SCIENCE LESSONS

1. How it Rains

      Fill a clear cup with water and pour shaving cream on top to represent a cloud. Explain that when clouds become heavy and dense with water, the cloud releases it and this is how/why it rains! Next, put blue food coloring on top of the cloud, and watch it rain! Students will see the weight of the new water (blue food coloring) and how the cloud is not able to support it.




2. Build A Terrarium

     

Materials Needed:

2-liter soda bottle, cleaned with soap and water

Scissors

Soil

Small plant that likes humidity (such as an Artillery Fern)

Pebbles

Small plastic animals

Bits of bark

Masking tape

1. First cut off the top of the bottle, down a few inches so that it can easily be reached into. Save the top.  Put tape around the rim to cover the sharp edges.
2. Sprinkle some pebbles into the bottom of the terrarium for drainage. 
3. Fill the terrarium ¾ full with soil and make a hole in the soil for the plant.
4. Carefully place the plant into the hole and fill around it with soil.
5. Arrange pebbles, plastic animals and bits of bark to make it look like a scene from an ecosystem. .
6. Lastly,water your plant and put the "lid" back on the plant.  Leave the plastic cap off of the bottle. Make sure to put it somewhere there is light from the sun.

-Remind students that it is important for plants to have water and sunlight to grow. 
-Plants turn water and sunlight into energy in a process called "photosynthesis"
-Explain to students that the terrarium is a mini landscape like you would find in nature, but the missing parts are rain, clouds and sunshine, so we have to add those parts
 Because we have a lid, the terrarium retains a lot of humidity so it will not need water very often.  -Remind students to turn the terrarium every once in awhile to give the plant equal sunlight on all sides!
*Students can do a control experiment and record which types of plants grow best in a terrarium*



3. Sudsy Lemon Science

-Second Grade Focus
-Students can study the properties of objects
-Basic materials found in the kitchen can be used

Materials Needed:

Empty cup

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons liquid dish detergent

Measuring spoon

Plastic spoon or straw for stirring

Fresh lemons, sliced into quarters

Wet and dry paper towels

1. Place the baking soda and liquid dish detergent in the empty cup and mix them together
2. Gather student/s around a counter that could use a gentle cleaning to do this performance
3. Have the student/s begin the show by introducing himself, telling the audience that he can create a cleaning concoction from lemons. Add dramatic play to this presentation by having the student wear a white jacket (to resemble a lab coat) and put on safety glasses.(No burning eyes!)
4. Have student squeeze the juice of two quarters of a lemon into the cup.
5. When the lemon juice mixes with the baking soda and dish soap, it  will begin foaming immediately, creating a fluffy pile of lemon-scented suds!
6. Student can actually use these suds to clean the counter. Have them dump the suds onto the countertop, and use a paper towel to wipe the suds across the counter. Follow up with a wet paper towel to remove any baking soda residue.

-Explain that the acid in the lemons interacted with the baking soda, which is a base. The interaction created carbon dioxide bubbles, which made the soap get bubbly and sudsy!

4. Balloon Static

-Introduce static electricity!
-Second Grade Focus

Materials Needed:

Balloon

Paper

Hole punch

Mirror

1. Let student use a hole punch to make a pile of small paper circles. Set the paper circles aside.
2. Have them blow up the balloon.
3. Help the, tie the balloon if needed
4. Tell your student to stand in front of a mirror and rub the balloon on the top of her head for a few seconds.
5. Have them slowly raise the balloon off of her head. Ask "What is happening to your hair?"
6. Explain that their hair is raised as a result of static electricity. Static electricity is just the excess electric charge that transfers from the balloon to the student's hair.
7. Now have the student rub the balloon on their head once again.
8. This time, have them lower the statically charged balloon over the pile of paper circles.
9. The balloon will pick up the paper circles!
10. Ask "What else do you think your static balloon can pick up?"

5. Taste Buds Experiment


-This experiment shows how strongly our sense of smell controls what we taste
-Fourth Grade Focus





Materials Needed:

Vanilla extract

Cotton ball

Apple

1. Have your student take a bite of apple and pay close attention to how it tastes. Ask "Is it tart and tangy? Does it taste like an apple?"
2. Now have your student add several drops of vanilla extract to the cotton ball.
3. Hold the cotton ball near, but not touching, your child's nose as he takes a second bite of the apple. Encourage him to continue to smell the cotton ball while he chews.
4. Ask the student "What happened? How

The first bite tasted like an apple should taste. The second seemed to taste like vanilla. Why? The nerve endings in the tongue only identify sweet, sour, salty and bitter—other sensations are due to smell. When the vanilla was stronger than the apple smell the apple "tasted" like vanilla!


