've used these two for Physical Science.  Stellar resources!