Memorizing the Moments: Science Curriculum

Showing posts with label Science Curriculum. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Kindergarten Science: Sunlight

This year, we are taking a two pronged approach to science. We are doing activities to meet the Next Generation Science Standards for kindergarten, but we are also learning about biomes to go along with out Around the World Homeschool studies. I've done my best to meld the two so it feels mostly cohesive.

This week focused on Sunlight. The main goals were to understand that sunlight warms the earth and affects climate. We also got in our NGSS engineering standards.

We started by reading books about the sun:

We also watched What is the Sun?

We made some sun art also. We picked three dark colors of paper and put various objects on them. We set them out in the sun for a few hours and then looked at the results.

Effects of Sunlight on Earth Experiment

We also did two science experiments. First, we looked at the effects of sunlight on earth (NGSS K-PS3-1). We compared soil, sand, water and rocks in the sun and shade. The main learning goal was for him to understand that it is warmer in the sun than the shade. If you would like directions and a lab sheet, you can print it here.

Building Penguin Protectors:

The second experiment brough in some engineering standards (NGSS K-PS3-2, K-2-ETS1-1, K-2-ETS1-2 , K-2-ETS1-3). To start us off we watched a couple Sci Show Kids episodes on thinking like an engineer.

Then I presented him with a problem. Some penguins (penguin shaped popsicles), are getting too hot in the sun. He needed to build something to protect them (You can print the lab sheet here.) I had him design and build two separate things so that he could compare.

We put one penguin popsicle in each design and then one next to them for comparison.

NGSS K-PS3-2, K-2-ETS1-1, K-2-ETS1-2 , K-2-ETS1-3

We took the temperature every 5 minutes, but using actual thermometers vs our infrared would have been a lot more accurate.

At the end we were able to pull out the penguins and compare how much they melted. We also compared the temperatures and discussed what worked well and what he could improve. He was tired when we did it, so I wrote for him while we discussed.

He really wanted to try eating one of the penguins.

Monday, July 10, 2023

Adaptation Sorting Biome Activity

Since we're doing an Around the World curriculum for homeschool this year, I wanted to try to include some biome studies for science. However, I also want to make sure I hit the Next Generation Science Standards to keep my kiddo on track for if/when he goes to public school. Standard K-ESS3-1. asks students to Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.

For each biome we will be reading about the animals that live there and their adaptations, but I made this activity to add a hands on component. I've included five different biomes with animals that live there and some of their adaptations. I opted to skip some of the biomes because the animals living there were likely to live in some of these also.

To make it a little more fun, I got out some of our Toobs and other animal figurines.

Polar/Tundra Biome

Desert Biome

Ocean Biome

Temperate Forest Biome

Tropical Forest Biome

Print the Animal Adaptation Biome Sorting Activity here

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

5th Grade Science - Earth and Human Activity Unit

As a previous science teacher, I am writing my own "curriculum" for our 5th grade home school this year (see other units here). I have divided the 16 5th grade Next Generation Science Standards into units. This is my plan for the Earth and Human Activity Unit, consisting of the following standard:

5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Some notes:

This unit is going to be different from my other units. Students will be introduced to various environmental problems and then links to some solutions. Students will fill out a graphic organizer as a way of fulfilling the standard. This unit could be huge and go into many different issues. I picked just a few, mostly related to threats to ecosystems, since we have a unit on that right before. At the end, the student will pick a topic they found most interesting and make a short presentation of their choice about it.

The links are to Google Doc version of the materials, allowing you to make a copy and modify them. I can also easily update and make comments on the Google versions. If you would like all materials in one document, you can find it in the document below, although formatting is not 100% and you can't see comments.

Earth and Human Activity Unit Outline

Earth and Human Activity Slides (can be saved as ppt)

Graphic Organizer

Day One

Intro and Resources slides 1-7

Day Two

Invasive Species slides 8-11
Read about invasive species

Aliens from Earth: When Animals and Plants Invade Other Ecosystems by Mary Batten
Problem section of graphic organizer

Day Three

Conservationist for Kids Magazine Article Link on slide 12

Take notes on the problem and some solutions

Day Four

Habitat loss slide 13-14
Endangered species video slide 15
Read habitat loss links on slide 16
Problem section of graphic organizer

Day Five

Read books about endangered species/habitat destruction

Wonderous Workings of Planet Earth: Understanding Our World and Its Ecosystems by Rachel Ignotofsky

Pages 112-113 and 116-117

Work on graphic organizer

Day Six

Read habitat loss solution articles slide 17
Solutions section of graphic organizer

Day Seven

Pollution slides 18-19
Water Pollution Video Slide 20
Read Pollution Articles Slide 21
Problem part of graphic organizer (can split into different types of pollution if desired)

Day Eight