6. Make Your Own Weathervane!


-Student can learn more about Earth Science as well as meteorology through learning how to make a weathervane! All that’s needed are materials you probably have in the closet, and items that can be recycled
-Fourth Grade Focus





Materials Needed:

1 straw

Ruler

Scissors

Clear tape

Pencil

Stickpin

1 liter plastic bottle

Sand

Compass

Black permanent marker

Old business card

1. Start by researching with your child what a weathervane is and what purpose it serves by visiting your local library or looking online. Also, have your "student" look for weathervanes on top of neighbors roofs, etc.
2. Help your child gather the materials needed to create his own weathervane. Offer assistance cutting the liter bottle in half if necessary.
3. Now they  can cut a triangle out of the business card to create the front and back ends of the weathervane. They can also trim the straw so it is 6-inches long. If the straw has a flexible end, make sure it’s the end that is cut.
4. Invite your child to carefully cut slits into both ends of the straw, about ½ inch deep horizontally, and slid the cut card onto each end. They can secure each of the ends with a small piece of clear tape.
5. Offer your child the pencil and stick pin and encourage them to use the ruler to find the middle of the straw. Now they can position the pencil under the straw and secure the two together with the stickpin creating to top of their weathervane!
6. To create the weathervane base, invite your child to fill the cut bottom of the liter plastic bottle with some sand, and firmly stick the pencil weathervane into the center of the sand.
7. Now your child can place their weathervane in a windy spot and observe how it moves with the wind. Invite your child to guess which direction the wind’s blowing, and then use a compass to check their guesses. He can even use a permanent marker to write the directions on the side of the plastic bottle!

7. Slinky Physics


   -a perfect illustration of both gravity and momentum
   -Fourth Grade Focus





Materials Needed:

Small plywood ramp or materials to build one

Slinky

Stopwatch

Notebook

Pen or Pencil

 Stairs

1. Place one end of the Slinky on the top step of a staircase and hold that end in place while you stretch out the other end and place it on the next step from the top.
2. Think about your understanding of gravity and momentum. If you don't know much about these concepts, do some research.
3. Ask your student, "What do you think might happen with the Slinky on a shallow slope versus the steeper slope of the staircase? Write down what you think is going to happen." Tell them that this prediction is called a hypothesis.
4. Set the Slinky up at the top of the stairs, and as you let it go, start the stopwatch.
5. Observe how quickly and how far down the steps the Slinky moves.
6. Stop the stopwatch when the Slinky ends its movement.
7. Next, move to the ramp with the shallow incline. You may need to build your own ramps with a piece of plywood and several books stacked under one end of the plywood. Try to keep the slope around 25 degrees.
8. Start the stopwatch and set the Slinky in motion. Stop the stopwatch when the Slinky ceases moving and then record your observations.

8. Density Demonstration


   -This experiment will teach your child all about the concept of density
   -Fourth Grade Focus



  
Materials Needed:

2 clear glasses

Measuring spoon

Table salt

Water

2 eggs

1. Fill two glasses with water 
2. In one of the glasses put in 1 tsp. of salt.
3. Put an egg in each of the glasses and see what happens.
4. Have your student record what happens to each of the eggs in the two glasses.
5. Have your student continuously add more salt to the salted glass and record observations again.

Explain to your student(directly from education.com):
Density measures matter relative to the volume of a substance, which in this case is water. The water that we drink usually has low density, but when you add salt it absorbs the water. To better understand why the egg in the salted glass floats it's useful to know that salt is a desiccant, which means that it absorbs water(water moves to the highest concentration of salt). So, when you put salt it water, the salt molecules fill up with water molecules. This interaction creates a layer of salt water and the egg, unable to penetrate the salt layer, floats.


9. The Science of Sound


-helps to add a visual element to the science of sound
-Third Grade Focus



Materials Needed:

Rubber band

Plastic wrap

Colored sugar crystals

Empty bowl

1. Have your third grader cut a piece of plastic wrap big enough to cover the top of the bowl.
2. Have them put the rubber band over the plastic and around the top of the bowl to hold the plastic in place. Make sure the plastic wrap is held tight, and isn’t sagging.
3. Next, sprinkle a small pinch of sugar crystals in the center of the plastic.
4. Now, have them get down close to the cup, and say their name aloud. Watch the sugar crystals. Ask them to describe what he saw happening. (The sugar crystals look like they’re on a trampoline! They're moving!)
5. Ask them to try to explain what is happening. If they offers their breath as an explanation for the sugar moving, have them try the experiment again, only this time they should hum instead of talk, and be careful not to breathe on the sugar. Ask your student, "Do they still move?"
6. Ask your third grader to think of ways of altering his voice to repeat this test. (eg: louder, softer, singing voice, speaking voice, high pitch, low pitch, whisper, etc.)
7. For fun, try making other sounds and testing the effects of the vibrations. Try banging on a pot. Try stretching a rubber band across the ends of your fingers, and then give a pluck. Try making a clucking sound with your tongue. Observe the sugar. Have your student record what happens! 

10. How Old is that Tree?


-this activity will teach your student a way to estimate the age of a tree without cutting it down. It doesn't work with every tree but it will with a lot of them!
-Third Grade Focus





Materials Needed:

Measuring tape

Marker

Pen

Paper

Helper

Tree

1. Help your student find a tree that is at least as tall as a grown up and have them wrap the measuring tape around the widest part of the trunk. (A grown up might need to help with this part!) The distance around the trunk of a tree is called the circumference. Have your student write this measurement down on a piece of paper.
2. The measurement of the circumference in inches is also the approximate age of the tree in years! :)
3. Have your student measure different types of trees (cedar, firs, redwoods,etc.) Some grow faster than others! Student will have to make an educated guestimate of the age of the tree in this case.