al-mofhariz

Do you teach static electricity?  The kids love it and can truly relate to it.   I found some great youtube videos to share....

                   This one shows rice krispies in a glass container. When the person rubs wool on top, the rice krispies jump up to the top due to the electric charge. I like it because it shows the attraction the particle have...it is easy to relate it to when you have static in your pants or when your hair stands up.  You can do an experiment in your classroom with balloons and paper scraps ( I like to use the circles from hole punches) to show the attraction at a station.
This short video clip shows how lightening is really a giant static shock.  The kids can relate to this clip because we have all seen lightening and we all see or feel sparks at time when the air is dry!

I was asked to preview a new product from Delta education that integrates science and art.  It is called WeExplore! art kits.  The kit came with enough materials for twenty four students to create door knob holders to remind family members to turn off the lights and conserve electricity.   The whole kit includes a CD with activities linked to the Delta Science Readers Electricity and Magnetism. These books are a great resource because the have the same text in a purple and red edition.  One set is on grade level and the other is below grade level.  The students get the same information, just geared to their reading level!

The project:

We started by brainstorming what types of sayings we could include on our door signs. Katie came up with 'Save the E' which I loved...very catchy. I  then passed out the new markers, sticker sheets and stencils and the doorknob signs and let the students go to town.  The examples made match each students personality and expression.
Take a look!





Nice …

We teach about the contributions of many famous scientists in Virginia.  The third scientist who makes contributions in electricity is Michael Faraday. We used the book from FOSS Science Stories to introduce his contribution of creating the electromagnet.

He, like so many of our great scientists, was one who did not have a good experience in school.  This story tells how he struggled the first 13 years of his life, until he consciously made the decision to change.  What did he do?  He studied successful people and decided to act the way they did.  Guess what?  He became successful too!

After we read and discuss his life and contributions, we reflect with the  sheet below....


                                Grab your freebie here!


Enjoy!

Yesterday I talked about how we practiced writing up an investigation.  Today I am going to tell you how we did it for "real."
I started by telling the children that today's work was something I was going to count for a grade.  I explained to them that we have been working on guided investigations for a while and now was the time for them to create their own investigation.  I posted the rules on the whiteboard:
You will need to have 1. a question to test 2.  a prediction 3. a plan 4. some written data 5. a conclusion such as "Today I learned...."

       I told the students that they would be working in their science groups on this task.  Each child would be expected to work together, but each notebook would be graded individually.  They are pretty familiar with the Science Notebook Rubric that I have and so they were well aware of my expectations. Before we started I helped them brainstorm some ideas to test with their electromagnets - changing the way we wind the coi…

Practice...

I just finished watching my son play in a championship basketball game for his U9 team at the YMCA.  As I watched, I thought we never could have gotten here without the specific and targeted practices each week.  The coach watched each player and would have them practice what they needed.  Some may practice free throws, some layups, and some defense.  But put it all together, and we won many basketball games.  Not bad for a child who had never played before!

Now, why am I telling you this? So often I think we expect kids to perform to high expectations without the practice it takes to get there. 

In my classroom we have been working on building electromagnets and we were ready to move to the next step - designing your own investigation.  I wanted them to be able to think of the question, make a prediction, record their data and write a conclusion on their own.  But before we could do this, we needed to practice. 

I set up the practice session by telling them I wanted them to…

How do you teach about Famous Scientists?  In Virginia we are asked to teach the students about the contributions of Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison and Michael Faraday as it relates to electricity.


I will start today with Ben Franklin...he is my favorite afterall!

Resources to hook the students:

Favorite Video:  Animated History - story of Benjamin Franklin



Favorite Books:  I love to connect children's literature to my science lessons.  Now and Ben is all about how the inventions of Ben Franklin have been modernized and are used today.

Some of my other favorites include the National Geographic version (full of beautiful illustrations), the Step into Reading one (is really about a math puzzle he created) and Ben and Me is just a sweet novel told from his pet mouse's point of view.





So besides these hooks that I use at other times in my day...what do I do? Our standards require that we teach students that Ben Franklin made a major contribution to science by creating the lightening rod. …

FOSS Magnetism and Electricity Kit

We have had a blast finding insulators and conductors, lighting light bulbs and powering motors through circuits, and lately learning the difference between parallel and series circuits.  Take peak into my classroom to see the many kinesthetic and visual components provided by FOSS...




 We have made electromagnets using the wonderful circuit board provided by FOSS.  Our challenge was to see how many washers we could pick up with the electromagnet.  We found that the more winds we used the more strength it had.  We also found out that if we used two batteries, we were able to pick up even more!
         This is part of a PowerPoint I made to help focus our thinking and show some examples to create the best electromagnet.  I also supplemented the power point with a video of electromagnets that I found on United Streaming.  This visual element helped them understand the process a little better.




 We determined that distance between magnets made the attractio…

Have you ever stopped to think...what's the relationship between magnetism and electricity?  Why do we teach them together after all?  My little brain has a hard time making connections to higher level science, but this one I get! 

We are currently working on Magnetism and Electricity using the FOSS kit by the same name.  This is my third year teaching it with students (as well as many sessions with adults) and it always blows my mind how Dr. Lowery connects the concepts in such a concrete way. 

On an aside note, I have met Dr. Lowery several times with my journeys with FOSS and I absolutely love the man.  Here we are at the Hotel Roanoke together...bad picture, but still one I treasure....  That's me on the right with my science BFF's Rita behind me and Sherrie on the left. 

Anyway...back to school...I had always played around with magnets when I taught K-2 and knew that this was an important science concept. But I thought it stopped there.  NOW I  know better.  In the be…